Proper 22a 2026, 4 Oct
Ex. 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20; Matt. 21:33-46
Jack Hardaway
A TALKING CROSS
So Saint Francis was in an abandoned collapsing church called San Damiano, and the altar cross spoke to him and said “Francis rebuild my church.” And Francis being the literal minded young man that he was, he began picking up rocks and rebuilding the collapsed building where the talking cross was located.
The bigger story was that something was missing in the Church and Francis was called to bring it back. And he brought it back by being with the poor, the crippled and the ill, and caring for the vulnerable, which is where he got his reputation for caring for creation.
And the Church came alive again, the church found Jesus again, not through being successful and impressive, but by going to the brokenness in the world, because that is where God’s grace breaks in. At the cross.
The parable of the vineyard.
On one level it is a thinly veiled allegory about faithful leadership replacing unfaithful leadership, a cheap shot.
But looking deeper it is also about betrayal and judgement, rejection and new life. The rejected stone becomes the cornerstone.
And the deep meaning is that God’s Grace enters the world through our failures.
Not through our victories, not through our successes, but through failure, Good Friday brings Easter, not through being victorious at the Super Bowl. Though winning the Super Bowl is way cool.
And that is the deep stuff of faith, the hard stuff of faith, the mysterious and strange stuff of faith. That is where Frances lived, and that is how he brought Jesus back to the church that had lost its way and made faith something fulfilling rather than emptying.
Francis adored the Cross of Jesus. His prayer of adoration is in our Stations of the Cross and Good Friday liturgies, “We adore you O Christ and we bless you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”
Find the cross, the vulnerable, the broken, the betrayed, God’s Grace is pouring into the world in those places and those people.
Francis found the freedom of Joy in knowing that his need for God’s Grace was absolute and consuming in his complete failure to win and achieve it.
This is about much more than being friendly to animals.
This is about humble silence before the Holy One whose love is beyond expression, and we fail and fall apart before such intimacy.
Joy has entered the world through the cross of Jesus.
And we find that joy in brokenness and need, betrayal and failure.
Rebuild my church, Jesus speaks from the cross.
Find Jesus again and know joy.