28th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A. Oct. 15, 2023
Isiah 25:
6-10a; Philippians 4: 12-14, 19-20; Matthew 22: 1-14
Theme: The “Wedding Garment” is Our Willingness
to Repent and Meet with Jesus
Many of us
like being invited to big celebrations like wedding parties. The first reading
and the Gospel today remind us that God invites each one of us to the greatest
feast. The Gospel represents this feast as a wedding banquet that God organizes
for his Son Jesus whose bride is the Church. Prophet Isaiah, in the first
reading, describes this banquet as a feast of rich food and choice wines that
will take place on the mountain Zion, alluding to the end of the time. The
Church teaches us that this heavenly banquet starts here on earth and takes
place at every Eucharistic celebration (Mass).
To better
understand the parable that we heard in today’s Gospel, let us first recall its
historical context which starts back in chapter 21. Jesu’s long journey with
his disciples to Jerusalem came to an end. First, Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem,
and the crowds sang for him, “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who
comes in the name of the lord; hosana in the highest.” The whole city of
Jerusalem was shaken. (21: 1-11). Second, Jesus entered the Temple area and
drove out all those engaged in selling and buying there. The blind and the lame
came to him, and he healed them. Children continued crying out in the temple
area, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” The Chief priests and Scribes were
indignant (21: 12-17). V. 17 says that Jesus spent the night out of the city of
Jerusalem, it was in Bethany. On his way back to the city in the morning, he
cursed one fig tree because he did not find anything to eat on it. Immediately
the fig tree withered. Because his disciples were amazed at seeing this
miracle, Jesus taught them what a prayer with faith can do (vv. 18-22). When
Jesus arrived in the temple area, he started teaching. The chief priests and
elders questioned his authority of preaching, “By what authority are you doing
these things? And who gave you this authority?” Jesus asked them to tell him the
origin of the baptism of John the Baptist instead, but they did not provide a
correct answer. Since they failed to answer his question, Jesus did not tell
them the origin of his divine authority for doing all these things (vv. 23-27).
While the
chief priests and elders were still waiting for Jesus to tell them by what
authority he drove out the vendors and buyers from the temple, he preached, and
performed miracles, in response, Jesus told them three parables in a row. The
first parable is the parable of the Two Sons that we heard on Sunday, October 1st
(Matthew 21: 28-32). The second is the parable of the Tenants which was the
Gospel of last Sunday (Matthew 21: 33-43). And the third is our Gospel’s
passage today, the parable of the Wedding Feast (Matthew 22: 1-14). Note that in
all these three parables, Jesus addresses the chief priests and the elders of
the Jews.
Let us now
analyze our parable. Its analogy is that the king is God, the wedding feast is
the heavenly kingdom that Jesus established, and today is manifested in the liturgy
of the Mass. The king’s son is Jesus and the bride in this wedding is the
Church. The servants are the prophets and today could be you and me. The
invited guests represent the Jews who are the first people God invited to be
his “chosen people”. In the New Covenant with Jesus, all of us are “God’s
chosen people” so we are the invited guests of the Eucharistic Celebration, the
Mass. The second group of guests who fill the hall stand for the non-Jewish
people and all sinners, including you and me, who repent and believe in Jesus. The
man who did not dress in a wedding garment represents all those who apparently
come to Jesus but do not believe in him. Today, this man represents all those
who come to Mass but with no intention to repent.
This parable
has two parts and a closing statement. The first part describes the mission of
the servants and the reactions of invited guests (vv. 1-10). The second part
portrays the judgment of the man who attends the banquet without a wedding
garment (vv. 11-13). The concluding statement alludes to the final judgment at
the end of time (v. 14).
In the
first part of the parable, Jesus taught the chief priests and elders of the
people of Israel that God sent his prophets to summon them who are the first invited
guests to partake in the “wedding feast” which is the heavenly kingdom that
Jesus started. However, they ignored God’s invitation and refused to come. They
privileged their business and even killed God’s servants. (vv. 1-6). Why did
these first invited guests ignore God’s invitation? There are two reasons. First,
because they knew very well that responding to God’s invitation meant that they
needed to spend their time with him and that God had to become their first
priority. For these invited guests, their priority was their business, and they
did not want to change it. Second, they ignored God’s invitation because they knew
that the “wedding garment” was required for them to access the hall of the
feast. Note that the “wedding garment” stands for the desire from our hearts to
repent. So, they did not want to repent, neither did they want to consider God
as their priority.
