"Called to More: Tenants of a Shared Vineyard" (October 4, 2026 Sermon)

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Called to More: Tenants of a Shared Vineyard

Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing·October 4, 2026·Guilford Park Presbyterian Church

19th Sunday after Pentecost (Year A)

Matthew 21:33-46

“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went away. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them in the same way. Then he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:

‘The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
    and it is amazing in our eyes’?

“Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces its fruits. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

I am very grateful for the theological insights of the young ones among us. A young disciple here at the church asked me a few weeks ago whether God is in dinosaurs' hearts. It was a very important theological question. My response is: is a God who isn't in dinosaurs' hearts a God worthy of our worship? I don't think so. So yes, God is in fact in dinosaurs' hearts!

Another one that threw me for a loop came a week ago, when we were in the car heading home from preschool. Hazel Grace, just out of the blue, asked me a very profound theological question. She said, "Daddy, do you own the church?” I thought over it for a minute and then said, "No, no. Daddy doesn't own the church. Daddy is responsible for working with the people of our church to take care of it for this chapter in its life."

So I'm really grateful for both the dinosaur question and the question of whether pastors own the church. It reminded me that bad things happen when pastors think they own the church. You could also say that bad things happen when congregations think they own the church. And I think this story also tells us that bad things happen when tenants think they own the vineyard.

A Text Used and Misused

This is a bizarre little parable in Matthew's gospel, one we think the early church told itself to try to make sense of why Jesus was rejected by his own people. So before we go any further into this text, I want to name the ways it has been used, abused, and misused, including in very antisemitic ways. Starting way back in the fourth century with an early church leader named John Chrysostom, this text has been used in some pretty blatant antisemitic ways, such as the idea that the metaphorical vineyard once belonged to the Jews. They had their moment, right? But then they messed up, they rejected Jesus, and now it's “our turn” as Christians.

Folks, we don't peddle that sort of theology here at Guilford Park Presbyterian Church. In fact, I think it is a theological truth that this vineyard was never a “Jewish” vineyard. And you know what? It's not a “Christian” vineyard either. This vineyard belongs to God and God alone. And we are all shared stewards, or tenants, of this vineyard, Jews and Christians alike.

So I think it's important to remember that this story in the Bible is an internal conversation within the Jewish community. It's not pointing fingers at another religion. Therefore, for us as Christians to wave it around and weaponize it against our Jewish siblings is arrogant and theologically problematic, because it falls into the same trap that the tenants in today's story fell into. They thought they owned the vineyard. They didn't realize, as Hazel Grace reminded me, that we don't “own” this.

Yes, we call this our church, and for good reason. Yet we all need to be reminded - myself included - that this doesn't belong to us. This belongs to God. As I gesture here, I hope you all know I'm not talking about the building. I'm talking about us, about this community that God has blessed us with.

Shared Tenants of God’s Vineyard

And I think that's ultimately the story we have in this parable from Matthew's gospel: the idea that God, for reasons beyond my fathoming, entrusts us with this beautiful vineyard. And y'all, we have not always done the best job of it, like the tenants in today's story. But for reasons beyond my fathoming, which I'm nevertheless grateful for, God gives us a chance, over and over and over again, to produce the sort of fruit of neighborliness we are so very hungry for right now.

I hope you all enjoy our new sign from David LaMotte that you see out there, our "Let's Be Neighbors" sign, because that's ultimately what we do here in this vineyard, this little microcosm of God's vineyard that we call Guilford Park Presbyterian Church. We are all shared tenants of it. Which is why we are all being called together to give our tithes, offerings, and pledges, not because we “have” to, but because we get to.

In a world where we are taught to be at each other's throats, we stand up and say, "No, there is a better way for us to come together," at this Table that is not ours. This beautiful vineyard, where hope and healing come, does not belong to us. You and I are shared stewards of it. Though we may come together from different places, political backgrounds, geographic areas, and generations, we all gather around a shared story at this table. And that is a beautiful, beautiful thing.

