27th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A 2026

This weekend, the imagery of the Vineyard comes to fore. In the 1st Reading, the Lord sings beautifully of His love for His Vineyard, Israel. In fact, He goes out of His way to protect Israel, the choice vineyard. In the Gospel, Christ speaks of the treacherous tenants who foolishly thought that by destroying the owner’s son, they could take over the inheritance. Of course, this parable was told days before Christ’s execution and the reference was to His impending passion and death.

But there is more to this prophecy and there are valuable lessons we can learn from this.

Firstly, it highlights ultimately the rejection of God’s sovereignty. The killing of the landowner’s son represents humanity’s desire to be rid of God’s authority so as to take ownership of humanity’s own destiny. There has always been a desire on the part of humanity to be the architects of its own fate. The parable is really reminiscent of the Tower of Babel. In the Gospel, greed was not the main issue even though the parable does sound like a land grab. Rather, it was a chronicle of humanity’s illusion of its own radical autonomy. The rebellion was exercised through ignoring God’s messages. It progressed to the stage of violence against the messengers themselves and finally it climaxed with the murder of God’s only Son.

In this saga of rebellion and in trying to chart our destiny, there is a truth which may escaped rebellious humanity.

Secondly, I had a honour of working with someone in a project to renovate a Church. She told me, “Money is not yours until you spend it”. I have since taken to heart this pithy wisdom. It was not an advice to be profligate, that is, to be reckless or prodigal in one’s spending. Instead the parable touches on one fundamental truth which is of ownership and it is relevant in an age of hoarding.

Hoarding does not make sense if we are sure that the moral in the parable is about our stewardship. Money has been entrusted to us for good. The wealth of the land has been put into our hands so that greater good can be done for others.

In short, we are not masters of our destiny but rather we are stewards or servants of creation. We are not and we cannot be the masters of our destiny no matter what. In the 1st Reading, God dug the soil, cleared it of stones and planted choice vines. In other words, God has bestowed a lot upon us. He gave us His laws expressed through the Church. He also bequeathed us His Sacraments in our liturgies. God has carries a far greater load than we have.

If anything, what the parable has shown is that we are not owners but stewards. Even though the Israelites have been given a lot, the fruits of the vines were sour and tart. They failed to acknowledge the honour God has given to them to be the light of the nations. God’s choice of them was for a great responsibility, given for a greater good, for the furthering His Kingdom. Failure to recognise that, they instead turned that privilege into something else. And it was catastrophic for their religious leaders.

Stewardship is not to be trifled with. We hear this, right? It is my life. It is my body. It is my time. It is my money. And I can damn well do with it the way I like. This might not sound revolutionary simply because we do not see anything wrong with absolute ownership. Instead of focussing on an issue which is immediately polarising and that issue is abortion exemplified in “my body, my choice”, let us look at something else. This is a matter which is less threatening or upsetting.

It still belongs with the notion of “my body, my choice” and it concerns the matter of scattering of ashes or what is now called “cremains”. It is trendy nowadays to leave instructions that after one’s death and cremation, one’s ashes should be scattered into the sea or over a field. The idea is to be free, to let go and to be reunited with nature. The truth of the Church’s prohibition is more than just the affirmation of the Resurrection of the Body. The Church views the human body as sacred simply because it is the temple of the Holy Spirit and as such it needs to be treated with profound dignity even after death. Perhaps more fundamental than it being the abode of the Holy Spirit, how about viewing the human body as belonging to God. We own nothing.

Even our body, whilst gifted to us, is still on loan from God. It might just upend our notions of what autonomy and ownership are. We own nothing and everything we have is on loan to us. Even life can be described as living on borrowed time. Everything is lent to us. A priest, whom I like very much, used to quote his favourite Opus Dei trope… “If you can, leave a place in a better state than when you first found it. If not, leave it as you had found it. Never worse than before”.

We have been entrusted with a lot. The Jews first. The Church next. If the Gospel is to be taken seriously, the religious leaders were complacent because they viewed their privilege as an entitlement. God’s choice was removed from them and given to those who could bear better fruits. Likewise, we might think that we have inherited the privilege of the Jews and that we might be untouchable. A notion of stewardship might help to disabuse ourselves of this entitlement.

Thus, in the 2nd Reading, St Paul reminds us to be the fruits that God desires. If we model our lives on Christ, a life of integrity, charity and justice we might act like those who are stewards who, at the proper time, humbly handover the proper fruits to the Landowner