October 4, 2026
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 139
Reading 1
Let me now sing of my friend,
my friend's song concerning his vineyard.
My friend had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside;
he spaded it, cleared it of stones,
and planted the choicest vines;
within it he built a watchtower,
and hewed out a wine press.
Then he looked for the crop of grapes,
but what it yielded was wild grapes.
Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard:
What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I had not done?
Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes,
did it bring forth wild grapes?
Now, I will let you know
what I mean to do with my vineyard:
take away its hedge, give it to grazing,
break through its wall, let it be trampled!
Yes, I will make it a ruin:
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
but overgrown with thorns and briers;
I will command the clouds
not to send rain upon it.
The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah are his cherished plant;
he looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed!
for justice, but hark, the outcry!
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm
80:9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20
R. (Is 5:7a) The vineyard of the Lord is the house of
Israel.
A vine from Egypt you transplanted;
you drove away the nations and planted it.
It put forth its foliage to the Sea,
its shoots as far as the River.
R. The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
Why have you broken down its walls,
so that every passer-by plucks its fruit,
The boar from the forest lays it waste,
and the beasts of the field feed upon it?
R. The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
Once again, O LORD of hosts,
look down from heaven, and see;
take care of this vine,
and protect what your right hand has planted,
the son of man whom you yourself made strong.
R. The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
Then we will no more withdraw from you;
give us new life, and we will call upon your name.
O LORD, God of hosts, restore us;
if your face shine upon us, then we shall be saved.
R. The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
Reading 2
Brothers and sisters:
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters,
whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious,
if there is any excellence
and if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things.
Keep on doing what you have learned and received
and heard and seen in me.
Then the God of peace will be with you.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I have chosen you from the world, says the Lord,
to go and bear fruit that will remain.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the
people:
"Hear another parable.
There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,
put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.
Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.
When vintage time drew near,
he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.
But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat,
another they killed, and a third they stoned.
Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones,
but they treated them in the same way.
Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking,
'They will respect my son.'
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another,
'This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.'
They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?"
They answered him,
"He will put those wretched men to a wretched death
and lease his vineyard to other tenants
who will give him the produce at the proper times."
Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?
Therefore, I say to you,
the kingdom of God will be taken away from you
and given to a people that will produce its fruit."
https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading
Commentary on Isaiah
5:1-7; Philippians 4:6-9; Matthew 21:33-43
Today’s parable is linked to last Sunday’s about the two
sons sent to work in their father’s vineyard. One promised to go and work
there, but he did not actually go. The other at first refused, but later
relented and went. The message of Jesus is clear (especially in the context of
Matthew’s Gospel).
God’s people had disappointed their God. It was the formerly
sinful Gentiles who took on the task of building the Kingdom. This should not
be understood as anti-Jewish. On the contrary, this was being written by
Christian Jews for Christian Jews and it must have been a painful thing for
them to see and accept.
Poor tenants
Today we have a parable saying more or less the same thing. Strictly
speaking, it is not a parable, but an allegory. A parable normally presents one
lesson and the details are not relevant; while in an allegory, each detail of
the story has a symbolic meaning.
The message clearly is that God’s people have been poor
tenants in the Lord’s vineyard. However, we read this not to sit in judgement
on certain people in the past. We must be careful to be aware of the relevance
of this parable for our own situation. We are not reading it for historical
reasons, but for reflection on our own lives and behaviour.
The Lord’s vineyard
Both the First Reading and the Gospel focus on the Lord’s vineyard, that
is, the place where God’s people are to be found. At first, Jesus chose the
Israelites to be his own people. He was with them on their wanderings in the
desert on the way to “a land flowing with milk and honey”. The Lord asks in the
First Reading:
What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not
done in it?
But the response of God’s people (i.e. the tenants) in the
vineyard was far from the expectations of the master of the vineyard:
When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield
rotten grapes?
In Jesus’ story, the owner sends his servants to collect the
harvest. Instead, the tenants seized, beat, stoned and even killed the owner’s
messengers. This happened again and again. The message is clearly understood by
Jesus’ hearers. The Lord had sent his prophets to remind his people of their
duty to serve, to be a fruitful people. Yet, one by one, God’s messengers were
rejected.
No respect even for the son
Finally, the owner’s own son was sent. The owner said:
They will respect my son.
