The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost; September 27, 2026
Proper 21: Exodus 17: 1-7; Psalm 78: 1-4, 12-16; Philippians 2: 1-13; Matthew 21: 23-32
Not “My Three Sons”
I have made this comment before. I think we would like Jesus’ parable in today’s gospel to be about three sons, not two. Three children, not two. What we specifically are looking for is a child who says YES to the parent and then follows through in addition to a child who says YES but does not follow through or who says NO but then repents and follows through.
The Exodus lesson today shows the people of Israel in pretty full rebellion about what they had to endure in the wilderness. In essence they are saying they wished they had just given lip service to God when they were in Egypt and not followed Moses at all. Staying slaves in a place with food and water seems like a better idea now. They wish they were the “son” who said yes but did not go. They are becoming the “son” who said NO but then repents and follows the will of God. The pattern from the wilderness on, with some exceptions, is NO to the will of God; REPENTING when challenged for their opposition, and then FOLLOWING God.
There is a way to look at this parable of Jesus and see our relationship with the earth as stewards.
The prayer of Chingachgook
At the beginning of the 1992 movie, The Last of the Mohicans, it is 1757. Hawkeye and Chingachgook, and his son, Uncas, are out hunting animals. They come upon the trail of an elk and follow it until Hawkeye slings his musket into place and shoots the animal as it is running. Over the body of the dead elk, Chingachgook, prays: “We’re sorry to kill you, Brother. Forgive us. We do honor to your courage and speed, your strength.” (1)
We don’t see what exactly follows but it becomes clear that they are hunting the animal for its hide, not for food. They show up at a village where they can trade their hides for money. They are, like it or not, part of a global trade network. They are killing animals – especially beavers – for their hides or fur. Beaver hats were prized in Europe by the rich. And as I said in last week’s sermon, those who study the rich today find that their wealth is a disconnection drug. It was probably not any different in the mid-1700’s. The rich wanted beaver hats and hides from the new world which, from reports they had, was teeming with animals and good land and great water.
So Hawkeye, Uncas and Chingachgook are caught up in work that is their way of making a living. My sense is Chingachgook recognizes that killing an animal for its hide only – probably leaving all the meat and other valuable part of the animal in the forest – is wasteful.
But what can they do? This is the way things are in their time. They are the “sons” who do not want to go into the forest to benefit the greed of men beyond the ocean but they go anyway.
The Last of the Mohicans is fiction. Whether it is the book or one of the movies, it is at its source written by a white colonist who knows a lot about colonists and less about native Americans. But it does give a clear perspective on the greed that was underneath the founding of America. The stories about religious freedom or about wanting democracy are true; but also true is that it was the greed of kings and queens in Europe and the capitalists in England who funded “companies” to settle areas. At first they looked for gold but settled for tobacco, crops and the parts of animals that could be turned into gold on the global market.
In the story of America there is no third son who comes to our shores seeking only to do the will of God. The motives are more mixed and our concept of the stewardship of this land is likewise mixed to this day.
Take your pick
When Jesus tells his parable in today’s gospel it is told to the chief priest and elders of the people. They are IN authority. Jesus is willing to reveal his authority but only if they answer his question about John the Baptist. They reveal that they are afraid to answer it truthfully because the crowds loved John and they want to avoid the anger of the crowds. And everyone knows they avoided being baptized by John. This makes them better politicians than religious leaders. This says nothing about Judaism but about religious leadership. It is then that he tells this parable. There are two kinds of children in this world, Jesus says. The children to which God says: Do justice, love your neighbor, walk gently on the earth, and so on. These children say: Absolutely … but they don’t actually do it. There is the other kind of child to whom God says: Do justice, love your neighbor, walk gently on the earth and so on. This child replies No, this is my land. How I take care of it is my business not God’s. But then later, they repent of their words and their attitude and try to love the neighbor and care for the earth.
Jesus’s point is that this latter group – the people he encountered who were among the tax collectors and prostitutes and others – these people were entering the kingdom of God through him. In response to Jesus and his teaching, his insistence that God is good and generous to all, they were turning/repenting and therefore entering the kingdom by doing God’s will. They are following through and he confronts the religious leaders with this truth.
Not “My Three Sons”
Where do we see ourselves – the first child or the second child – because Jesus does not include a child who hears God’s word and just does it? If that is who we think we are then we are mistaken. There aren’t any children like this. Well, there was ONE. (See today’s epistle)
Repentance is the key, turning to God in a way that leads to doing what is right in relationship with the earth and all its creatures. The prayer of Chingachgook is the beginning. As we never totally lose the image of God, despite our sins, so the earth and its creatures continue to disclose the image of God, even when they are marred by our sin. This should call us to turn to God daily, to cease to impose our worst actions on the earth, and renew in us the image of God.
As our relationship with God renews in repentance, in turning to him, so does our relationship with the earth and its creatures. (2)
- The words “forgive us” are not in the movie but in the original screenplay.
- Philokala, pp. 36 ff
The Rev. Dr. George Glazier
Vicar, Trinity Church, London