Hearing The Word

A weekly newsletter delivering context and insight into the Sunday Gospels.

September 20, 2026

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Matthew 20:1-16a

Jesus told his disciples this parable:

"The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner

who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. 

After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage,

he sent them into his vineyard. 

Going out about nine o'clock,

the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace,

and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard,

and I will give you what is just.'

So they went off. 

And he went out again around noon,

and around three o'clock, and did likewise. 

Going out about five o'clock,

the landowner found others standing around, and said to them,

'Why do you stand here idle all day?'

They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.'

He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.'

When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman,

'Summon the laborers and give them their pay,

beginning with the last and ending with the first.'

When those who had started about five o'clock came,

each received the usual daily wage. 

So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more,

but each of them also got the usual wage. 

And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying,

'These last ones worked only one hour,

and you have made them equal to us,

who bore the day's burden and the heat.'

He said to one of them in reply,

'My friend, I am not cheating you. 

Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 

Take what is yours and go. 

What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? 

Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? 

Are you envious because I am generous?'

Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."



God's Got a "Good Eye"

~Rev. Thomas Dailey, O.S.F.S

John Cardinal Foley Chair of Homiletics and Social Communications, Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary + Ambler, PA

This week’s Gospel offers another “accounting” parable teaching a similar lesson: generosity trumps merit.

The story’s tension centers on a landowner paying some workers more than others. “Grumbling” ensues. Treating all equally fails to account for hours worked and duress endured ("the day’s burden and the heat”).

The purported HR complaint is felled by the landowner’s question: “Is your eye envious because I am generous?” The answer is obvious.

The parable does spotlight the “evil eye” of envy – that “diabolical” passion (Augustine) of comparing one’s lot to others that refuses charity and causes communal conflict (Catechism, no. 2538-2540).

But parables are told to teach about the kingdom of heaven, not the logic of the marketplace. Parables seek to reveal the character of God – in this case a God who, unlike people, sees only with an eye toward goodness.

The landowner is just – “My friend, I am not cheating you.” He is benevolent – “am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?” He acts generously – since he didn’t have to hire any of them!

God’s justice seeks to bring people to meaningfulness, calling them repeatedly out of their nothingness (“standing idle”) to a worthy life.

God’s benevolence is based on divine graciousness, not human deservedness. The heavenly landowner acts as a patron (doing what is right), rather than an employer (abiding by a contract).

God’s generosity does make all equal – in terms of benefits offered in the kingdom, which operates not on a worldly principle of exchange (doing good earns entry), but on the gratuity of divine grace.



The “work” of disciples is to heed God’s invitation and to labor wherever God sends.

Like the last group who went into the vineyard without financial agreement or promise of remuneration, trusting responsiveness to the one who calls promises a reward far surpassing what anyone deserves.

No Ledgers Only Mercy and Love

~Gia Myers

Immaculate Concpetion Blessed Virgn Mary + Douglassville, PA



This Gospel – the parable of the laborers in the vineyard – can cause us to bristle in the pews as we hear of the workers who labor in the scorching heat of the day and then watch as others who showed up in the last hour collect the same day’s wages.

This story takes me back to childhood memories when treats were distributed, and my younger self was concerned with who received the bigger cookie or slice of pizza.

There’s a part of me that wants to cry out, “But it’s not fair!”

Often, our human tendency is to approach these types of situations like a bookkeeper, measuring and notating according to our ideas of reward or justice. Yet this parable illustrates for us that salvation cannot be measured by human standards. In God’s Kingdom, we are all equal recipients of His mercy, whether someone is a lifelong saint or a deathbed convert.

The wages in this parable aren’t actual daily wages for laborers, but forgiveness for sins and salvation for believers. Heaven is not a paycheck to be earned, but a generous gift.

We are also warned in the parable against the sins of jealousy and pride when the vineyard owner asks: “Are you envious because I am generous?” God wants us to be content with the gifts He’s given us and rejoice at the salvation of others, for we are all on the same team: God’s team!

This Gospel’s call is not to calculate, but to celebrate God’s generosity of grace. There are no ledger books in His Kingdom, only mercy and love.