PROPER XXIII - A - 20 - Is. 25. 1-9, Phil. 4. 1-9, Matt. 22 1-14
“Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables…” Like the preceding parables, this one proclaims the transfer of the kingdom from the faithless Jews to the Gentiles. The setting is a joyful wedding banquet.
The Old Testament lesson as well as the Psalm and the Gospel for the day all speak of God preparing a meal of celebration for those who have been invited. Isaiah speaks of a great feast that one day God will prepare for his people. On that day, those who have long awaited for God’s appearing will have a veil, as it were, lifted from their eyes so those seated at God’s table will recognize Him in their midst and rejoice in His salvation.
The Psalmist reminds us that God is always with us in good times as well as bad. Even in the presence of our enemies God is there anointing us and spreading a table before us. The scene of the wedding banquet, in today’s gospel is a symbol of the feast that has long been associated with the coming of the fullness of God’s kingdom.
Jesus is the bridegroom. The Church is the bride of Christ. All those who have been invited to the wedding feast and who have accepted God’s invitation will be seated as long as they are properly clothed. The parable is self-explanatory.
God has been planning this
wedding feast for a long time. His invitation was sent first to
For his efforts, John was beheaded. Then Christ came reiterating John’s message of repentance and announcing that the kingdom has come. That God’s invitation was open to all who would believe in Him as the one sent from God. For his efforts, they crucified him.
Those invited first refused the invitation. Those later invited made excuses why they could not be there. Finally, in Jesus, all are invited, the good and the bad. However, in Jesus’ story, one showed up without the proper attire.
The King refuses to seat him; instead, he has him thrown out.
The parable of the wedding feast has to do with the final judgment, when the fullness of God’s kingdom will be realized when Christ comes again. All those who belong to him and have lived faithfully the new life to which they have been called in Christ will be seated at God’s table surrounded by the Holy Apostles and saints.
This is another one of those stories in which we hope we are not like the one rejected for improper attire, but rather that we are one of those whom God can say have lived our lives faithfully and are ushered to our seat at His table to enjoy the riches of the kingdom.
Nevertheless, we are sometimes like those who have received the invitation but act as if we have never opened it. We go on with life as usual, and make excuses of everyday concerns, which are not in themselves sinful, but when allowed to absorb all of our thoughts and energy they can very effectively stand between us and the full acceptance of the joys of the kingdom.
As Christians, we have all been invited to the party and at our baptisms, we said “yes” to God’s invitation. For us to say, “Yes” to God’s invitation means being willing to put on the mind of Christ and to follow his mode of behavior. Actions have consequences, moral choices matter.
Real human life is not like a game of chess where even if we do badly the pieces get put back into the box at the end of the day and we can start again tomorrow. Too many Christians today, as well as many non-believers, think they can live life as they choose and all will be well in the end.
That is not what the story tells us today. We want to hear a nice story about God throwing a party and all are invited. We don’t want to know or think about final judgment, or about demanding standards of holiness without which no one will see God, or the weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is not the lesson we want to learn. It is not the scene we wish to envision.
Often people dislike this parable because of what it does teach. There is a difference between the wide-open invitation and the message so many want to hear today. We want to hear that everyone is ok exactly as they are: that God loves us as we are and doesn’t want us to change.
People often say this when they want to justify a particular type of behavior, but that argument does not work. Jesus encountered the blind, lepers, cripples, prostitutes and extorioners as he preached and taught kingdom concepts on his way to Jerusalem and the cross.
Jesus did not say, “You are ok just like you are.” His love reached them where they were, but his love refused to let them stay as they were. Love wants the best for the beloved. Their lives were transformed, healed, and changed.
God hates what they are doing and the effect it has on everyone else and on themselves as well. If they do not change, they cannot remain forever in the party. That is the point of the end of the story. Other wise it leaves us puzzled.
God’s kingdom is one in which love and justice, truth and mercy and holiness reign unhindered. They are the clothes one needs to wear now for they are the proper attire for the wedding feast when Christ and those who belong to Him are united forever. Until that day comes, as Christians, we have the Eucharist to remind us of God’s invitation. It is a foretaste of the heavenly banquet.
In the Eucharist we are fed from God’ altar with the bread of heaven, the Body and Blood of Christ. Our faith helps us to realize that our celebration is authentic. Through the eyes of faith, we recognize God in our midst in the breaking of the bread and in the prayers.
Having been fed and nourished with the sacrament, we are sent back out into the world to love and serve as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord until the Day of His coming again. On that day, the fullness of the kingdom will be realized by all, as the presence of God in Christ will be recognized by all.
Moreover, we who have been judged faithful will be ushered in to take our place at God’s table surrounded by the Holy Apostles and Saints and in the presence of Him who has made us His own, even Jesus Christ, our Lord. AMEN+
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