Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

Like the presidential candidates, uppermost in my mind is the financial crisis that has hit the world. I have been in this country for eight years. Not even during the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attack was the mood so gloomy or the people so apprehensive. There is one question that is uppermost in the minds of many people. How in the world did we get here? Surely greed and unending desire for unbridled profit has something to do with it. I personally think that the main reason for the crisis is the way the modern world is constructed. Every aspect of modern life is, as I put it, value neutral. In other words, there are no moral values guiding our economic, political, and social systems. We have so alienated our economics, politics and society from God, from spiritual and moral principles that to talk about love and the stock markets in the same breath is literally insane. Even in the midst of the crisis no one is looking to the moral or spiritual aspects of the crisis. And no one is looking at moral or spiritual solution to the problem either. Perhaps, if economic, political and social systems were based on spiritual principles of justice, concern for the weak, love, truth, kindness, generosity, peace, then we would not be where we are. But we are so far away from God and even the proposition sounds improbable. The tragedy is that we do not think of ourselves as a Godless nation. In fact, America is considered to be a religious nation. I would like to consider modern human life in light of the parable of the wedding feast that we heard in today’s gospel reading. This parable served as an important parable in the early Christian community. These were very traumatic times. The early Christian community was undergoing a crisis – it’s painful separation from the Jewish Synagogue. In light of this separation, Christians interpreted the wedding feast as the Kingdom of God inaugurated by Jesus. Those who refused the invitation to the wedding feast are the Jewish people. The servants sent to invite them and were killed were the prophets. The ones invited from the main roads were the gentiles. The most puzzling character, however, is the one who slipped in without the wedding garment and got booted out. I will talk about him in a minute in the practical implications.

The image of a wedding feast can evoke many sentiments in us. A wedding is associated with love, celebration, joy, happiness and life. Thus in today’s reading, the wedding feast is really a way to describe life with God. It is a good but perhaps a weak analogy. So, for a moment, forget the wedding feast as an analogy. Let us think about the parable as God inviting each person to enter into the totality of God’s love, peace, joy and life.
The message of this gospel is as relevant today as it was when Matthew wrote the gospel. God invites all peoples to enter into the totality of God’s life. Some refused that invitation while others accepted it. People refused the invitation for many reasons. Some were too busy, others did not make the time and yet others could not think how they could integrate God into their business or their newly married life. And then there were those who accepted the invitation to become part of the totality of God's love and life. To them God offered the fullness of his love and life.

Let me offer three practical implications from today’s readings:

a) The motivation for accepting the invitation to be part of God’s life in its totality is found in today’s first reading. “On this mountain,” says Isaiah, “he [God] will destroy the veil that veils all peoples…” (Is 25: 7). For a moment, imagine standing face to face with God. No tears, no sadness, and no death; only God before our eyes. And we will say these words from Isaiah, “Behold our God, to whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad for he has saved us” (Is 25:9). Every day we live on this earth is a preparation for that day. However, if we want God to make us part of God’s life in its totality, then we must make God part of our totality in the here and now. Unlike the people of Jesus’ time, or unlike the way the modern world is constructed, let us invite God into every aspect of our lives.

b) b) In this second point I want to elaborate on what it means to invite God into the totality of our lives. Last week I spoke about how some people spend time crafting systematic arguments for the rejection of God. But those who outright deny God are comparatively few. There is a more common and a more dangerous position in my opinion – the selective acceptance or the selective rejection of God. Many well meaning Christians, because they are products of the construction of the modern world, are quite innocently inclined to separate their spiritual life from other areas of their lives. For example, many people do not think that God has anything to do with how we manage our finances. Or for that matter many people cannot imagine God being part of their sexuality. Others think that God and social life do not mix. Young people do not think friends and God are a good fit. This is also another form of atheism. God must be a part of the totality of our lives, otherwise, our lives will lack the integrity a Christian life must have.

c) I want to come back to the person who was thrown out of the wedding feast because he did not have wedding garments. Who does this person represent in today’s world? As I said earlier, a wedding is associated with love, celebration, joy, happiness and life. No one comes to a wedding feast out of hate. Once again, I want us to think of the wedding feast as representing the life of God. So then, we can think of the person without the wedding garment not a person but as qualities that are inconsistent with God. There is no place for hatred in God’s life. There is no place for greed, for selfishness, for pride and prejudice in God. Before we leave the face of the earth it would be wise for us to get rid of any form of godlessness in us. What is that one thing that God is inviting me to isolate in my life so that I can fully share in God’s life? This week let us try to make our lives totally ready for God.

In many ways, this Eucharist is a foretaste of the wedding feast. This Eucharist is a foretaste of our life with God. On that day “God will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations; The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face.” On that day we will cry out, “Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us!” Till then, at every Eucharist we will continue to invite God into our lives and become part of the totality of God’s life. Amen.

- Fr. Satish Joseph