October 4, 2026 @ 8:30 a.m. | 19th Sunday after Pentecost
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church — Buffalo, NY
NOTE: The 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. sermons were different today largely due to the unexpected interruption of the fire alarm.
References
Scripture: Matthew 21:33–46; Galatians 5:22–23; Micah 6:8
Video of worship/sermon
A Vineyard Built to Bear Fruit
We are in the 21st chapter of Matthew. You can probably guess that we are getting toward the end of Jesus’ life and ministry.
Jesus was in the temple in Jerusalem teaching … telling parables. And he was offending people.
Jesus told a parable about a landowner who established a vineyard. The landowner planted the vineyard—and, of course, we know the purpose of planting—harvest cannot happen unless something has been planted.
The landowner protected the vineyard by establishing a fence around it. Then the landowner built a winepress.
What is the purpose of a winepress?
It is the expectation that the vineyard is going to produce fruit—and that the fruit will eventually become wine.
But there is one more thing in Jesus’ description that I often overlook: The watchtower.
Isn’t the purpose of a watchtower to watch over the land? To watch for people who might steal something? To watch for animals? To survey what is happening throughout the field?
Everything about this vineyard has a purpose. And the purpose of the vineyard is to produce fruit.
What happens if you have a vineyard but never plant anything? Is it still a vineyard? Or is it just a field?
What Are We Producing?
No one tends a vineyard twenty-four hours a day. People have to rest, eat, spend time with their families, clean their home, and all the regular things of life.
But, at the end of the day, the vineyard exists to produce fruit.
You have probably heard the phrase: What gets measured gets done.
There is another phrase similar to it that I find helpful: What we focus on grows.
Jesus, of course, was not really talking about vineyards. Jesus was talking about life.
He was talking about the lives of the Pharisees and the chief priests and asking: What fruit are they bearing?
And I think Jesus asks us the same question, because our lives are not simply about growing, accumulating things, breathing in and breathing out.
At the end of the day, aren’t we also called to produce fruit?
God Has Given Us What We Need
What we focus on grows. And like the vineyard, God has set us up to produce fruit. God has given us what we need.
God planted the seed. Notice that this is not our job—at least according to this parable.
God established the boundaries and provided protection.
God prepared for what would come next by building the winepress.
God built the watchtower.
And then I hear Jesus saying: Now it is your turn.
Go. Produce the fruit. Harvest the fruit.
Be the salt.
Be the light of the world.
Be the Good Samaritan.
Be those who seek justice.
Be love.
Love is not something we own.
Love is not something we possess or store up for ourselves.
Love always exists in relationship.
Paul tells us in Galatians 5 that the fruit of the Spirit is:
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
These are not private possessions.
They become visible in relationship.
They become visible in community.
They become visible in how we treat one another.
Showing Up When the World Hurts
Of course, just like the tenants in Jesus’ story, we do not tend the fields of our lives twenty-four hours a day.
There are so many things affecting us.
- Sickness
- Death
- War
- The cost of living
- Fear
- Uncertainty
- Jobs and job loss
- Relationships
People increasingly seem willing to treat one another terribly. Sometimes it can even feel as though cruelty has become acceptable.
We’re hearing so much right now from Cornell University that stirs up painful experiences and disturbing statistics around sexual violence.
We see people being demeaned, dismissed, threatened, and harmed.
And these are precisely the places where we are called to bear fruit.
These are the places where we are called to show up in love.
These are the places where we are called to be people who:
Do justice.
Love mercy.
Walk humbly with God.
These are the moments.
A Simple Wave
Yesterday, as I was watching College GameDay, I was reminded of one of those moments.
At University of Iowa football games, there is a children’s hospital overlooking the stadium.
At the end of the first quarter, something remarkable happens. People throughout the stadium turn toward the hospital. Fans. Players. Coaches. Officials. People in the press box. Everyone turns.
And inside the hospital, children and their families gather near the windows.
For a moment, the people in the hospital face the stadium and the people in the stadium face the hospital.
And they wave.
Regardless of who you are.
Regardless of what team you came to support.
For that moment, everyone stands in solidarity, offering love and support.
It is such a simple thing.
And yet it bears fruit.
Because producing fruit does not have to happen inside a church building.
Producing fruit happens wherever relationships happen.
It happens when thousands of people wave toward children in a hospital.
It happens when you sit down with a friend who is hurting.
It happens when you speak up when someone is being treated unjustly.
It happens when you refuse to participate in cruelty.
It happens when you simply show up.
What We Focus On Grows
You and I cannot control every circumstance around us.
We cannot fix everything.
We cannot eliminate every injustice or every painful thing happening around us.
But we can show up.
We can see some of the terrible things happening around us for what they are and say:
Stop. This is not who we are called to be. This is not of the Kingdom of God.
We are called to bear fruit. And we are called to pay attention to what kind of fruit we are producing.
Because what we focus on grows.
If we spend all of our attention feeding fear, fear grows.
If we feed cruelty, cruelty grows.
If we feed division, division grows.
If we feed injustice, injustice grows.
But what happens if we focus on love?
What happens if we focus on joy?
Peace?
Patience?
Kindness?
Generosity?
Faithfulness?
Gentleness?
Justice?
Mercy?
What happens if those are the things we tend?
What we focus on grows.
You and I are called to produce fruit.
You and I are called to be people who show up.
You and I are called to a radical, relational kind of love.
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Reflection Questions
- When you look at your own life right now, what kind of “fruit” do you see growing?
- What has been receiving most of your attention lately—and what might be growing because of that focus?
- Where is God inviting you simply to show up in love for another person or for your community this week?
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