Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A: The Father's Will

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A  

September 27, 2026

The readings this Sunday confront a question we often ask of God and of one another: What is fair? They also press a more searching question: Which of us is actually doing the Father’s will?

In Ezekiel, the people complain that the Lord’s way is not fair. God answers by turning the charge around. A virtuous person who turns to iniquity dies because of that choice. A wicked person who turns from wickedness, does what is right and just, and leaves behind former sins “shall surely live.” God does not freeze us in our past reputation or our last failure. He looks at the direction we are actually moving. Mercy and justice meet in the possibility of conversion.

The psalm takes up that same hope: “Remember your mercies, O Lord.” We ask to be taught God’s paths, to have the sins of our youth forgotten, and to be shown the way as humble sinners rather than as people who already know the route.

Paul then shows us the mind that makes such turning possible. He urges the Philippians—and us—to be of one mind and one love, to regard others as more important than ourselves, and to look not only to our own interests. The model is Christ, who, though in the form of God, did not cling to equality with God. He emptied himself, took the form of a slave, and became obedient even to death on a cross. Because of that self-emptying, God exalted him. The hymn is not merely beautiful theology; it is the pattern for how we live together and how we repent. Humility is not weakness. It is the space in which a “no” can become a “yes.”

Jesus’ parable of the two sons makes the same point with startling clarity. A father asks both sons to work in the vineyard. The first says “I will not,” then changes his mind and goes. The second says “Yes, sir,” and never goes. Which did the father’s will? The first. Words are not enough. Polite religious language is not enough. The vineyard is entered by those who actually go.

Jesus applies the parable to the religious leaders who heard John the Baptist and refused to change, while tax collectors and prostitutes believed and entered the kingdom ahead of them. Those who seemed farthest away said no with their lives and then turned. Those who said all the right things stayed where they were.

The readings hold together two truths that we often separate. First, it is never too late to change direction. The first son is not defined by his initial refusal. Ezekiel’s wicked person who turns lives. Christ’s self-emptying opens a way for every delayed or reluctant “yes.” Second, a spoken “yes” that never reaches our feet is not obedience. We can recite the creed, keep the calendar, and still remain the second son if our lives do not follow.

The invitation is concrete. Where have we said “I will not” to God—in a relationship that needs repair, a habit that needs breaking, a work of mercy we keep postponing, a truth we know but will not live? The first son shows that we can still go. Where have we said “Yes, sir” while remaining comfortably unmoved? The second son warns us that courtesy is not conversion.

Christ has already gone into the vineyard ahead of us. He emptied himself so that our turning would not be left to our own strength. The Spirit who formed that mind in him can form it in us. Today the Father still says, “Go work in the vineyard.” The question is not whether our first answer was perfect. The question is whether we will go.  

Today is also my beloved nephew's birthday.  Happy birthday Pookie.