But no—he also was seized, thrown out of the vineyard and
killed. They could now take over the vineyard for themselves. It reminds one of
the arrogance of our first parents who thought the knowledge of good and evil
would give them power over God; or of those who tried to build a tower that
would reach right to the heavens. And the killing of the son “outside the city”
is a clear reference to Jesus’s dying on the cross outside the walls of
Jerusalem.
Called to the Lord’s vineyard
Today, we are God’s people. We are the tenants in the vineyard. Now he expects
us to produce fruit, fruit that will endure. The obvious questions for us to
ask ourselves today are: How are we doing? Are we any better than the chief
priests, the elders, the Scribes and the Pharisees? We are specially
privileged, by baptism, to be called to work in the Lord’s vineyard. Each week
we are invited to gather together to hear the gospel message and to make it
part of our lives. We are all called to be members, We are all called to
be members—active members—of the Body of Christ, the Christian community,
i.e. the Church.
Many martyrs
How do we see this call? Do we find it a privilege, a blessing, or a
troublesome burden? How well have we received the message of the Lord?
Over the centuries, how many prophets in our Christian
communities have been rejected, abused and even killed? We think of Joan of
Arc, Thomas More, Oliver Plunkett and, in our own recent times, Bishop Oscar
Romero, Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr
and the countless victims of violence all over our world.
All these martyrs have one thing in common. They were killed
not by pagans, but by fellow-Christians, tenants in the Lord’s vineyard. We can
hardly feel superior to the people Jesus is criticising in today’s Gospel.
Isaiah’s words in the First Reading are so true:
The Lord…expected justice but saw bloodshed;
righteousness but heard a cry!
In so many parts of the world, we do not have to go far to
see the relevance of those words.
What kind of grapes?
Even so, we may feel we have not personally been part of any of this.
Yet, what kind of grapes do we as a parish community produce? Are they sweet
and luscious, or are they pinched and sour? Is our parish a real sign of Jesus’
presence and love in this part of our city? What kind of impact do we have?
Are we living out the words that Paul proposes to the
Christians of Philippi in today’s Second Reading when he said:
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever
is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing,
whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything
worthy of praise, think about these things.
And he goes on:
As for the things that you have learned and received and
heard and noticed in me, do them…
These last words are quite a challenge for all of us. But if
we can live them out, then, says St Paul:
…the God of peace will be with you.
Parish vineyard
Our parish community is our vineyard. It must not produce sour grapes that no
one can eat. It must be open to the various ways the Lord speaks to it, whether
those people are Church leaders or prophetic voices which may sometimes say
things which are painful to hear.
There is always a temptation for a parish to become a
security blanket for those who do not want to face up to the challenges facing
every society. When that happens, it tends to cling to old, fixed ways of doing
things and to resist change. People who propose changes that are necessary in
serving a constantly changing society may be resisted and resisted very strongly.
Each parish can find itself producing its core of ‘chief priests and elders’
(who, by the way, may not be the clergy) who will make sure that prophetic
voices (who may or may not be the clergy) and people with real vision will be
effectively blocked.
It is just as easy for us in these times to fail to
recognise the voice of God in the messengers he sends us, just as the Jewish
authorities of Jesus’ time failed to recognise the Word of God in him. More
than 100 years ago, Cardinal Newman said:
“To live is to change; and to be perfect is to have changed
often.”
If we are not really making sure that our vineyard produces
rich grapes, not only for us, but also for others to enjoy, then we are falling
short as ‘tenants’. It may well happen that the Lord would ask others to come
and take our place.
If our church was closed down, sold off and turned into a
dance hall, what real difference would it make to our district? Of course, we
who come here regularly would miss it, but what of others who never step
inside? Are we really concerned about that impact or do we think more of our
own personal religious obligations and needs? Do we measure the quality of our
parish by what goes on in our church building or by what happens when we leave
it? Obviously, both are important, but there cannot be one without the other.
https://sacredspace.com/commentary/oa271/#mainContentBlock
Sunday,
October 4, 2026
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Lord, this Sunday I wish to pray with
one of the most beautiful images of the Old Testament: “do not forsake the vineyard your right
hand planted.”
Continue to cultivate and enrich it with Your favored love.
May Your Word in this Sunday's liturgy be hope and
consolation for me. May I meditate on them and let them resonate in my heart
even to the end of my life. May my humanity be the fertile womb wherein the
force of Your word may sprout.
