The Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost - Matthew 21:33-46 - The Rev. Colette Hammesfahr

 

October 4, 2026 – Matthew 21:33-46

In The Lord of the Rings, the kingdom of Gondor has no king. For thousands of years it has been ruled by stewards. The steward has enormous authority. He lives in the palace. He makes decisions for the kingdom. He is in charge of the military, and he has the final word on laws and legal matters.

While the steward had great authority, one of the main differences between a steward and a king was that the steward did not own the throne. He had temporary guardianship of the kingdom. He was the caretaker of the empty throne. So, while the steward had great authority, there was one thing he could never forget: the kingdom wasn't his. He had been entrusted with it.

We see a similar scenario in Jesus’ parable today. A vineyard owner has entrusted his vineyard to tenants. The vineyard owner is nowhere near. The tenants are responsible for caring for the land. But somewhere along the way, the tenants begin acting like they own the land. Somewhere along the way, they forget that the vineyard has been entrusted to them.

The owner of the vineyard didn't give them an empty piece of land to do with as they wished. Before the owner leaves, he prepares the vineyard. He plants it, puts a fence around it, digs a winepress, and builds a watchtower. The tenants didn't build the fence. They didn't dig the winepress. They didn't build the watchtower. They walked into a vineyard that someone else had already prepared. Their job was to care for it, work it, and help it bear fruit.

I've always said that I can randomly open my Bible and read a verse, and it speaks to me exactly where I am at that moment or place in my life. I can say the same for the readings in today's lectionary. While this parable points to all of us as individuals, I think there is something important for us here as we begin a new chapter at St. Thomas’. All that we have here has been entrusted to us.

Think about this church. None of us started it. We walked into a vineyard that other people planted. Generations before us have prayed and worshiped here. They gave their money. They taught Sunday School. They served on the Vestry. They cared for these buildings. They baptized their babies here. They buried people they loved here. They made decisions—some good, and I'm sure some not-so-good—but they all helped make St. Thomas’ the church it is today.

And through the generations, the church was handed to somebody else, then somebody else, and somebody else. And now, for this moment in the life of St. Thomas’, it has been entrusted to us. Not to me because I am the rector. Not to the Vestry because they have been elected to lead. Not to the people who have been here the longest. Not to the newest people with the newest ideas. It has been entrusted to us...all of us.

When something is entrusted to us, we may think the right question is, “What do I want to do with it?” But, that's the wrong question. When something has been entrusted to us, the question is, “What are we supposed to do with it?” Not, “What do I want to do with it,” but “What am I supposed to do with it?” Those are two very different questions. The second question requires discernment. It requires us to listen. It requires us to pay attention.

Jesus’ parable gives us the question we need to keep asking: What is God asking us to do with what has been entrusted to us? We are here to tend this vineyard, to care for it, and hopefully to leave it healthy and fruitful for those who come after us. This is God's vineyard. Our time, our buildings, our gifts, our ministries, and this church are God's. We have been given the privilege and responsibility of caring for them for a while.

And tending the vineyard requires paying attention. Paying attention to what God has already given us, and paying attention to where God is leading us next.

That's where I think Paul's words to the Philippians are important for us today. Paul begins this passage talking about all the things that once gave him his identity—his background, his religious credentials, his accomplishments. These were things that once mattered a lot to him. Paul realizes that he can't cling to those things and let them determine where God is leading him next. He writes, “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal.”

Paul doesn’t mean that we forget the past. Our past shapes us. At St. Thomas’, we don't want to forget the people who came before us or everything they built and gave to us. But if we spend all our time looking backward, we may miss what God is doing right in front of us. That's part of tending the vineyard too.

Paul says, “I press on.” There is something special about those words that I love for us right now. I press on. Not because everything behind us was wrong. Not because everything needs to change. We press on because God is still moving. God is still working. God is still calling us forward. And if we are going to press on, then we have to pay attention to where God is moving. Because God's vineyard is bigger than St. Thomas’.

It would be easy to think that all that God has entrusted to us is this property, these buildings, and our ministries. But it goes beyond this place. People beyond our property need what God has given us to share. There are people who are lonely. There are families who are struggling. There are hungry people. There are people who need a community. There are people who need to know where they belong. Many of those people may never walk through our doors. So we have to be willing to walk out of them. That's part of being a steward too. What God has given us isn't simply for us. We have been given these gifts so that we can use them for something larger than ourselves.

And that takes us back to Gondor. The stewards' responsibility wasn't simply to guard the throne room and make sure nothing changed. They were entrusted with a kingdom. They had people to care for. They had decisions to make. They had a future they couldn't completely see. And so do we. We are stewards. But this isn't only a question for St. Thomas’. It's a question for each one of us.

What has God entrusted to you? Maybe it's your family. Maybe it's a friendship. Maybe it's your time. Maybe it's a gift or an ability you have. Maybe it's a person God has placed in your life. Whatever it is, the question is the same: What is God asking me to do with what has been entrusted to me?

One of the dangers Jesus points to in this parable is how easily we forget that we are stewards. We start thinking in terms of “me” and “mine.” My time. My money. My gifts. My church. But Jesus reminds us that it all belongs to God. And if it belongs to God, the most important question we have to ask is, “God, what do you want me to do with it?”

Where is God moving? Who is God placing in our path or your path? What needs tending? Where is new life beginning to grow? And how can we use what God has entrusted to us—not simply for ourselves, but for the people around us?

The invitation for this week is to pay attention. Pay attention to what God has already placed in your hands. Pay attention to the people God puts in front of you. Pay attention to where something new may be growing.

We don’t own the vineyard. We have been given the privilege of tending it for a while. So tend it well and keep asking, “What is God asking me to do with what has been entrusted to me?” Amen.