28th Sunday in Ordinary Time-A
I Reading: Isaiah
25:6-10: The Lord will prepare a banquet, and will wipe away tears from every
cheek.
II Reading: Philippians 4:12-14.19-20: There is nothing I cannot master with
the help of the One who gives me strength.
Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14: Invite everyone you can find to the wedding.
The Parable of the Marriage Feast:
Israel’s Rejection of God’s Great Invitation
This
parable deals with the Kingdom of Heaven. The parable tells how God dealt with
Israel and turned from Israel, its major point is God’s dealings with His new
people, the church (the new nation, Mt 21:43; Pet 6).
The
meaning of the parable is: the King is God, the Son is Jesus Christ himself (Mt
21:37-39), the great marriage feast (represents God’s kingdom) is the glorious
day of redemption (1Thes 4:13-18), those who have been invited to the marriage
refers to Israel- they were called by God from the very first and beginning
with Abraham, those on the street corners are the Gentiles, people from all
other nations who are ready to accept God’s invitation to His Son’s wedding,
the wedding clothes represent righteousness
(dikaios=one who totally depends upon God, trust in God, does the will
of God, walks in the way of God), which means repentance and change of life
(shub=U turning); turning to God from all evil. The parable has both a
historical and personal meaning.
How
Jesus describes the group of people invited last to the banquet. The king told
the servants to invite “everyone they
could find”, and the servants “collected
together bad and good people alike”. (Mt 22:10)
Luke
adds that the king ordered his servants to bring in “the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame” (Lk 14:21).
That
is, we can apply to any of us.
1.
Jesus again shared a parable (v.1-2)
a.
Of the Kingdom of Heaven
b.
Of a marriage prepared by God for His Son
2.
God’s invitation to Israel (v.3-7)
a.
God invited Israel, but they rejected
b.
God showed great mercy
1) Extended a second invitation
2) Prepared an abundance
c.
God saw His great invitation rejected
1) by a busy farmer
2) by a busy businessman
3) by religionists and worldly: who
denied, scoffed, abused and persecuted
d.
God judged Israel for rejecting His invitation: destroyed the abusers and
murderers; rejected the rejecters
3.
God’s invitation to any and all (v.8-10)
a.
God then invited all
1) Those who were out on the street
corners
2) Those who were both good and bad
b.
God’s invitation was accepted
4.
God’s confrontation with the guests (v.11-14)
a.
God entered to see the guests
1) He saw a man without wedding
clothes
2) He asked only one question
3) The man was speechless
b.
God judged the man who was not clothed properly
1) was bound
2) was taken away
3) was cast into the darkness
c.
God calls and invites many, but few are chosen
Thought: The
wedding clothes that the man lacked represented righteousness. The man did not
possess the righteousness of Jesus Christ nor did he live righteously (Mt 5:6; Rom 5:1; 10:3-4; 2Cor
5:21;Lk 9:23).
We must be
grateful to God for having sent his servants (prophets, messengers and
disciples) to call us (his Christian community) into his banquet (kingdom), and
for having provided us with the wedding garment(righteousness of repentance)
the Life in the Spirit. The Sunday service is the privileged time for our
spiritual nourishment to cleanse the wedding garment we received at Baptism; if
not we become foolish indeed (“The king”, says the Gospel, “was furious; he
dispatched his troops, destroyed those murderers and burnt their city-Mt 22:7)
because of our carelessness to His invitation and lack of faith in God.
God is always
faithful as we are unfaithful to Him. Let us repent and believe in the
Good News and take part in his banquet (kingdom) of righteousness, forgiveness,
love, joy, peace, justice, equality and
fraternity.
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