This image of the vineyard is one of the less-common images for the people of Israel, but it pops up in three of our readings this Sunday. In fact, this Sunday is the third week in a row that we’ve had Jesus telling a parable about a vineyard. They have all been taken from roughly the same section of the Gospel of Matthew. Much like his parables about sheep, fishing and making bread vineyards feature in Jesus’ parables because of the place that wine had in ancient Israel. To

I love you! A phrase no doubt that fills its recipient initially with joy, if indeed the same affections are felt. But, is ‘I love you enough’ in any relationship? Of course not. The old adage love is shown in deeds not words, or more familiarly “actions speak louder than words” fosters the idea that when we say something significant we should follow up on it concretely. In a relationship words need a concrete expression, maybe the ‘I love you’ is followed up by flowers, a ni

Our Gospel today is shocking, because we all expect fair treatment, and the parable in today’s Gospel seems massively unfair. We’re told not only that the first workers receive the same amount as the last ones, but that they have to wait in line until the end to receive that same amount. As Christians reacting to a Gospel we’ve heard over and over again in the course of our lives, we can easily criticize the labourers, because we know they must be wrong. But if we are honest