‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone’ (Matthew 21: 42) … a cross cut into a cornerstone in the main church in the Monastery of Vlatádon in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)Patrick Comerford
We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and this is the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVIII). Later this morning, I hope to sing with the choir at the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church in Stony Stratford, and we are planning a small family celebration later in the day.
In the Jewish calendar, the holiday of Simchat Torah (שִׂמְחַת תּוֹרָה) began at sunset last night (3 October) and ends at nightfall this evening (4 October). Simchat Torah involves joyous Torah-dancing of Simchat Torah and celebrates the completion of the annual public Torah-reading cycle and the immediate start of a new one.
Simchat Torah means ‘Rejoicing of the Law’ and the holiday follows immediately after Sukkot. The celebrations include hakafot or Torah dancing, with the Torah scrolls carried in seven celebratory circuits and dancing around the synagogue’s bimah or reading platform. The final verses of Deuteronomy are read, followed immediately by the opening verses of Genesis to show that the Torah is a continuous, never-ending cycle. Everyone in the community participates equally, holding the closed scrolls to emphasise unity, regardless of level of learning. Children often wave flags, receive sweet treats, and join the procession to associate learning with joy.
But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Matthew 21: 33-46 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 33 ‘Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watch-tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 34 When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. 35 But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, “They will respect my son.” 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” 39 So they seized him, 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 said to him, ‘He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.’
42 Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures:
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes”?
43 ‘Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. 44 The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.’
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. 46 They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.
Today’s Reflections:
Today’s Reflections:
We have had a lot of visits to the vineyard in the Gospel readings for the past few weeks.
Two weeks ago (20 September 2026), we had the landowner who hired labourers at different times of the day to work in his vineyard (Matthew 20: 1-16). And we saw how those who worked from early in the day were upset that those who were hired later in the day were still paid a full day’s pay.
Last week (27 September 2026), we had the father who asked his two sons to go to work in the vineyard (Matthew 21: 23-32). And we saw there how one son said no, but still went to work there, while another son said yes, and went off and did his own thing.
This morning (4 October 2026), we have another story set in the vineyard (Matthew 21: 33-46).
I imagine we have very few vineyards in England or Ireland. Yet, most of us can identify with the time and season in this morning’s Gospel reading.
It is harvest time, and it is time to collect the harvest. It should be a time for celebration, and for counting our blessings, as we celebrated the harvest on Friday evening.
But this morning’s Gospel reading challenges us to ask what if we think more about the field than the harvest, more about our personal gain and profit than the overall plans that God may have for us, more about short-term gains than about the long-term impact of our decisions, what if I think more about my individual needs than the good of wider society and community.
The setting of the parable is the estate of a wealthy landowner. This landowner does not live on the land, and does not work at planting or harvesting. The hard work is carried out by the hired labourers, who must turn over most of what they grow to the landowner. The landowner in the parallel parable in Luke 19 is a harsh, demanding man, reaping what he does not sow (see Luke 19: 20).
This absentee landlord does not send messengers out of any great love for the people or the land, but to collect the profits from their labour that sustain his life of ease in the cosmopolitan city where he lives.
In Saint Matthew’s version of parable, the farmers have had enough. The next time the landowner sends one of his servants to collect the rent, the farmers send him packing. Forget how you have consistently read this parable for years. Those who listened to Christ telling this parable for the first time probably smiled at the demanding landlord getting a revolutionary response from the exploited tenants living on the edge and on the margins.
After all, Saint Paul tells us in the Pastoral Epistles: ‘for the scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and, “The labourer deserves to be paid”.’ (I Timothy 5: 18)
Then the landowner sends another agent to collect the rent. Again, the farmers get together to send him away empty-handed. More cause for rejoicing among the first listeners.
Then the son of the landowner arrives. He has a different standing than the messengers. He is the son, perhaps the ‘beloved son,’ probably the only son. If he is the heir and the landowner had died, then he has inherited the estate himself. If the son dies and he does not have an heir, the land goes to those who live on it, and the farmers will be free. The farmers have been resisting years of what they feel has been exploitation, and now they rise up and kill the son.
