Caring for God’s Vineyard

Isaiah 5:1-7; Micah 6:8; Matthew 21:33-46

This year marks the first time Presbyterians are invited to give to the World Communion Offering. Through this new offering, we join with other congregations in supporting the wider church in the work of racial justice, gender justice, peacemaking, global witness, and interfaith relations. We step beyond our denominational boundaries and into the life of the global church, learning to see God’s image more clearly in one another.

World Communion Sunday has been celebrated among American Christians for ninety years. It began with a winter meeting of pastors who sought to supersede worldwide conflict and need with worldwide communion. They thought that inviting people to come together around the one Table of Jesus Christ could be a healing leaven in the world. In 1936, amid the Great Depression, the Presbyterian Church (USA) recognized the need to broaden its members' perspectives to include neighbors overseas. They saw the great need for Christians in the U.S. to understand themselves as part of a world Church and to begin to realize that neighbors are overseas as well as right next door. How might this theme apply as we go through this morning’s scripture passages?

In this morning’s parable. Jesus is judging those who are leading God's people, the scribes and Pharisees, and he tells them through this parable that their time is done. The story has its roots in Isaiah 5:1-7, where we hear about the people of Israel being unfaithful to God’s laws. God carefully plants a vineyard in fertile soil, tends the soil and cares for the plants, but instead of a bountiful harvest, the vineyard in Isaiah produces only wild grapes. Despite the people of God landing in a promised land and being blessed by God, cared for, and tended to, people of rebellion rather than people of faith were produced. The passage goes on to say that the vineyard was destroyed. Israel rejected God’s word and was destroyed by the Babylonians in the 6^th century B.C.

Fast-forward some 600 years, and we come to the time of Jesus. The people of God still struggle to show their faith, still a bunch of wild grapes. Some of the leaders in the temple are hypocrites, and their laws for deciding who is holy and who is not have created an unequal society. Those who hold holy status maintain the status quo, keeping things as they are so as not to upset their way of life. As a result, many suffer- the unclean, the impoverished- and are kept apart from those who see themselves as pure and holy. Jesus sees this system and pronounces judgment against it with this parable.

The householder in the story is God. The vineyard the householder builds, complete with a protective hedge, a tower for guarding against enemies, and a winepress, represents the kingdom of God.

This choice piece of land has been let out to the tenants. The tenants in this part of the story represent the people of God, and the covenant God made with Israel after the Exodus. They represent some of the scribes and Pharisees in Jesus time. Jesus tells a tale about their tradition, and the status quo they work to uphold daily. The story describes tenants who hijack their landlord's wealth for their own purposes, and Jesus says the temple leaders have done the very same thing.

The landowner asks for his harvest, for the grapes that have grown. Notice here that the landowner does not ask for a portion of the harvest; he asks for the entire crop. This reminds us that all we have and all we produce belong to God. The householder, God, sends two sets of servants to collect the harvest. These represent two sets of prophets- those who came before the people were exiled to Babylon, and those who came after.

Yet these servants are killed and rejected. There is a history of Israel persecuting the prophets sent by God. We know that Zechariah was killed by an angry mob, as was Isaiah. Hebrews 11:37 recounts a bit of this brutal history. The prophets were stoned, sawn in two, and killed with a sword. Messengers from God were treated much like those sent by the householder.

Now, the story tells us that the landowner lived in another country. This echoes a common practice in the first century. Many estates in Galilee at that time were owned by landlords who lived elsewhere. After two sets of servants have been rejected, the landowner thinks the tenants will respect the son, and so he sends him to collect the harvest. Since the landowner was not a resident, this explains in part how, if the tenants killed the son, they would inherit the land, for if the landowner was a foreigner living abroad, and if he had only one son, then through his death, the tenants would be able legally to take possession of the vineyard.

And so, perhaps for greedy purposes, the son was rejected as well. He was cast out of the vineyard and killed. The son in this parable represents Jesus. Jesus was thrown out of Jerusalem and killed at Golgotha, outside the city gates. The sending of the Son in the parable shows God’s ultimate commitment to reconciliation. God’s mission is restorative — to heal relationships between Creator, creation, and community.

Jesus then quoted Psalm 118:22. “The very cornerstone which the builders have rejected has become the capstone, which was the Lord’s doing.”  A cornerstone was the large stone placed in the foundation of the principal corner of a building. We see the cornerstone of our original sanctuary just outside our sanctuary doors.

It was the first and most important stone laid in the foundation. This stone represents God. The head of the wall, or the capstone, was most likely a large stone used to anchor and align the center of the wall- which represents Jesus. Jesus came to align the people of God and to tell them God’s message of hope for the world. God has made Jesus the capstone of a new structure, the new people of God, the church.

In verse 43, Jesus tells us that the kingdom will be taken from the scribes and Pharisees, and given to a new people, a people made up of Jews and Gentiles who will produce the fruit of faith. The status quo will be no more, and all will have access to God’s love and hope. Verse 44 tells of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. At the end of the passage, we see that the scribes and Pharisees knew he was speaking against them, against their places of power and prestige, and they wanted to do something about it, but Jesus had the backing of the crowds, and so they backed off from his challenge until a later time.

There is an inherent danger in this passage, in that it has unfortunately been used to promote anti-Semitism, based upon verse 43, where the kingdom is taken away and given to a new group of people. We must remember that this parable was a prophetic critique designed not to damn Israel, but to provoke repentance. In addition, this parable was told by a Jewish Rabbi to other Jewish people, and the new community that would make up the kingdom included Jewish people.

