By the Rev. Matthew D. O’Rear
Revised Common Lectionary reflection for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 22, Year A
October 4, 2026
Key verse: “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces its fruits.” – Matthew 21:43
One of the quiet dangers of stewardship is that, over time, what has been entrusted to us can begin to feel like it belongs to us.
A congregation has cared for a building for generations. A committee has nurtured a ministry for years. A pastor has poured heart and soul into a community. A family has built something through sacrifice and hard work.
Eventually, the language can shift. Our building. Our ministry. Our church. Our people. Our way of doing things.
There is nothing wrong with affection or responsibility. The danger comes when stewardship slowly becomes ownership.
That is where Matthew 21 becomes unsettling.
Jesus tells a parable about tenants entrusted with a vineyard. The vineyard is not theirs. The landowner has planted it, protected it, and leased it to them. Their responsibility is to tend what they have received and return its fruit.
Instead, they begin acting as though the vineyard belongs to them.
When the owner sends servants to collect the produce, the tenants respond with violence. Finally, the owner sends a son. Their reaction reveals how stewardship has completely become possession: “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” (Matthew 21:38)
They no longer see themselves as caretakers. They see themselves as owners.
Matthew directs this parable toward particular religious leaders in Jerusalem who have challenged Jesus’ authority. We should resist turning that conflict into a condemnation of Judaism or of Israel as a whole.
Jesus is speaking within Israel’s own prophetic tradition. Isaiah had already described Israel as God’s vineyard and asked what kind of fruit faithful life should produce.
The problem is not the vineyard. The problem is leadership that forgets whose vineyard it is. This remains a stewardship question for the church.
We have been entrusted with buildings, budgets, traditions, influence, relationships, and the Gospel itself. None of these exists simply for our preservation or comfort. They have been placed in our care so that something life-giving might grow.
Isaiah gives us a more searching question.
God has planted, tended, protected, and waited. What comes from all that care?
Not because God needs impressive results, but because what is entrusted to us is meant to become a blessing beyond us.
That makes the stewardship question less about how much we are doing and more about what our life together is making possible.
Do our resources become shelter, welcome, advocacy, nourishment, beauty, dignity? Do our traditions open people toward the love of God, or merely protect what is familiar?
Does our leadership create room for others to flourish? Does the way we use money, property, authority, and time bear witness to the mercy and justice of God?
The vineyard is not ours to possess. It is ours to tend.
Paul offers another way of approaching the same question in Philippians. He refuses to treat his religious credentials as possessions to defend. Instead, he counts them as loss compared with knowing Christ and presses forward toward what lies ahead.
Healthy stewardship requires that kind of open hand.
We can treasure what has been entrusted to us without claiming it as ours forever. The vineyard belongs to God. The church belongs to Christ. The gifts in our hands are not trophies for what we have accomplished. They are tools for what God is still growing.
Perhaps the stewardship question this week is simple: What fruit is growing from what God has entrusted to us?
In Worship
Consider allowing vineyard imagery to shape the visual and verbal language of worship. Grapes, vines, or branches placed near the font or altar can serve as reminders that the church is called not merely to preserve what it has received but to bear fruit.
In confession, invite worshipers to consider the places where “mine” and “ours” have crowded out “God’s.” This could include possessions, traditions, leadership roles, buildings, programs, or even particular visions for the church.
The prayers of intercession might name those affected by the way institutions use power and resources. Pray for leaders in congregations, communities, businesses, and governments who have been entrusted with responsibility for others.
During the offering, frame financial gifts as one part of a larger question: What has God placed into our care, and what is growing from it?
Worship with Youth
Bring a plant, a piece of sports equipment, or another object that clearly requires care.
Ask the group: What is the difference between owning something and being responsible for it?
Then imagine that someone lends them something valuable with one instruction: Take care of this and use it well.
How would that change the way they treated it? Connect that question to the gifts young people already have: friendships, talents, time, influence, technology, creativity, and opportunities.
Read a portion of Matthew 21:33–41 and explain that the tenants forgot that the vineyard had been entrusted to them. They began acting as if it existed only for their benefit.
Invite youth to name one thing in their lives they want to think of differently this week, not simply as “mine,” but as something entrusted to their care.
Worship with Children
Bring a small potted plant and tell the children that someone has asked you to care for it.
Ask: What should I do with it?
They may suggest water, sunlight, good soil, or keeping it safe.
Then ask: What if I said, “This plant is mine now, so I do not have to take care of it”?
Explain that caring for something is different from simply having it.
God gives us many things to care for: our bodies, friendships, animals, the earth, our abilities, and the people around us.
Invite each child to name something they can care for during the coming week.
End by reminding them: God gives us gifts not just to keep, but to care for and help grow. That is stewardship.
Previously published reflections for Proper 22, Year A:
2020 – A covenant vision of community
2017 – Cultivate a harvest of grace and gratitude
2014 – Grapes of wrath and grace
2011 – Life, death and assorted fruits and nuts
