Sermon for 19th after Pentecost, 4th October 2026

Welcome sisters and brothers and peace be with you. MAY the words of my mouth and the meditations in our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. <Amen>

"What's yours is mine and what's mine is my own" is a famous satirical proverb and literary line used to describe selfishness. The exact phrasing appears in James Joyce’s 1922 novel Ulysses but it is based on a traditional sentiment found in William Shakespeare's Measure for Measure ("What's mine is yours, and what is yours is mine"), so Joyce twists a romantic or communal ideal of sharing into a greedy individual claim.

I begin my message today with these quotes because what if we question these quotes by saying they aren’t simply about, “What belongs to me?” but rather by asking, “What have I been entrusted with, and what am I doing with it?”

THAT is the question sitting at the very heart of Jesus’ parable in Matthew 21:33-46 <PAUSE>

Jesus tells the story of a landowner who plants a vineyard. He carefully prepares it. He puts a fence around it, builds a winepress and constructs a watchtower. Then he entrusts the vineyard to tenants, who turn out to be really wicked … and the rest, we know - as beat one servant, kill another, stone another and finally, they kill the landowner’s son.

It is a truly disturbing story and Jesus isn’t talking about farming, He is talking about God and God’s people.

The vineyard represents God’s kingdom and God’s work in the world. The tenants represent people who have been given responsibility for God’s people. The servants represent the prophets whom God repeatedly sent to call his people back to faithfulness. Finally, the son represents Jesus himself. <PAUSE>

I am sure that the religious leaders listening to Jesus understood EXACTLY what he was saying and this isn’t simply a story about bad people somewhere else.

It is a parable that questions all of us. What have we been entrusted with?

We have been entrusted with time.
We have been entrusted with relationships.
We have been entrusted with opportunities.
We have been entrusted with gifts and abilities.
Some have been entrusted with leadership.
Some with the care of children.
Some with the responsibility of a congregation.
Some with wealth and possessions.
Some with influence.

And all of us, as followers of Christ, have been entrusted with the good news of God’s love. <PAUSE>

The great danger, that Jesus is pointing out, is that we can begin to confuse stewardship with ownership.

We start saying:

“My time.” “My money.” “My faith community.” “My ministry.” “My position.” “My way of doing things.” ….. and slowly, without even noticing it, we can forget that everything we have ultimately comes from God.

The tenants in Jesus’ story made the same mistake. They forgot that they were tenants. They began behaving as though they were the owners and when the owner came looking for fruit, they resisted.

The owner doesn’t ask for the impossible. He simply comes looking for fruit. Fruit is evidence that the vineyard has been cared for. Throughout the Bible, fruit becomes a picture of the life God desires from his people. What fruits ??? Simple, the fruits of:

Love.
Justice.
Mercy.
Compassion.
Faithfulness.
Generosity.
Forgiveness.

These are the fruits God looks for in us and that gives us something important to think about.

We can come to church. We can sing hymns. We can say prayers. We can know the Bible. We can talk about our faith.

But Jesus challenges is with by asking, “Where is the fruit?” Where is the love? Where is the mercy? Where is the generosity? Where is the forgiveness? Where is the concern for the lonely, the poor, the forgotten and the outsider? Where is the evidence that God’s vineyard is producing something beautiful? <PAUSE>

Perhaps the most challenging part of the parable is what happens to the son. The tenants reject him because they want to control the vineyard for themselves. Yet Jesus turns the whole story upside down.

He says, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”

The one rejected becomes the foundation. The one cast out becomes the centre. The one killed becomes the source of new life.

That is the heart of the Christian Gospel. Jesus is rejected, crucified and buried. But rejection is not the end. Death is not the end. God raises him to new life.

And the risen Christ becomes the cornerstone upon which the Church is built.So, perhaps today Jesus is reminding us that “the vineyard” is not ours and He is inviting us to make a simple change in perspective.

Instead of asking: “What is mine?”, ask“What has God entrusted to me?”

Instead of asking: “What do I deserve?”, ask “What fruit can I offer?”

Instead of asking: “How can I protect what is mine?” “How can I make God’s vineyard flourish?”

Because the vineyard belongs to God. Our faith communities belong to God.
The Gospel belongs to God. Our gifts belong to God.

Our lives belong to God - - - and one day, the Master will come looking for the fruit.

Not perfection. Not success. Not impressive achievements … but fruit.

The fruit of a life that has learned to love.

The fruit of a community that has learned to welcome.

The fruit of disciples who have learned to serve.

The fruit of people who have placed Christ at the centre.

So let us remember:

God’s vineyard is not ours - - - we are its caretakers. <PAUSE>

I pray that God give us grace to care for it faithfully, to share its fruit generously, and to build our lives upon Jesus Christ, the rejected stone who became the cornerstone. Amen.

I runga e te Ingoa o te Atua, te Matua, te Tama me te Wairua Tapu. <AMINE>