26th Sunday Ordinary Time

Fr. Ed Hampson

Preached: September 27, 2026

 The Word of God today is about our RESPONSE – ABILITY…our ability to respond.  The Gospel puts a vineyard in front of us.  It’s owned by a family man who has 2 sons.  Dad needs help in the vineyard.      … He goes to son # 1  “Will you go work in the vineyard today?” to which # 1 says “I will not.”  Now, we don’t know why… maybe he was just feeling a little rebellious, maybe he didn’t think he could do it, … maybe he had planned to do something else… maybe  maybe…    and yet.. lo & behold  Matthew tells us “but afterward he repented and went.”  ®   He ‘let go’ of his ‘no.’ Then Dad goes to son # 2 & says the same…  and son # 2 answers  “I go, sir”  ..  but he did not go.  Didn’t happen. Nothing.     What makes that difference? ® 

Fr. Joseph Donders belonged to the Society of the Missionaries of Africa.  He held the chair of philosophy at the University of Nairobi and served as chaplain to the students there.  Fr. Donders believed the difference between the ‘yes’ & the’ no’ in the gospel today  has to do with our freedom or our lack of it; the spiritual freedom that is actually in our own minds & hearts.  Does our own practice of faith foster within us the freedom we need to respond to the invitations we are given to participate in the work of God on earth? Or  does our practice of the faith inhibit us, hold us back?  Are we prevented from responding because we believe we are already doing the right things, already righteous, already pious, seeing things one way, recognizing that we are already doing our part? Have we become trapped in a stance.. albeit a religious one.. that we’re used to?  Is our piety or our faith practice so ‘self-referential that it can even get in the way?  Or  are we free enough & open enough in mind & heart & spirit to respond? To bring forth new life? To respond to the opportunities God brings into our lives now?  And if  that  freedom to respond  is what we aspire to, then what does that look like?

Freedom   spiritual freedom, freedom in here, freedom to flex, freedom to think critically, freedom to adapt, freedom to embrace something or someone who is different,  some thing that’s not according to my plan…   what does that look like in concrete terms?      I think it looks a lot like what we were being shown in the 2nd reading today.

That 2nd reading is one of the real gems of our faith.  I want to invite you, in the imagination of your minds & hearts, to come with me for just a moment  to another time & place:  where  we find ourselves standing on the edge of a quarry.  It is dusk; the light is fading.  The year is 82 a.d. & this is a place of emptiness.  Rock & rubble lay before us, strewn across the exposed rock face.  On the other side of the quarry is an opening in what appears to be a small hill.   In the fading light we hear the sounds of  human voices  singing.  Their song is coming from that opening over there, so we draw closer in order to hear more.  The opening before us is an entrance into a world of caverns and passages that would become known as ‘the catacombs;’ they run under the city… & they’re usually empty.  . . The song.. the words being sung by those voices, are “He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant” ®    – The little band of people gathered together that night deep in the catacombs., were singing one of the earliest hymns of the Christian Church, the ‘kenosis’ hymn, Philippians 2: 5-11, which was in our second reading right here at this Mass.  It’s about emptying & being filled: ®  => letting go  so that something else can  become.   Freedom to do that has been part of the record of faith from our earliest days.  Emptying & being filled.  Christ emptied himself in order to be born amongst us; emptied himself..  poured himself out.. and became a servant..  not one to be served..  but one who would serve..  & give himself for many.   “Yes Lord, I will do your will.”   Yes Father, I’ll help you in your vineyard today. . . . . . .  So what does that ‘self emptying’ look like?

In an interview, Erma Bombeck, the prolific columnist, was once asked if she saved ideas so that she could be assured of material for at least one strong column each week.  This is what she said:   “Someone interviewed me recently and wanted to know if I saved ideas so that I could be assured of at least one strong column a week.  I don’t save anything.  My pockets are empty at the end of a week.  So is my refrigerator.  So is my gas tank.  So is my file of ‘ideas.’  I trot out the best I’ve got, and come the next week, I bargain, whimper, make promises, cower and throw myself on the mercy of the Almighty for just “three more columns” in exchange for . . . cleaning my oven.

I didn’t get to this point overnight.  I came from a family of savers who were sired by poverty, raised in the Depression and worshipped at the altar of self-denial.  Throughout the years, I’ve seen a fair number of my family who have died leaving candles that have never been lit, appliances that never got out of the box, and new sofas shrouded in chenille bedspreads.

I had a relative who, for years, entertained in her basement.  I once described the décor as “early hot water heater.”  We sat on glider swings and drank from plastic as we surveyed the room around us: a workbench, outdoor tables, mismatched lamps and stationary tubs.  Upstairs there was a perfectly beautiful living room that had been misnamed.

I always had a dream that when I am asked to give an accounting of my life to a higher court, it will go thusly: ‘So, empty your pockets.  What have you got left of your life?  Any dreams that were unfulfilled?  Any unused talent that we gave you when you were born that you still have left?  Any unsaid compliments or bits of love that you haven’t spread around?”  And I will answer “I’ve nothing to return.  I spent everything you gave me.  I’m as naked as the day I was born.”[E.Bombeck,”Empty Your Pockets”]   Emptying and being filled.®   That is how we live out the paschal mystery.  That is the path of freedom & faith…  not by hanging on to what we know or think we know, not by grasping our way through the life we’ve been given, not by investing more & more in having rather than being…  but by letting go, by letting go.   Self emptying..   making space & place  for something new to happen..  Someone new to come….   It’s how we say yes  to what God wants us to do.  We just have to make room  for God  & our neighbour to be  in our lives.

One last image:  There’s a interesting exercise that’s sometimes used in professional development settings.  It’s called the ‘two handed exercise.’  Here’s how it works: => The person who wants to do this is asked to sit on a chair in a comfortable position, & they’re in a room where there’s a clock on the wall.  The exercise begins by inviting them to take all of 5 minutes concentrating on every muscle in their hand  to move their hand from the open or letting go position  to the closed or taking hold position.   When they’ve done that, they’re invited to take a break because they’ll need one.  And at the end of the break, they’re invited to take their   other hand, concentrating on every single muscle in that hand & move it from the closed or taking hold position to the open or letting go position, taking all of 5 minutes to do that.  Then they take a break because they’ll feel they need it. And after that break, you ask them just one question:  Which one took more strength?   The answer is always that moving into the letting go position took more strength.   We are all socialized to believe that taking hold, taking charge, hanging on, grasping onto life  takes more strength.  But when people do this exercise their own muscles tell them that it’s moving into the letting go position that actually requires more strength.  That is what the 1st son did in today’s parable; that is what those Christians in 82 AD were singing about in the catacombs.  That is what Erma Bombeck discovered as she tried to write those columns every week.  And that is something you can and I can learn to do as we share our life with our God and with our neighbour. 

Our ‘yes’ to God the Father  matters to Him.   Our response – ability  matters to Him.   It is literally how God continues the work & ministry of his Son our Lord Jesus Christ:  this is about  us  having the freedom   the flexibility   to empty ourselves, & be the place & the space where that ministry can happen.  If almighty God  in His wisdom  believes that you & I can do  His work  in this life… then   who are we to argue?    We really can  let go    & say   ‘yes.’    We can  be the Good News.  We can make the difference.  We can  be the neighbour   we can be that brother or sister who is unexpected,  we can be the balm of Gilead,  we can be the space & the place where Christ becomes present for someone.    We  can be   God’s  ‘yes.’     We can be  the  gospel  proclaimed  today.  Amen.