26th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 01 October 2023

For the second Sunday in a row, Jesus speaks to and teaches us through a parable. The point and truth of a parable is not based on whether it is true or really happened. The purpose of a parable is that we learn something about the reality of the Kingdom of God and our own personal response to Jesus’ invitation to be his disciple today, here and now. Again, this Sunday Jesus uses the rich image of the vineyard. At the time of Jesus, a vineyard was a prized possession. It spoke of wealth, riches and prestige. It was a precious treasure to own and Jesus naturally used it to speak about the reality of God’s Kingdom. It is a fairly short and simple, yet very challenging parable. A man has two sons. He asks the first one to go to the vineyard to work. His immediate response is a very definite no! But for some reason, which we do not know, he later changes his mind and does in fact go the vineyard. On being asked, the second son politely agrees to his father’s request, but in fact does not do what he was asked; he does not go to the vineyard. As is often the case, Jesus is telling this parable to the chief priest and the elders who had a habit of saying one thing and doing the very opposite! Jesus asks them: ‘Which of the two did the fathers will?’ Correctly they answer, ‘The first.’ Not content with their response, Jesus confronts them with these words of warning: ‘…tax collectors and prostitutes are making their way into the Kingdom of God before you.’ Jesus often accused them of being hypocrites. This word is Greek in origin, meaning ‘actor.’ The people wore a mask which allowed them to become someone else. This also allowed them to say and do things for which they believed they were not responsible.