Homily. Twenty-eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time. Year A.
After the parables of the two sons and of the wicked tenants, we now have that of people invited by a king who is celebrating his son’s wedding. Several similarities between this and the preceding parable show a parallelism in their composition: two groups of servants are sent: in the one parable to collect the produce; in the other, to urge those invited to come to the feast. The second group of servants are mistreated and even killed; punishment is swift and severe. But one also notices a dramatic progression from one parable to the other; not only are the murderers themselves put to death, but their city is burned down. Others are called to replace them and attend the wedding; in the same way the vineyard was to be leased to trustworthy workers. But this is not all. One of the guests is not wearing a wedding garment, he is harshly chastised. Therefore, we must attentively read this Gospel passage to the final sentence, without evading its difficulties.
In Matthew’s Gospel, the parable presents a king who is celebrating his son’s wedding. This detail inclines us to an allegorising interpretation. In this parable of the kingdom of heaven, the king immediately calls God to mind, at the same time, the messianic nuptials at the end of time. “Blessed is the one who will dine in the kingdom of God.” “Blessed are those who are called to the wedding feast of the Lamb.”
God has sent this invitation from the beginning, it has not ceased to be heard, more and more pressing. Servants in great numbers have been dispatched to human beings of all generations. Finally, Jesus has come announcing that the kingdom of God is at hand. He has entrusted to his disciples the mission of proclaiming it. This message has already reached us since we are believers. We respond to the invitation each time we gather around the table to participate in the liturgy: ”Happy are those who are called to his supper.” We should not, however, imagine that the parable for this Sunday does not concern us. On the contrary, Matthew placed it in his Gospel because he was thinking of Christians of his time. To tell the truth, the other evangelists recorded Jesus’ acts and words with the same intention, as the conclusion of John’s Gospel explicitly states. (John 20:30-31). But this is particularly the case for the parable of those invited to the wedding of the kings’ son. Matthew appended it to another parable, that of the guest who was not wearing the nuptial garment. When he told this parable, speaking to the chief priests and the elders of the people, Jesus had in mind those of his contemporaries who refused his invitation and were to put him to death. But this Gospel today is read to a Christian assembly. It would be an error to definitely relegate to the past the story of those first invited; to tell ourselves that they received what they deserved, that we have nothing in common with them since we have replaced them.
The attitude of some among those invited in the first place will particularly hold our attention. They simply ignored the invitation, going “One to his farm, another to his business.” “Worldly anxiety and the lure of riches” prevented them from taking seriously the Lord’s invitation. “I don’t have time,” “I’m occupied with my business and my obligations” are excuses often proffered when the Lord’s invitations reach us. “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus proclaimed to his disciples gathered around him on the mountain.
Holy Scripture shows us throughout that those sent to invite guests to the royal wedding were mistreated or even put to death. Jesus did not fail to warn us of the dangers in store for the messengers of the Gospel: they will not be better dealt with than their master. As to those who refuse to receive the king and his delegates, they will know God’s wrath through their own fault. After this admonition, we concentrate our attention on the guests who have entered the wedding hall.
The king sends his servants to the crossroads to assemble all passers-by that they may replace all those who have failed him. They soon are numerous enough, good and bad, to fill the banquet hall. What marvellous universalism, now the celebration is open to all, without condition.
