Sunday, October 4, 2026
Sunday, October 4, 2026
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 — Isaiah 5:1-7
• The Lord describes Israel as a carefully planted vineyard.
• He prepared the ground, planted choice vines, built a watchtower, and made a wine press.
• Yet when He looked for good fruit, the vineyard produced wild grapes.
• “The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel.”
• God looked for justice but found bloodshed; He looked for righteousness but heard an outcry.
God had faithfully cared for His people, but He expected the fruit of justice and faithfulness.
Responsorial Psalm — Psalm 80:9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20
Response: “The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.”
• God brought a vine out of Egypt and planted it.
• The Psalm asks why its walls were broken down and the vineyard left exposed.
• “Once again, O LORD of hosts, look down from heaven, and see.”
• “Give us new life, and we will call upon your name.”
• “Restore us; if your face shine upon us, then we shall be saved.”
The Psalm is a prayer for God to restore His people and once again care for His vineyard.
Reading 2 — Philippians 4:6-9
• “Have no anxiety at all.”
• Bring everything to God through prayer, petition, and thanksgiving.
• “The peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
• Think about whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, gracious, excellent, and worthy of praise.
• Continue living what you have learned in Christ, and the God of peace will be with you.
Paul reminds believers that prayer, gratitude, right thinking, and faithful living bring our hearts back to God’s peace.
Alleluia — John 15:16
“I have chosen you from the world, says the Lord, to go and bear fruit that will remain.”
Gospel — Matthew 21:33-43
• Jesus tells the chief priests and elders about a landowner who planted a vineyard and entrusted it to tenants.
• When the owner sent servants to receive its fruit, the tenants beat, killed, and stoned them.
• Finally, the owner sent his son.
• The tenants said, “This is the heir. Come, let us kill him.”
• Jesus then points them to Scripture: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”
• Jesus concludes: “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”
Jesus was speaking directly to Israel’s religious leaders. They understood that God’s vineyard had been entrusted to them, yet they had rejected His messengers and were now preparing to reject His Son.
Kingdom Connection
Isaiah identifies the vineyard as the house of Israel, and Jesus deliberately brings that vineyard picture forward when speaking to the chief priests and elders. His warning was directed to that first-century leadership: the Kingdom would be taken from unfaithful stewards and entrusted to a people who would produce its fruit.
This points directly to the great Old Covenant-to-New Covenant transition taking place through Christ. Jesus became the rejected cornerstone, and the people of God would no longer be defined merely by the old covenant order, but by faithfulness to Him—bringing believing Jews and Gentiles together in Christ. The judgment that came upon Jerusalem in AD 70 marked the end of that old temple-centered age, while Christ and His Kingdom remained.
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