And so we guard this good treasure. A few weeks ago, I sent out a letter that mentioned one of my favorite passages from 2 Timothy, where Paul tells the young Timothy, "Guard the good treasure entrusted to you." You and I have been given a good treasure here at Guilford Park. We are called to guard it, not to hoard it as those wicked tenants did in today's story. We guard it to share it with our neighbors.

Come as Individuals, Leave as Neighbors

So I want us to remember that today. As a beautiful act of remembrance, I want us all to go ahead and turn to our next hymn, which we're going to sing in just a second. It's number 515 in your purple hymnals. Go ahead and open that up right now, if you would. I want to thank Dr. Bill for selecting this text, which I had forgotten about. It's been some time since I sang it. One of the things I love about this hymn, which we're going to close out this sermon with, is the clever theological turn it makes.

Look at the first two verses. What word do they start with? "I." [“I come with joy, a child of God…”] The second verse does something similar. [“I come with Christians far and near…”] So the first two verses begin with "I," right? This idea that we come together as individuals.

But notice, as we sing this hymn, there's a pivot that happens in the middle. Look at verse 4. [“alive among us here…”] And then the last verse. [“Together met, together bound by all that God has done…”]

I love the pivot in this hymn because whenever we come to this table, whenever we come to this vineyard, so to speak, we come as individuals but leave as neighbors. And that's what we're about here at Guilford Park Presbyterian Church. And that is why we give: not because we “have” to, but because we get to. Because we are tenants of a shared vineyard.

So, friends, I cannot close this sermon by myself. I need your help. So let all of us rise, in body or in spirit as you are able, singing our next hymn, “I Come With Joy.”

[sing hymn]

In the name of God the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, may all of us, God’s beloved children, say: Amen.

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Stephen Fearing

Stephen was born in 1988 in Cookeville, TN, where his parents met whilst attending Tennessee Tech. Shortly after, they moved to Dalton, Georgia where they put down roots and joined First Presbyterian Church, the faith family that taught Stephen that he was first and foremost a beloved child of God. It was this community that taught Stephen that it was OK to have questions and doubts and that nothing he could do could every possibly separate him from the love of God. In 1995, his sister, Sarah Kate, joined the family and Stephen began his journey as a life-long musician. Since then, he has found a love of music and has found this gift particularly fitting for his call to ministry. Among the instruments that he enjoys are piano, trumpet, guitar, and handbells. Stephen has always had a love of singing and congregation song. An avid member of the marching band, Stephen was the drum major of his high school's marching band. In 2006, Stephen began his tenure at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC where he majored in Religion and minored in History. While attending PC, Stephen continued to explore his love of music by participating in the Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band, Jazz Combo, Jazz Trio, as well as playing in the PC Handbell ensemble and playing mandolin and banjo PC's very own bluegrass/rock group, Hosegrass, of which Stephen was a founding member (Hosegrass even released their own CD!). In 2010, Stephen moved from Clinton to Atlanta to attend Columbia Theological Seminary to pursue God's call on his life to be a pastor in the PC(USA). During this time, Stephen worked at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Silver Creek Presbyterian Church, Central Presbyterian Church, and Westminster Presbyterian Church. For three years, Stephen served as the Choir Director of Columbia Theological Seminary's choir and also served as the Interim Music Director at Westminster Presbyterian Church. In 2014, Stephen graduated from Columbia with a Masters of Divinity and a Masters of Arts in Practical Theology with an emphasis in liturgy, music, and worship. In July of 2014, Stephen was installed an ordained as Teaching Elder at Shelter Island Presbyterian Church in Shelter Island, NY. Later that year, Stephen married the love of his life, Tricia, and they share their home on Shelter Island with their Golden Doodle, Elsie, and their calico cat, Audrey. In addition to his work with the people who are Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, Stephen currently serves as a commission from Long Island Presbytery to the Synod of the Northeast and, beginning in January of 2016, will moderate the Synod's missions team.