As is often the case with parables, what follows holds surprises and shows that one must guard against hasty interpretations. The king enters ”to meet the guests.” But this is not an ordinary visit in order to enjoy his satisfaction at not having prepared the sumptuous banquet for nothing, he is coming to conduct an inspection. He catches sight of a man who is not wearing a nuptial garment, “How is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?” We would be tempted to answer in the guest’s place, “Your servants so hurried us, I really did not have time to bother with it.” What is surprising is that the others were able to get the festive clothing. Is it really that important? But the man who is questioned remained silent. Therefore, he is conscious of having failed his duty, of being an intruder. The parable gives no explanation; it only records the king’s sentence and the order given to the servants to execute the guest straight away: “Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.” It also implies that the servants have no responsibility in this garment business. The sentence is terrible; it is the same as for the weeds sown in the wheat field by an enemy, or for the bad fish caught in the net (Matt13:50), for the unfaithful servant who will share the fate of the hypocrites (Matt 24:51). Therefore, what could appear incoherent in the structure of the parable is not so—far from it—to the eyes of the Christians for whom Matthew recorded it, and who read his Gospel from end to end as we ourselves have been doing so this past liturgical year. Under various forms, Matthew never stops preaching faith in action—the first response to the Lord’s invitation—is of no value if it does not translate into action. On the contrary, it is an aggravating circumstance: “Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and all his angels…..You did not do…. “The man who does not have the wedding garment evokes those who have been fruitless, who have not “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ” or “the new self,” to use Paul’s words.
Jesus’ word placed here by Matthew says nothing about the actual number of the elect or about their proportion in relation to others. This is a question which Jesus refused to answer. He came to teach humans the way of salvation and exhort them to follow it. “Many are invited, but few are chosen.” We have here a solemn warning that underscores the timeliness of this parable with its unexpected turns. Matthew can only rejoice at the sight of those who have responded to the Lord’s invitation. But among them there are good and bad alike. It would be gravely wrong to assert “We are safe.” The Gospel says in effect: “No. Nothing is final before the day when the Lord himself will enter the banquet hall to see the guests. What cannot be discerned today will not escape his glance. Whoever will be found not dressed in the wedding garment will be thrown outside.” We should remember, the Lord has already won the battle for us, through his death and resurrection, salvation is assured, victory over death has been won, reconciliation with the Father is secured. But we should be careful, and not take anything for granted, it is ours to lose.
On the eve of his passion, Jesus left us the sacrament of the feast prepared by God on his mountain for all peoples of the earth. Already today, God welcomes at his table those whom he wants to see , one day, fill the banquet hall for the wedding of his Son, the Church’s Spouse. The Eucharist is both a sacramental celebration and a sacramental anticipation—through efficacious signs—of what will happen on that day.
Our participation in that sign prepares and begins our participation in the banquet of the Jerusalem above, on the mountain of God. It is in the framework of the Eucharistic liturgy that the parable of those invited to the wedding of the king’s son takes on its full meaning and directly affects us.
The Church, which has a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, must go to the crossroads in order to invite to the wedding feast all those it encounters, “bad and good alike,” but also to teach them the demands of the kingdom of heaven. Christians assembled around the Lord’s table have the heavy responsibility to ”manifest to others….the real nature of the true Church” and the meaning of participation in the Eucharist, the “summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed….[and] also the fount from which all her power flows.” Each one has the duty to act in such a way that most people become aware of the invitation to the Lord’s meal, and many are moved to join them when they see Christians celebrating. This demands that Christians show themselves “having put on Christ” as attested by their good works.
Like the Church, the liturgical assembly is made of sinners. Therefore, there is no room for self-glorification because all know that their strength comes from God, beginning with the fruits of conversion which the grace of the Eucharist causes them to produce and which they offer with Christ’s offering. The liturgy is the privileged place where Christians acknowledge their deafness to the Lord’s call and turn to God, trustfully entreating him to bring them back to himself and give them a sincere and determined heart, in joy.
The celebrations of the last three Sundays could be called “liturgies for times of crisis,” when we must make serious decisions. Indeed, the Word of God proclaimed on these Sundays vigorously reminds us of the urgency of these decisions. Today, we must obey God in action, not just word. Today, his call resounds to share in the meal prepared by him for those he loves, it resounds everywhere. Today, we are given the opportunity to take to ourselves “whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise” to put into practice what we have learned and received when we welcomed the Gospel.
Then, having celebrated the Lord’s meal on earth, in truth and joy, we shall take our place, with the chosen, at the wedding banquet of the Lamb, in the kingdom.
“In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell for length of days unending.”
