Twenty-eighth
Sunday OF Year A [Mt 22:1-14]
15.10.2023
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet
1. Theme in brief
God’s invitation and our refusal
2. Focus Statement
God always invites us to experience
the joy of his banquet of love and salvation (called “the Kingdom of God or Kingdom
of Heaven), but we refuse his invitation by making excuses and giving priority
to worldly concerns.
3. Explanation of the text
In this Parable of the
Wedding Banquet, we can very well imagine that the king who gives a banquet is God the Father,
the son for whose wedding the banquet is prepared is Jesus Christ and the banquet is the
There are three parts in this parable as far as invitation to the banquet is concerned:
(1) The sending of his servants by the king twice to call the invited guests (22:3-4): The first group of servants refers to the prophets sent by God to Israel whose invitation to repent was refused by the Israelites (22:3). The second group of servants, who met with not only indifference but also were murdered, refers to John the Baptist and Jesus himself, both of whom were murdered (22:6).
(2) The third attempt
of the king to call everyone from the streets (22:9): It refers to
Jesus’ ministry to the outcasts of Jewish society and later the early
Church’s outreach
to the Gentiles. Since
(3) The king’s
inspection regarding the fitness of guests (22:11): It refers to the
new way of life
to be lived by sinners who were invited to the wedding feast of the
When everything for the wedding feast was ready, the king sent his servants with these words, “Come to the marriage feast” (22:4). They had to either accept or refuse the invitation immediately. This indicates the urgency of response to Jesus’ invitation to become a citizen of God’s Kingdom and live according to its demands. There are two types of people who deliberately refused the invitation: (1) the careless ones who were engrossed in their work and business (22:5); and (2) the violent ones who seized, mistreated and killed the servants sent by the king to invite them (22:6). The former made light of such a loving invitation (22:5) which showed their lack of seriousness. They were careless about their duty or responsibility to attend.
By their refusal to accept the invitation, they deliberately insulted the host (that is, the king in this story) who took so much trouble to arrange such a sumptuous banquet out of his generosity. If not a single invited guest would have attended such a great banquet, what a shame the king would have to face. Indeed, it was an act of open rebellion against the king by his invitees. The king had no way of saving his honour but by gathering anybody on the road to be his guests.
The king’s order to gather all whom they found, both good and bad (22:10), indicates Jesus' own mission to sinners and the Gentiles. It tells us that in God’s Kingdom there is a mixture of good and bad people or virtuous and sinners. It may also indicate the mixture of both Jews and Gentiles in the Church. Anyone is welcome to the banquet, but once they have accepted the invitation, they are supposed to wear the proper dress, namely repent and change their life-style. If they become complacent and fail to persevere in their new life, they will be thrown out of the wedding hall or the Kingdom (22:13).
4. Application to life
In this parable, Jesus likens God’s invitation to enter God’s Kingdom to the messianic banquet in OT terms (Isaiah 25:6-10). What he means in plain language is that God always invites us to live a life of love, sharing, service, fellowship and justice, and experience his salvation. The joy of living this type of life and the offer of salvation made by God through Jesus is compared to the taste of a wedding banquet in this parable. The invitation sent first to invited guests and later to everyone found on the main streets (22:3,9-10) is a free act of magnanimity or benevolence from the part of the king. Even today, God continues to send invitation card to us out of his magnanimity, though we are not his ‘close relatives’, that is, in spite of being sinners and not in close union with him.
God’s invitation to
experience the joy of salvation or grace is a free gift.
It is up to us to accept it or refuse. It is also an invitation to love
selflessly, to serve willingly, to make sacrifices joyfully, to care for the
uncared for, to forgive without conditions, to show mercy towards the
suffering, etc. These are the ways in which we co-operate with God to establish
his Kingdom on earth. But often we knowingly and wilfully, stubbornly and obstinately
refuse to accept God’s invitation either by making excuses or by our indifference. We
become deaf to God’s invitation to love and refuse to cooperate with his grace.
