Whose House is it?
Whose House is it?
Our Gospel today is definitely about God’s economy, which also makes it about Stewardship. If you trace “stewardship” back to its Greek roots in the New Testament, then we are taught that God does have an “economy,” which literally means that God has a “house” in this world. The laborers’ mistake was failing to understand in whose house they were living and working.
The Greek word that gets translated as “stewardship” is oikonomia. Replace the “oi” with “e” and you can see how oikonomia becomes “economy” in English. So God has an economy? Absolutely, because the Greek word for a house is oikos. To be a steward is to manage your master’s house in which you have been allowed to live. So in God’s economy, the whole creation is God’s house. And we are not the owners of anything in that house, but the recipients of whatever God has given us from that house, and stewards of what God has given us.
When I was just out of college, I struggled to find a way to stay in the South Carolina city where I’d graduated and Laura was still a student. But it looked like I was going to have go back to Florida and stay with my father and stepmother. But the day before I planned to leave, my tire blew out, and I had to wait a couple of days to get it replaced. In those extra days, I went back to a pizza place where I’d been a good customer, and this time the manager hired me as a delivery driver. Looking back at my life, I know that I have what I have because of people who gave me a chance, and in some cases a second chance. And if each of us will look back, we will know that for all of our striving, what we have is a gift from the owner of the house that we are graced to live in.
Knowledge of that truth can make one feel insecure, perhaps a little like the first hired laborers who agree to work for the “usual daily wage,” literally a denarius coin, one day’s pay. Perhaps there will be work to be done tomorrow, perhaps not. So, when the landowner sets them up to get paid last, and they see the last hired getting a denarius, they perk up. Those hired at five o’clock have only done one-sixth of the day’s work. If they’re getting a full denarius, then those hired at 6:00 AM should be getting a whole week’s worth of wages, right?
But it’s not their land, and it’s not their house, for the whole creation is God’s house. Each of us is given a room in that house to steward. A combination of luck, grace, and hard work can allow for some rooms to become bigger than others. The ending of today’s reading is a direct echo of what Jesus said just before today’s reading: Many who are first will be last, and the last will be first. Then, Jesus had encountered the rich young man, whose room was certainly larger than any room the laborers in our parable would have had, or Jesus’ disciples for that matter. Jesus challenged him to give up his large room in order to live more faithfully in God’s infinitely larger house.
After the Peace and announcements, the Priest always says an Offertory Sentence, usually one of the ones suggested in the prayer book. All are intended to call us to an offering, of our hearts and minds, our time, talent, and treasure. Some emphasize hearts and minds, others the time, talent, and especially treasure. It’s not in our current (1979) prayer book, but my favrorite comes from King David in 1st Chronicles: All things come from you O LORD, and of your own have we given you.
Of course within the confines of our “rooms,” we only have so much to give. But within the one and only “house” that is God’s, each of us has been given enough to make us thankful to God for God’s blessings, one of them presumably being this beautiful space and beautiful people, where we meet God in the beauty of holiness and in each other’s beautiful faces. Consider the beauty of this room and its people, and prayerfully discern how much you can give back.
September 20th, 2026
16th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 20, Year A
The Rev. David P. Kendrick