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1. Isaiah
25:6-10
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Philippians 4:
10-14,19-20
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Gospel:
Matthew 22: 1-14
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" Our desire to respond to our Lord's
invitation."
Dear brothers and
sisters, today we are being presented the parable of the Great Supper in
today's gospel. This parable gives us different pictures about God's
kingdom. The Christian assembly is a
gathering of those who are called to the Lord's party. In the Eucharist we say
of ourselves, " Happy are those who are called to his supper, a banquet, a
feast. Can you imagine a wedding feast in which everyone sits stone-faced, cold
and quiet?
From the parable we can
understand three possible kinds of guests. There are the absentee guests who
initially accepts the invitation, but when the time comes to honor the
invitation, they draw back. There are the guests without wedding garments who
attend the feast but do not take the trouble to prepare adequately for it, as
the occasion deserves. And then there are the guests with wedding garments who
make the necessary preparation to present themselves fit for the king's
banquet.
We can say something
about the absentee guests. Being absentee does not necessarily mean sin. Absentee
guests are generally engaged in legitimate, not sinful activity. For example
one goes to his farm, and another to his business. These in fact are necessary
and useful occupations. Sometimes what keeps us away from the joy of the
kingdom is not sin but preoccupation with the necessities of life. To be
serious with our job is good thing, but when our job keeps us away from
attending the Lord's Supper, then it has become an obstacle. It has become a
killjoy that hinders us from experiencing the joy of the Lord. There is a saying that the good is the enemy
of the best. If only those absentee guests knew what they were missing by not
attending the feast! It used to be that people attended church service to
fulfill a " Sunday obligation," otherwise it would be counted against
them as sin. This kind of fear no longer motivates young people today. More
people would probable come to church if they knew they were missing out on the
fun of celebrating and feasting with the Christian community.
On the guest without
wedding garment: The point of the parable is: If you must go the dance, you
must wear your wedding garment, he was physically in the party, but his mind
and spirit were not there. He was in the feast but he was not in the mood for
feasting. Jesus hates this kind of lukewarm, uncommitted attitude. In fact, it
is better not to attend at all than to be there and yet not there. The
invitation is to all, the party is free for all, yet anyone who decides to
attend has a responsibility to present themselves fit for the king's company.
The kingdom of God is freely offered to us. Those of us on the way to the
kingdom must spare no effort in acquiring the moral and spiritual character
that is consonant with life in the kingdom.
Finally there are the
guests who attend the wedding feast, taking care to appear in the proper
wedding garment. They are the only ones who have fun and enjoy the party. They are the models whose example we should
follow. Today's gospel sends a message to those who are keeping away from the
Lord's Supper that they are missing out on the joy of life. To those of us who
have accepted the invitation to come in, this parable warns us not to take
God's grace for granted but to clean ourselves up and become the most beautiful
person that we can be in God's sight. The message is the same as we have in
Colossians 3:14 : " Above all,
clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect
harmony."
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