25th Sunday 2026 A 20 September 2026 Sermon

25^th Sunday A 20 September 2026  Labourers in the vineyard

In the beginning there was God and nothing else.

God chose to create the world and all that is in it, including us. He had plans for us.

What God calls us to can be seen in the image of the vineyard. He wants us to work for Him.

The ‘work’ will take in many different types of activity, but all for His glory and the advancement of His kingdom. If we are doing God’s will that is working for Him.

It was easy in theory for this to succeed. God was undisputed master of all. If everyone and everything obeyed God then whatever He wanted would come about.

Something went wrong in the plan. It was nothing lacking in God but in that part of His creation which had the freedom to decide whether or not to obey – angels and humans.

A great many of both groups have decided to disobey God, to rebel against His authority, and that has left us with a lot of repair work to do.

The world is beautiful still, but it would be a great deal more beautiful if God had been respected by all.

God is  merciful, as we recall with relief. He can write straight with crooked lines, and He does a great deal of that, as He adapts His plans to take account of our contribution.

eg using the Crucifixion as a means of salvation when it was intended to be a means of obliteration of God.

The parable of the Labourers in the vineyard can be taken to represent the various ways that people can make peace  with God, even if they have been in the wrong place  before.

Some arrive early, some late.

The important thing is to be in the right place at the end, when the final reckoning takes place. How we finish is everything.

God’s intention is to bring as many people as possible to salvation and sanctification.

Salvation means being free from the guilt of our sin.

Sanctification means being free from all trace of sin.

Our hope is to arrive at  heavenly glory, body and soul. This is the ‘one denarius’ promised to the workers in the vineyard.

If we have that outcome how can we grumble if someone else has it also; even if they came in later?  If God is glad to see them, so we should be too.

Must you be envious because I am generous?  God’s generosity comes from His nature, as He was, is and will be forever.

We are drawn into His nature and transformed as we do that. If we accept the offer of ‘work’ this will happen.

It is not easy in practice because there is so  much rebellion against God, the malice of the devil is still active; and there are many people, even millions who are not in a state of union with God. They are not in the vineyard with God.

Many of them can be rescued, and set on the right path. And this the Church is always trying to do.

What about those of us who have been in the vineyard for years but not progressing as we should have done?

We come to the fountain of grace and mercy, whereby we can be forgiven of our sins and grow in sanctity. Saved and Sanctified.

We pray for each other to experience  the fulness of God's mercy. Far from grumbling that others get a better deal we rejoice when anyone comes to union with Christ. The angels in Heaven rejoice when even one lost soul is found (Lk 15,10)