Sunday 15 October 2017
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Matthew 22:1-14 (NRSV)
Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”
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There are two focal points in this Gospel.
1. Invited guests with excuses to rationalize their absence.
2. A wedding guest without a wedding garment.
#1: Absent Invitees...
We who hear this Gospel are called to a wedding banquet. In some sense, this side of the Gospel needs to be proclaimed for those who are not at the banquet. And yet it is those who are at the banquet who hear these words. The Mass, every time it is celebrated, is the wedding feast of Christ and the Bride. We who are the Church are the Bride. We are called regularly to be present as the Bride at the Mass. And when we are absent, often we have a laundry list of reasons for our absence that resembles that of the invited guests in this Gospel. The terms may be somewhat different, but the heart of them is the same. Some of us who are present wish all these distractions would just go away. They will not! As Christians, who are the bride, and not merely guests, we should long to be present not simply when there are no distractions, but in the knowledge that all else falls lower on our priorities than keeping the marriage feast of Christ and the Church.
#2: Improperly Attired Guest...
So here we are at the Wedding Feast. And here we might face some trepidation. To be present at this feast in a genuine way in which we are fully prepared is to know that "I have no wedding garment." But the wonder of this feast is that when we are most fully aware of our nakedness, or our "dirty rags," Christ clothes us in a wedding garment that is always and only gift and grace beyond compare and understanding. This is our Baptismal Garment. When Christ claimed us in the sacramental waters, he took off our rags, washed our nakedness, and clothed us with himself. And now that we are clothed in Christ, we are worthy only through grace and never by right to stand in the presence of the bridegroom and keep the feast.
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Fr. Timothy Alleman
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