Rev. Fr. Peter Onyekachi Ezekoka
Isaiah 25:6-10 Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20 Matthew 22:1-14
“Parties are what I like most / lots to drink, dead things on toast” quipped the Christian poet John Betjeman. We all love extravagant celebrations with good company and good food, don’t we! Wedding breakfasts, “big birthday” bashes and formal dinners are part and parcel of life’s enjoyable occasions. Someone generously going to the massive effort and expense of organising a banquet expects to have a huge number of people accepting the invitation to attend because they all know it’s going to be a memorably happy occasion. The celebrant hopes people will be delighted to accept and attend, but how deeply disappointing it is if positive responses are not forthcoming. People can be extremely hurt if their invitation is declined, especially if no valid reason is given - or worse, if people say they are coming and then don’t bother to put in an appearance. Friendships can be undermined and trust in each other from then on can be ruptured. In the Bible, heaven is symbolized by a banquet (Is 54:5; cf. Lk 14:15; Lk 22:16,18; Mt 26:29) and blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb (cf. Rev 19:7-9). God doesn’t want us to disappoint Him by turning down His invitation to the great feast of heaven, the Messianic banquet.
Both the First Reading and the Gospel today mirror the final, eschatological banquet. In situating the banquet on a mountain (Mount Zion) the First Reading adds some hopeful notes regarding its image:
· it is a feast for all peoples. which brings great comfort and comes with total newness
· it reflects the desire of an impoverished people for a lavish meal
· it wipes away all tears, destroys death (cf. Rev 20:4.14) and restores hope.
The banquet of heaven is a celebration of lasting joy and victory. In the Gospel, in which Our Lord tells the parable of the Wedding Feast of the King’s Son, the first thing we notice is the abundance of excellent food, the steaks and roasts long in the planning, plus the readiness of the host to welcome his guests. Then we note the fate of those who humiliated the king by publicly dishonouring the invitation, even to the extent of maltreating and murdering the king’s servants who went out to encourage them to attend. Finally, we observe how someone brought in from the highways and byways was punished and thrown out for not being appropriately dressed for the banquet.
Now, to understand this parable a bit better, we need to be aware that it is set in the context of a Jewish custom. In those days, whenever the invitations to a banquet or a big feast were sent out, the actual date and time of the feast were not set until all the preparations (based on the number of acceptances) had come together. When everything was finally ready, servants went out to let the guests know that it was time to come. So, the parable assumes that the king had already sent out invitations, but that it was not until everything was ready that the summons had been issued. In the parable, the human king represents God the Father, and the invited guests who deliberately dishonoured the king’s invitation represent the Jewish people. Long ago, God made a covenant with the Jews (Gen 17:7) to be God’s chosen people; but when the Son of God, Jesus, came to them in Person, they reacted to Him with contempt or disinterest. The upshot was that God’s invitation was extended to everyone: the people from the highways and byways represent both the Gentiles and sinners who honoured God’s invitation (cf. Is 25:6-8). The eschatological feast of God for all people and for all nations is the Wedding Banquet of Jesus (cf. 1Cor 15:54; Rev 7:17 & 31:4).
The initially-invited guests turned deaf ears to the invitation and instead deliberately involved themselves in long-term projects. They demonstrated that they never really intended to go to the feast; one went off to look after his farm, another concentrated on his business, while the rest seized, tortured and killed the servants. You know from personal experience how easy it can be for us to be so busy with the things of day-to-day living in chronological time that we forget the things of eternity, to be so occupied with the things which we can see that we forget the reality of things which we cannot see, to hear so easily the noise and babble of the world that we cannot hear the gentle voice of God. We can be so preoccupied with making a living that we forget to make a life in God. And when forgetfulness of these crucial things becomes habitual, the consequence is the creation of a chasm between us and God.
Let’s now consider the person who entered the feast without the proper attire. Jesus said: And the king noticed one man who was not wearing a wedding garment. When we want to go out on a visit, we pay attention to the dress code; don’t we? We apply appropriate dress codes according to the occasion, whether for shopping, working in the garden, going out for entertainment or for going to church. People don’t (normally) change the oil in a car in their best clothes, nor turn up for a dinner-dance in their tatty old gardening clothes. It is true that the door to the feast of the Holy Eucharist is open to everyone, of course; but when people accept the invitation and do come in, they need to bring with them a life which seeks to fit the supranatural love which has been shown to them. The door remains open to all sinners, of course, but not to sinners who deliberately continue in sin when they enter; rather, it is for the sinners to aspire to become saints and to change their lives (their wedding garments) accordingly. The grace of invitation brings with it serious responsibility. We must allow our encounter with Christ to transform us by receiving His invitation with great joy. Anyone who refuses to bring that joy in with them is, in practice, rejecting God’s invitation.
This parable is not delivering a fashion statement about the way we ought to dress when we go to Church, although modesty is certainly appropriate; rather, it has everything to do with the spirit in which we go into God’s house. The garments of the mind, heart and soul reflect the garment of the body. Are we sometimes guilty of going to Church in a bad mood, unprepared, without having carried out an examination of conscience, lacking petitions for anybody other than ourselves, and with a faulty disposition to worship Almighty God, the Creator and sustainer of the universe? Do we sometimes go to church just to socialize and catch-up on the latest news and gossip? Faults such as these indicate that we are not properly dressed in our wedding garment for the feast. Think about the atmosphere of joy and the spiritual abundance we would all enjoy if we all were to put on the proper garments and the right disposition for worship of God!
God expects us to wear the proper attire of the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal 5:22f). He also expects us to come with the right character and backbone, like St. Paul’s disposition in the Second Reading, sharing our time and our possessions in one another’s hardship and supplying one another’s needs in a way worthy of our Christian calling. Like St. Paul, we should not be ashamed to ask for what we truly need, and it is actually a privilege for us to share what we possess. May we pray for the zeal to continue to acquire and wear the proper attire needed for the great feast in heaven. May the Lord hear and grant this petition. Amen. God bless you.
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