Gospel Reading - Matthew 21: 33-43
a)
Context:
Matthew frames the parable of the
murderous laborers between two other parables: the one of the two sons (21:
28-32) and that of the wedding banquet (22: 1-14). All three parables contain a
negative reply: that of the son to his father, that of some peasants to the
master of the vineyard, and that of some invited guests to the king who is
celebrating the wedding of his son. All three parables tend to point to one
single point. Those who, because they have not accepted the preaching and
baptism of John, are now unanimous in refusing the final invitation of God in
the person of Jesus and are condemned. The introduction to the first parable in
21: 28-33 should also be considered as the introduction to the parable of the
murderous laborers:
After Jesus
had entered the temple precincts, and while He was teaching, the chief priests
and elders of the people came up to Him and said, “On what authority do You do
these things? Who has given You this power?”
It is the priestly and secular aristocracy who
approach Jesus when He is in the temple. They are worried about Jesus’ popularity and ask Him
questions to know two things: what authority He attributes to Himself in
doing what He does, and the origin of this authority. In fact, the answer to
the second question also provides the answer to the first question. The high
priests and leaders of the people demand a juridical proof and they forget that
the prophets had authority directly from God. The Text:
33 'Listen to another parable. There was a man, a
landowner, who planted a vineyard; he fenced it round, dug a winepress in it
and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad. 34 When
vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his
produce. 35 But the tenants seized his servants, thrashed one, killed another
and stoned a third. 36 Next he sent some more servants, this time a larger
number, and they dealt with them in the same way. 37 Finally he sent his son to
them thinking, "They will respect my son." 38 But when the tenants
saw the son, they said to each other, "This is the heir. Come on, let us
kill him and take over his inheritance." 39 So they seized him and threw
him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 Now when the owner of the vineyard
comes, what will he do to those tenants?' 41 They answered, 'He will bring
those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants who
will deliver the produce to him at the proper time.' 42 Jesus said to them,
'Have you never read in the scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone; this is the Lord's doing and we marvel at it? 43 'I
tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a
people who will produce its fruit.'
A Moment of Prayerful Silence
We cannot comprehend the word of God unless God himself
opens our hearts (Acts 16: 14). However, it is up to us to arouse our curiosity
by listening and to stop and stand before the Word…
An Interpretation of the Text
• An
invitation to listen:
The parable begins with an invitation to listen: Listen to another parable (v.33). Jesus draws the attention
of the leaders of the people to the parable He is about to proclaim. This is an imperative,
“"listen"”, which does not exclude a certain threat, if we look
at the way the parable ends: "I tell you, then,
that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will
produce its fruit" (v.43). On the other hand, Jesus explains
the parable of the sower to His disciples without any sign of reproach (Mt
13:18).
What is the explanation of this invitation to listen, which
is a little menacing? The answer is to be sought in the economic conditions of
Palestine in the 1st century A.D. Big lots of land belonged to liberal
foreigners who rented land in groups. The renting agreement provided that part
of the harvest would go to the owner, who carried out his right by sending
stewards to collect his share. In such a situation one can understand that the
feelings of peasants were sorely tried. They felt greatly disheartened and this
sometimes led to revolt.
In His parable, Jesus refers to this
concrete situation but takes it to a higher level of understanding. The
situation becomes a compendium of the story of God
and God’s people. Matthew invites the reader
to read the parable in a symbolic sense. The “owner” is the figure of God and the vineyard is
Israel.
•
The careful care of
the owner for his vineyard (v.33):
First there is the initiative of the
owner who plants a vineyard. Matthew uses five verbs to describe this attention
and care: planted... fenced...
dug... built...
leased. After he had planted the vineyard, the owner leases
it to those concerned and then goes abroad.
•
The many attempts
of the owner to retrieve the fruits of the vineyard (vv.34-36):
In the second scene, the owner twice sends his servants who,
charged with the task of retrieving the produce of the vineyard, are ill
treated and murdered. This aggressive and violent action is described with
three verbs: thrashed... killed...
stoned... (v.35). By sending many more servants and by
intensifying the ill treatment suffered, Matthew means to allude to the history
of the prophets who were also similarly mis- treated. We recall some of these:
Uriah is killed by a sword (Jer 26:23); Jeremiah was fettered (Jer 20:2);
Zachary was stoned (2 Chr 24:21. We may find a resume of this part of history
of the prophets in Nehemiah 9:26: “they have killed your prophets...”