Today,
there are still people who refuse God’s invitation to come to the heavenly
wedding banquet that takes place in the Eucharistic celebration, the Mass. The
first reason why they reject God’s invitation is that they avoid “dressing in
wedding garments”, which means, they do not want to repent and let Jesus lead
their lives. The second reason is that they do not want to consider God as
their priority. Their business, leisure, social gatherings, and travels are
their priorities but not their spiritual growth and their relationship with God.
So, we are called to respond to God’s invitation every Sunday to participate in
the Eucharistic celebration which prefigures the heavenly kingdom. God knows
that we all are sinners, yet he invites us. What he expects from us is our
willingness to work on our weaknesses and let God transform our lives, and also
to consider him as our priority. All that we do, business, leisure, traveling,
and social gatherings are good, but we need to prioritize our spiritual
lives. The willingness to repent and to
consider God as our priority is the ticket to partake in the heavenly kingdom.
Another
reason why some people do not come to Mass is because they have nobody who
reminds them and motivates them. The mission of the servants in our parable
consists of reminding the invited guests that the wedding banquet is about to
start and that the king is waiting for them. Likewise, our mission as Baptized
Christians is to remind our family members, relatives, and friends about the
Weekend Masses (also the weekday Masses) to which God our Father invites us and
waits for us. Many families do not even converse about going to Mass together
as a family. In our neighborhood’s meetings, do our agendas include the point
regarding our spiritual growth and encouraging one another to go to Church? For
families, relatives, and friends who live far away from each other, do we pick
up our phones and motivate our members to go to Church, especially on weekends?
This first part of our parable teaches us that we are God’s servants, and our
mission is to remind people every weekend that God waits for all of us to come and
partake in the Heavenly Wedding Banquet which is the Eucharistic celebration,
the Mass.
Because
the Jews who were the first invited guests were not worthy to come to the
feast, God extended his invitation to the non-Jewish people. “The feast is
ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go
out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.”
(vv. 8-10). Notice how paradigms change here. The first mission of the servants was to remind
the invited guests but here their mission consists of inviting everyone
they meet on the roads. The first group of people already knew about God’s
invitation; what was needed was just to remind them, while the second group did
not know anything; they were surprised on their way to their businesses. This
teaches us that our mission as Baptized is to remind Christians to come
to Mass and to invite non-Christians to join our Church. In other words,
we are called to encourage our existing Church members to attend Weekend Masses
and also seek those who do not belong to our Church community to join us. Note
that our mission is not to judge but to remind and invite everyone, good and
bad alike. Jesus came to establish a New Israel, a heavenly kingdom on earth
that includes all people from all nations.
The second
part of our parable deals with the judgment of the man who attends the banquet
without a wedding garment (vv. 11-13). This part portrays a scenario in which all
people, good and bad alike, are invited to the wedding feast. The hall is full of
guests. Among them, one does not have a wedding garment. We may wonder why the
king is so harsh with him since it is the king himself who asked his servants
to invite whomever they meet on the main road (v. 9). This man probably may
have been going to his business and upon receiving this invitation, he responded
instantly. So, he did not have time to return home and dress appropriately. Why
is this man condemned? What does the Church try to teach us here?
Note that
the wedding banquet in this parable represents our celebration of the Eucharist
which takes place at each Mass. Then, the wedding garment represents our desire
from our hearts to meet with the Lord and to repent. So, this man had enough
time to repent so he could meet the Lord with a pure heart. Conversion needs
just a few seconds of our decision. When God calls us, we need to decide
whether we want to start a new life with Him or want to continue our old lives
without Him. This man without a wedding garment represents all those who
respond to the invitation of God but refuse to repent and refuse to spend time
with Jesus in a one-on-one relationship. In other words, this man represents
all those who come to Mass just to entertain themselves (for example, to enjoy
the Gospel choir) or merely per the obedience of the parents/grandparents who
ask them to do so but, in their hearts, they have no intention of repentance
and no intention of discipleship (following Jesus). This part of the parable
teaches us that we all are invited to partake in the Eucharistic celebration,
the Mass, which prefigures the heavenly Wedding Banquet. We are expected to
express our willingness to let the Word of God proclaimed at Mass transform us
and the Body and Blood of Jesus that we receive in the Holy Communion
strengthen our relationships with God. The heavenly kingdom is for all people
(bad and good alike) but only those who accept to repent and let Jesus lead
their lives are the ones who are allowed to access the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus
concludes this parable by stating that many are invited, but few are chosen. The
criterion for choosing the people is the “wedding garment”, the willingness to
repent. If you and I want to be among the “chosen”, let us open our hearts and allow
God to change our lives. Amen.
Rev. Leon Ngandu, SVD
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