Lectionary 25, Year A
Proper 20 The Sunday between September 18 and September 24 Revised Common Lectionary, Year A, the year of Matthew Green
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The Gospel: Matthew 20:1–16
The parable of the workers in the vineyard, all paid the same wage regardless of when they started.
Matthew 20:1-16
Most churches stand for the Gospel, and sing or say a short response before and after it.
The passage
1 “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. 4 He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. 6 About the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’ 7 “They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ “He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.’ 8 When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’ 9 “When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. 10 When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household, 12 saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’ 13 “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you. 15 Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.”
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
This parable, The Workers in the Vineyard, explained on Free Scripture
The other readings
In the order they are read on Sunday, before the Gospel.
Jonah 3:10—4:11
Jonah resents God’s mercy toward Nineveh, and God questions whether Jonah’s anger is justified.
Read it here
Chapter 3
10 God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do it.
Chapter 4
1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD, and said, “Please, O LORD, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm. 3 Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 The LORD said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” 5 Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made himself a booth, and sat under it in the shade, until he might see what would become of the city. 6 The LORD God prepared a vine, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the vine. 7 But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine, so that it withered. 8 When the sun arose, God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the vine?” He said, “I am right to be angry, even to death.” 10 The LORD said, “You have been concerned for the vine, for which you have not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night. 11 Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much livestock?”
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
Psalm 145:1-8
A song of praise for a God who is gracious, merciful, and slow to anger.
Read it here
1 I will exalt you, my God, the King. I will praise your name forever and ever. 2 Every day I will praise you. I will extol your name forever and ever. 3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised! His greatness is unsearchable. 4 One generation will commend your works to another, and will declare your mighty acts. 5 I will meditate on the glorious majesty of your honor, on your wondrous works. 6 Men will speak of the might of your awesome acts. I will declare your greatness. 7 They will utter the memory of your great goodness, and will sing of your righteousness. 8 The LORD is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving kindness.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
Philippians 1:21-30
Paul writes from prison that for him, living is Christ and dying is gain.
Read it here
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will bring fruit from my work; yet I don’t know what I will choose. 23 But I am hard pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. 24 Yet to remain in the flesh is more needful for your sake. 25 Having this confidence, I know that I will remain, yes, and remain with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 that your rejoicing may abound in Christ Jesus in me through my presence with you again. 27 Only let your way of life be worthy of the Good News of Christ, that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your state, that you stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving for the faith of the Good News; 28 and in nothing frightened by the adversaries, which is for them a proof of destruction, but to you of salvation, and that from God. 29 Because it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on his behalf, 30 having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
Some congregations follow the RCL’s other track this Sunday, which reads an Old Testament book straight through over several weeks: Exodus 16:2–15 and Psalm 105:1–6, 37–45 in place of the first reading and psalm above.
A question to carry into the week
What is one thing Jesus says or does in this Gospel that you want to remember this week?
For your newsletter or sermon notes
These readings are told as stories on our sister site, Free Scripture, one scene at a time in plain words. The lines below are ready to paste. The next eight Sundays, and every story.
Lectionary 25 (Proper 20) · Revised Common Lectionary, Year A · the same Sunday at the Vanderbilt Divinity Library. Scripture text: World English Bible, public domain.
A provisional alternative for this day
The Consultation on Common Texts has commended alternative readings to the churches for a three-year trial, reexamining passages historically misused to justify violence against Jews. The ELCA helped shape the work and encourages congregations to test it through 2028. The readings above remain the authorized ones. This is what the trial would change.
- Second reading
- Acts 2:14-21, 33-35
Peter's address at Pentecost. The Year A Acts series begins.
The proposal (CCT) Preaching guidance (ELCA)
Provisional alternative readings commended by the Consultation on Common Texts for trial use, 2025–2028. Citations as published in a worship resource copyright © 2025 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, reproduced for local, nonsale use.
Revised Common Lectionary copyright © 1992 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org Used by permission.