•
Finally he sent his
son:
The reader is invited to recognize in
the son, who is sent “finally”,
the one sent by God to whom respect is due and to whom the produce of the
vineyard is to be delivered. This is the owner’s last attempt. The term “"finally"”
defines the son as the Messiah. It is also possible that this view of
eliminating the son may be modeled on another story from the OT: Joseph’s brothers
who say: “Come
on, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns here!” (Gen 37:20).
The parable reaches its dramatic peak with the outcome of the son’s
mission when he is killed by the leasing vinedressers so that they may
take over the vineyard and usurp the inheritance. Jesus’ fate is set side by side with that of
the prophets, but as son and heir, superior to them. Such Christological
comparisons may be found in the Letter to the Hebrews, where the superiority of
Christ as son and heir of the universe is placed in evidence: “In times past, God spoke in many and varied
ways to our fathers through the prophets; in this, the final age, He has spoken
to us through His Son, whom He made heir of all things…” (v.1-2).
There is a detail at the end of this
parable that we must not overlook. By placing the words, "they threw him out" followed by, "they killed him", Matthew decidedly alludes to the
passion of Jesus where He is taken out to be crucified.
•
Leasing the
vineyard to other peasants (v.42-43):
The end of the parable confirms the loss of the
kingdom of God and the giving of the kingdom to another people capable of
bearing fruit, a people that is capable of a living an active faith and a
practical love. The expressions "I tell you,
then...will be taken…and will be given..." show the solemnity
of God’s action
marking the history of ancient Israel and of the new people.
Meditations for ecclesial practice
•
The symbol of the vineyard is a mirror where we
can see a reflection of the personal and communitarian history of our
relationship with God. Today, it is the church, this great vineyard that the
Lord cultivates and cares for and that is entrusted to us, and the vinedressers
(collaborators) who have the task of continuing the mission started by Him.
This is certainly a tall order. Nevertheless, as church, we are aware of the
tension that exists and that the church may experience between fidelity and
infidelity, between refusal and welcoming. This Sunday’s Gospel tells us that, notwithstanding the
difficulties and apparent fragility, nothing can stop the love of God
for us, not even the elimination of His Son. It is this sacrifice that gains
salvation for all.
•
We are called to stay with Jesus and continue
His mission of helping men and women to meet Him and to be saved, and to
struggle every day to counter the forces of evil and fulfill the desire to do
good and promote justice.
•
As church we are called to learn, after the
example of Jesus, to experience conflict and be able to bear difficulties in
our commitment to evangelization.
•
Do you believe that trials instruct our hearts?
Do you believe that difficulties can be an instrument to measure our
authenticity and the firmness of our faith?
Psalm 80 (79)
The psalmist
expresses the desire of every person to be in contact with the hand of God who
prepares the soil to plant and transplant His beloved vineyard.
You brought a vine out of Egypt, to
plant it You drove out nations; You cleared a space for it, it took root and
filled the whole country.
The mountains were covered with its shade, and the
cedars of God with its branches, its boughs stretched as far as the sea, its
shoots as far as the River.
Why have you broken down its fences?
Every passer-by plucks its grapes, boars from the forest tear at it, wild
beasts feed on it.
God Sabaoth, come back, we pray,
look down from heaven and see, visit this vine; protect what Your own hand has
planted.
They have thrown it on the fire
like dung; the frown of your rebuke will destroy them. May Your hand protect
those at Your side, the child of Adam You have strengthened for Yourself!
Never again will we turn away from You, give us life
and we will call upon Your name. God Sabaoth, bring us back, let Your face
shine on us and we shall be safe.
Closing Prayer
Lord, how many times is love
repaid with darkest ingratitude? Nothing is more destructive than to feel
betrayed and made a fool of, to know that one has been deceived. It is even
more difficult to realize that so many acts of kindness, generosity, openness,
tolerance and sincerity, and of commitment to solidarity have come to nothing.
Lord, You have experienced the ingratitude of many. You have
been patient with those who assailed You. You, who have always been merciful
and meek, help us fight our inflexible hardness towards others. With the
Psalmist, we too pray, "Do not forsake the vineyard You have
planted." After this encounter with Your Word, may our prayer become an
ever more penetrating plea so that it may touch Your heart: "Raise us up
again Lord, show us Your face and we shall be saved." Lord, we have great
need of Your mercy and, as long as there is the desire in our hearts to seek
Your face, the way of salvation remains open to us. Amen!
