Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
We have heard parables after parables over the last few weeks. Parables often use rich imagery to communicate the lesson of the story. Whereas for the last three Sundays we heard the imagery of a vineyard, the imagery shifts to that of a feast, even better, a wedding feast. Let me say a few things about the parable of the wedding feast before I propose some practical implications.
First, only Matthew’s version has the part of the person without the wedding garment who was thrown out of the banquet. Luke’s version ends with the second invitation to everybody who came and filled the wedding hall. Scripture scholars tell us that most probably Matthew was trying to combine two parables without telling us the reason for the combination. Second, the king’s violence toward those who refused the invitation is a reflection on the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 AD. That is why Matthew includes the detail that of the burning of the city of those who refused the invitation. Third, the parable was also trying to deal with the fact that Israel’s leaders rejected Christ (the one who refused the invitation) while the fallen-away Jews and gentiles (those who were invited later), were accepting Christ. No matter how we interpret this parable, it offers us some very interesting themes for reflection. I would like to explore three themes.
A Wedding Feast
Today’s first reading describes eternity in the image of a feast. God says through Isaiah: “On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines” (Is 25:6). Not only that, but death will be no more, and every tear will be wiped away. Then God’s people will say, “This is the LORD for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!” (Is 25:9).
A feast, even more importantly, a wedding feast is associated with happiness and joy. Nobody throws a feast and says come let us mourn and drown ourselves in misery.
Too many people think of God as a detached and stringent task master. Perhaps parables like we have in today’s gospel creates that assumption. The contrary is true. If there is anything God wants, it for us is to be happy. Everything that God ever created, everything that God has ever said, all the commandments and laws that God ever gave, all the prophets that God ever sent, and the incarnation is because God wants us to be happy. Heaven is eternal happiness. The real point of the parable of the wedding feast is that God invites to us be part of God’s happiness, joy, peace, love and life.
A Feast of Love
What shall we say about the man who was thrown out into the darkness? Why was he thrown out especially since the king had asked his servants to invite whomever they found?
A wedding is a celebration of love. Everybody who is invited to a wedding feast is expected to be there because of their love for the couple and to share in their joy. Nobody goes to a wedding filled with hate, dislike, or anger for the couple or the hosts. You cannot be at a wedding feast with sentiments contrary to celebration.
Similarly, God has invited us into heaven to be with God for ever. As today’s first reading says, to be in God’s presence is like being at a thrilling love-feast. However, there are somethings that are incompatible with God. We cannot be in God’s presence and have hate, unforgiveness, revenge, or prejudice in our hearts. You cannot be in God’s presence and says, “God, I love you but I will not forgive my neighbor.” Anybody who is in God’s presence must have a wedding garment. The wedding garment is the garment of love - Christ like love. The man thrown out of the wedding is meant to let us know that ungodliness is incompatible with Godliness.
Eternity Here and Now
Let us get back to the feast. In the Bible, eternal life is compared to a feast of the best food and drink. Everyone has an invitation to eternity. The question that today’s scripture raises is simply this: On the day we show up at to the feast, how will the king find us? If we had to die today and find ourselves at the feast, would there be anything that is incompatible with Godliness?
On the other hand, the feast is not only about eternity. God also wants us to be happy in the here and now. After all, Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.”
Today, as we imagine the eternal feast of love, let us strive on earth to prepare ourselves for the eternal happiness. May we always wear the garment of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22) and be found worthy of the eternal feast of happiness and joy.
Every Eucharist prefigures the eternal banquet. Let us be present here with the garment of love. Amen.
- Fr. Satish Joseph