The Illusion of Control (Matthew 21:33–46)

How is being responsible for something different from owning it? Explore this week’s Gospel reading with a reflection on the lessons we learn from the earth and a poem by Margaret Atwood.

Each week, we post a passage from Sunday’s Scriptures; share links to resources that give context and inspire new ideas; and offer a few questions to get you thinking about what we’ll read together in church.

The Gospel for October 4, 2026

Matthew 21:33–46

Jesus said, “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 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. Finally 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 the fruits of the kingdom. 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.

Read all of Sunday’s Scriptures

Step Into the Story

3 Ways to Go Deeper

Commentary

In the Parable of the Wicked Tenants, Jesus calls to account the religious elite who’ve misused their authority and missed the point entirely. Writer Debie Thomas connects this critique of power to our environmental crisis. “What the tenants in the story neglect to understand — or very deliberately choose to ignore — is that they are stewards rather than owners of the vineyard,” Thomas writes. “It is a vocation of caring, tending, safeguarding, cultivating, and protecting — on behalf of another.”

Essay

Native American author Kaitlin Curtice meditates on the lessons we learn by caring for and paying close attention to the earth: “It is a slow and steady surrender to the mystery of God, who uses the everyday experiences of our lives to make our ragged edges a little smoother.”

Poetry

Writer Margaret Atwood speaks to the illusion of ownership in “The Moment.”

Reflection Questions

Take a Moment to Wonder

• How is being responsible for something different from owning it?
• What have you learned by surrendering the things you can’t — or shouldn’t — control?
• What might happen if you released the illusion of ownership?