But the twist in the story is that the landowner is not dead. He does exactly what we expect him to do in the circumstances. He wreaks revenge, slaughters the farmers and replaces them with others. He does this so he can return to his life of ease in the city, living on the income provided by the labour of others.
But no-one among those who hear this ending to the story for the first time would hardly regard it as comforting or good news.
The chief priests and the scribes who are listening the audience, and who come from the same social class as the rich landowner and his hirelings, must realise that they have just heard a scathing condemnation from Christ of how they exploit their fellow Jews.
The peasants or tenant farmers who hear the story are reminded that escalating the spiral of violence only results in more violence being visited upon them and their children.
Everyone who listens is challenged to rethink their prejudices and their judgmental values.
In this, the parable is a challenge to us today.
In what ways are we like the absentee landlord, dependent on others’ exploitation to support our lives of relative ease?
How much do we consume without knowing or caring about where our clothes, our coffee, our computers, our gadgets and toys come from, or about the cost to poor people and the environments in which they live?
In what ways are we like the agents, willing to do wrong to achieve what we think is right, to escalate interpersonal and international conflict in ways that will be visited upon generations to come?
And in what ways are we responding to Christ’s challenge to care for those the world disregards and to disregard the world’s standards of strength and honour?
As the American theologian and writer Sarah Dylan Breuer once wrote, Christ challenges us to do the unthinkable, to turn the other cheek and let others think us weak, to care as much for God’s children who make our clothes and shoes, who mine the ore for our electronics and dispose of the toxic computer monitors we discard when want newer and better ones, as we do for our own children.
Christ challenges us to bless and honour the peacemakers rather than the mighty, to strive for justice and peace and the dignity of every human being above our own comfort.
‘There was a landlord who planted a vineyard’ … grapes ripening on the vine in the Hedgehog in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)Today’s Prayers (Sunday 4 October 2026, Trinity XVIII):
In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 27 September to 4-10 October 2026 (pp 44-45), is ‘The Gun, The Sword, and The Bible’. This theme is introduced today with a reflection by the Revd Les Isaac OBE, founder and President of Ascension Trust and co-founder of Street Pastors:
I distinctly remember sitting in my local church in London and asking myself: “How come the Jesus that I’m seeing up there looks like the people who hate me?” I couldn’t ask my mother that as it was seen as rude in my culture. But it did get me thinking.
I’ve not spent the last 40 years defending the negative side of the Church’s history, but rather trying to help people to understand the complexity of the transatlantic slave trade and its entanglement with the Church. In spite of the gun, the sword, and the Bible travelling together in the same chest on the same ship, there were people who have done a great work. There are men and women who made great sacrifices, as did Jesus. I can’t figure out why he allowed the Bible to be in that chest, but I’m consoled by Scripture that says everything works together for good.
That’s why I think the Church must rediscover its unique role in shaping history and humanity. The Church has to recognise that we are agents of the gospel. And I say this to those who are Black, white, or of any other colour. I say, listen, God hasn’t called one culture to deal with His Kingdom. He’s called all people. We ought to come together because we value the fact that we are sisters and brothers in the Kingdom of God.
I see this potential in the resilience of young African and Caribbean people: their gifts, abilities, and zeal excites me. Partnering with them, we can bring the gospel to life in unity and hope across communities, nations, and the world.
Watch the full recording at: www.youtube.com/@uspg6204
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Sunday 4 October 2026, Trinity XVIII) invites us to pray as we read and meditate on Matthew 21: 33-46.
The Collect of the Day:
Almighty and everlasting God,
increase in us your gift of faith
that, forsaking what lies behind
and reaching out to that which is before,
we may run the way of your commandments
and win the crown of everlasting joy;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
We praise and thank you, O Christ, for this sacred feast:
for here we receive you,
here the memory of your passion is renewed,
here our minds are filled with grace,
and here a pledge of future glory is given,
when we shall feast at that table where you reign
with all your saints for ever.
Additional Collect:
God, our judge and saviour,
teach us to be open to your truth
and to trust in your love,
that we may live each day
with confidence in the salvation which is given
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s Reflections
Continued Tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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