Twenty-eighth
Sunday of Ordinary Time (A) [Mt 22:1-14]
11.10.2026
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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