Why? First reason is clear from today’s parable: our engrossment in worldly affairs,
such as our business, work, and cares of life. Though work and business are
important for life, we should not allow them to be our gods whom we worship. This
happens when we give first priority to worldly concerns, as if work were
the only purpose of life. In that case, the
Other reasons for our refusal of God’s invitation are our unwillingness to sacrifice our self-interests, indifference towards the poor and the needy, carelessness in spiritual matters, over attachment to wealth, possessions, etc. Then in order to justify our action and behaviour, we add ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ such as, “I would have done it, if not…” or we postpone the opportunities for service and self-sacrifice by saying: “Let’s see later on!” That shows that we do not feel the urgency of serving the needy as demanded by the king in today’s parable. See the way some of the invitees treated the servants sent by the king. They not only refused to go for wedding feast but also violently seized, mistreated and killed the servants (22:6). We too mistreat Jesus and murder his values by living a life contrary to our call or faith. Sometimes we mistreat the messengers through whom God invites us to live by his standards such as our parents and spiritual guides. We oppose, criticize and make fun of them or show a “don’t care” attitude. We lack seriousness in our Christian commitments and make light of our spiritual and social duties or responsibilities. Thus our response to God’s invitation to relish his ‘wedding feast’ remains half-hearted and cold.
Excuses get multiplied when some people get into addictive habits, such as substance abuse (alcoholism, drug addiction, etc.) or behavioural addiction (mobile phone, internet, sex addiction, etc.). Normally, such people make a number of excuses to cover up their bad behaviour or to protect themselves from those who want to snatch away that substance or object (such as drug, alcohol and internet) on which they are physically and psychologically dependent. The same thing is true of those who allow themselves to be driven by lust, over-anxiety, excessive worries and fears, depression and tensions. They too get addicted to these issues. It is to such people God always sends his invitation to admit their powerlessness to change their condition and surrender their lives into his hands without making excuses, and allow him to take them where he wants and give them what he wills. Once a person gets addicted to anything, he/she makes so many excuses to cover up his/her problem and protect oneself from the pain of giving up such a habit or from the inability to give it up.
What a wonderful opportunity those invitees got, but missed it and suffered irreversible loss. Hence, it is good to examine the excuses we make or reasons we give to avoid involvement in building up a loving and just society. The same thing applies to the excuses we make for not giving up our bad habits or deep-rooted disorders mentioned above. We need God’s light to see whether they are genuine. Quite often they may signify our unwillingness to make sacrifices and live our Christian faith in a committed manner. We must examine whether we remain as Christians for the sake of social identity or interest only in our personal salvation without any concern for our community or society. Let us also examine the excuses we make in various areas of life: to give some time for our spiritual duties; to forgive those who have hurt us; to render an occasional service which has no reward; to sacrifice our time and resources for the good of others; to give time for family and children; to live honestly; not to pardon those who have offended us; etc.
Though God invites the good and the bad, those who respond to his invitation must put on the wedding garment of repentance and good deeds. They have to become worthy of becoming God’s guests by proper moral and spiritual response. Just as the invitees in this parable did to the king, sometimes professing Christians insult God not only by refusing his loving invitation, but also by not wearing the wedding robe, that is, by not living what they profess. They become so complacent that they take their new life for granted and fail to persevere in it. They should realize, though invited, they will not be saved automatically. They need to change their former filthy clothes and put on new garment, which implies a change of life.
5. Response to God's Word
Considering the magnanimity of God towards sinners like us, what is our response? How often do we refuse God’s free offer of salvation and grace? What are the excuses we make to avoid our involvement in social service or charitable works? In what way we show indifference to our duty to build up a loving and just society? If we refuse God’s invitation again and again, is it not a sign of our hard-heartedness from our part? Do we get engrossed in worldly affairs, such as our business and work to the extent of neglecting our spiritual duties and giving time to our families? Do we mistreat Jesus and murder his values by living a life contrary to what we profess in faith? Are we wearing the wedding robe by living a life of grace and practicing what we profess, or by living a life of honesty, justice and truth?
6. A prayer
O benevolent God, you always invite us to live a life of love and experience your free gift of salvation. We are so sorry for the times we refused your invitation wilfully and deliberately. Forgive us for our lame excuses, obstinacy and hard-heartedness. Grant that we may give first priority to build up communities of love, peace and justice and not to our worldly concerns. May we be found worthy to stand before you clothed in the garment of your grace by living what we profess. Amen.
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