We need to consider not what this story says about Judaism at the time, but what it says about Christians TODAY, who are also accountable to the owner. The tenants are also US. We have been given the responsibility of producing fruit of the kingdom. The punishment of the former tenants is not cause for celebration but rather pause.

Today, the vineyard also represents the whole of creation and the global human community entrusted to our care. Now that we are tending the vineyard, what kind of fruit are we producing? Are we truly living a life of faith? Do we love God with our whole being, love our neighbors as we love ourselves, working for God’s justice? Do we produce the fruits of hope for the world, help for people experiencing poverty, and challenge rather than maintain the status quo?

We are the tenants in this parable. The tenants who leased this fine vineyard were supposed to nurture the vines so they would bear fruit, and they owed the harvest to the owner. Just so, if the vineyard is the world, and we are the tenants, we are to care for the world on behalf of the true owner, God. This parable reminds us that God’s gifts are not for hoarding or abusing, but for cultivating and sharing.

The tenants’ failure was one of exploitation instead of stewardship. The tenants saw the vineyard as theirs to control, not God’s to care for. We see that same exploitation happening today in environmental destruction, economic injustice, and systemic oppression.

In addition, the tenants decided to silence the messengers who came on God's behalf as the Prophets spoke truth to power and were rejected. Today’s prophets may be climate scientists, justice advocates, or marginalized voices calling for change. God sends messenger after messenger — voices that challenge our comfort and call us back to justice. God calls us to listen to them, not try to silence them.

God’s vineyard is to be built on love, justice, and welcome. This kingdom embodies Christ’s compassion, equity, and care for all people.

How then does God call us to Care for the Vineyard, the world, today? Here are some examples.

1. We are to do what we can to work for peace in the world, for God’s vineyard is meant to be one of peace. Here is one story from the Presbyterian Mission agency trying to do just that. The Menaul School, a Presbyterian-supported international boarding school, announced that the school has received six Ukrainian students as part of ongoing war relief efforts. Mostly from the eastern, occupied regions of Ukraine, four girls and two boys in grades 10-12 now call Albuquerque “home”. Pastor David Breidenbach, Executive Director of Spiritual Orphans Network, in coordinating efforts with the Presbyterian Mission Agency, said, “Sometimes we ask ourselves, what difference does helping only six students out of 44 million lives disrupted in Ukraine make in the long run? Then we stop and ask the students and their families. They all say, ‘You have made all the difference in the world for us.’ It is pretty humbling to realize that all any of us can do is respond in the moment to the opportunities placed right in front of us. This was one of those moments.”

The next four examples will all be supported by this new denominational World Communion Sunday offering.

2. We are called to racial justice, a world where there truly is no Jew nor Greek, no enslaved person nor free, nor black nor white, etc. (Galatians 3:28). One of the efforts this morning’s offering supports is that of Presbyterian Walter Mack and his work with the Gullah people in South Carolina. The Gullah are a group of people who live on St. Helena Island off the coast of South Carolina and are descended from West and Central Africans who were enslaved. The Gullah people’s land and way of life are being threatened by rampant development. Industrial development in the area was polluting the area’s flora and fauna and the waterways around the island. In addition, due to systemic racism, these indigenous black farmers were offered a lower selling price for their produce, even though they had the same or better produce than other farmers. Walter became a founding member of the Gullah Farmers’ Cooperative Association and applied for a grant from our denomination to help change the structures that perpetuate poverty, oppression, and injustice. The co-op secured markets for its products, received fair prices, provided its own community with fresh, nutritious food, and trained farmers in technical assistance and farm certification.

3. We are called to witness our faith to others. The Global Ecumenical Liaisons connect the world in faith and action and are part of the Global Ecumenical Partnership ministry in our denomination. They bridge communities across the United States and around the world, connecting people and strengthening ways to engage the message of Christ to the world.

4. We are called to work for Gender Justice. In 2025, the Presbyterian Church USA hosted its first National Queer gathering, featuring interactive workshops and community-building. Attendees explored the needs of the LGBTQIA+ community, identified actions needed from Presbyterian churches and national leaders, and developed a plan to move our denomination toward greater welcome and affirmation. God’s vineyard makes space for marginalized voices in decision-making.
5. We are called to bring this world together by promoting understanding. We are called to build harmony in the vineyard. Presbyterian pastor Rev. Justin Meyers has been working to bridge religious divisions in Oman, a country on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. He has been with the Al Amana Center for 10 years now, one of the few Christian-led organizations in the Muslim-majority world working toward reconciliation and sustainable peace through safe, immersive, interfaith experiences that foster cross-religious and cross-political collaboration. Meyers and others cultivate love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness in God’s vineyard, as they come to understand other faith traditions and promote harmony.

The parable is not just about ancient leaders — it’s about us. We are tenants in God’s vineyard. The Owner is coming for the harvest. Will God find exploitation and greed, or a people who have cared for the land, honored and followed Christ, and shared the fruit with all?

In speaking about World Communion Sunday, Rev. Stan Adamson says, “In a world characterized by fear, suspicion, and apprehension, and cataclysmic change, we need to be grounded in our common Communion, a sense of family that transcends borders, languages, ideologies, and economics… we are called to bear fruit for the kingdom of God, to use our talents, resources, time and intentions to make a difference, to bear fruit for peace, justice, healing, reconciliation, and love. And all that can start at the Table.”

May Jesus Christ be a healing leaven in the world. May God bless us as we gather around this table, united in faith with others from around the globe as we all tend to the vineyard, doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly in faith. Alleluia! Amen.