The Extraordinary Wedding Feast
Matthew 22:1-14,
Isaiah 25:6-9,
Philippians 4:12-14,
Philippians 4:19-20.
Reflection
Dear sisters and brothers,
Today, we have the text from the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 22:1-14) for our reflection:
“Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests
and elders of the people in parables, saying,
“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who gave a wedding feast for his son.
He dispatched his servants
to summon the invited guests to the feast,
but they refused to come.
A second time he sent other servants, saying,
‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet,
my calves and fattened cattle are killed,
and everything is ready; come to the feast.”’
Some ignored the invitation and went away,
one to his farm, another to his business.
The rest laid hold of his servants,
mistreated them, and killed them.
The king was enraged and sent his troops,
destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
Then he said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready,
but those who were invited were not worthy to come.
Go out, therefore, into the main roads
and invite to the feast whomever you find.’
The servants went out into the streets
and gathered all they found, bad and good alike,
and the hall was filled with guests.
But when the king came in to meet the guests,
he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment.
The king said to him, ‘My friend, how is it
that you came in here without a wedding garment?’
But he was reduced to silence.
Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet,
and cast him into the darkness outside,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’
Many are invited, but few are chosen.””
This parable has been given many allegorical traits by the Gospel writer, Matthew.
Examples:
1. The burning of the city of the guests who refused the invitation (Matthew 22:7), which corresponds to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70.
2. It has similarities with the preceding parable of the tenants:
a. The sending of two groups of servants (Matthew 22:3, 4),
b. The murder of the servants (Matthew 22:6),
c. The punishment of the murderers (Matthew 22:7), and
d. The entrance of a new group into a privileged situation of which the others had proved themselves unworthy (Matthew 22:8–10).
The parable ends with a section that is peculiar to Matthew (Matthew 22:11–14), which some take as a distinct parable.
Matthew presents the kingdom in its double aspect, already present and something that can be entered here and now (Matthew 22:1–10), and something that will be possessed only by those present members, who can stand the scrutiny of the final judgment (Matthew 22:11–14).
The parable is not only a statement of God’s judgment on Israel but a warning to Matthew’s church.
Wedding Feast:
The Old Testament’s portrayal of final salvation under the image of a banquet (Isaiah 25:6-8):
“On this mountain the LORD of hosts
will provide for all peoples
a feast of rich food and choice wines,
juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.
On this mountain he will destroy
the veil that veils all peoples,
the web that is woven over all nations;
he will destroy death forever.”
It is also taken up in (Matthew 8:11):
“I say to you, many will come
from the east and the west,
and will recline with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob at the banquet
in the kingdom of heaven.”
Servants…Other Servants:
Probably, in both the instances, Matthew’s prophets and wise men and scribes are probably Christian disciples or Christian missionaries.
“Therefore, behold,
I send to you prophets
and wise men and scribes;
some of them you will kill and crucify,
some of them you will scourge in your synagogues
and pursue from town to town” (Matthew 23:34).
Bad and Good alike:
“The kingdom of heaven is
like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind”
(Matthew 13:47).
A wedding garment:
The repentance, change of heart and mind, is the condition for entrance into the kingdom.
John the Baptist preached saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2).
From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).
The repentance must be continued in life through good deeds (Matthew 7:21–23):
““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day,
‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?
Did we not drive out demons in your name?
Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’
Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you.
Depart from me, you evildoers.’”
Saint Paul writes:
“Brothers and sisters:
I know how to live in humble circumstances;
I know also how to live with abundance.
In every circumstance and in all things
I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry,
of living in abundance and of being in need.
I can do all things in him who strengthens me.
Still, it was kind of you to share in my distress” (Philippians 4:12-14).
Wailing and grinding of teeth: the Christian who lacks the wedding garment of good deeds will suffer the same fate as those Jews who rejected Jesus.
Having said these, let us reflect on the gospel text with today’s relevance.
A. Invitation
The invitation was sent four times in the gospel text.
The king sent his servants thrice and once his troops.
First, the king sent his servants with the invitation for his distinguished guests for the wedding feast.
Who are these distinguished guests?
Perhaps, we do not know.
They categorically refused to come.
The invitation was not honoured by them.
The text does not provide the reasons for declining the invitation.
The second time, the invitation was not sent.
The king sent other servants saying good things to the already invited:
“A second time he sent other servants, saying,
‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet,
my calves and fattened cattle are killed,
and everything is ready; come to the feast.”’”
Now, some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm and another to his business.
The rest mistreated the king’s servants and killed them.
“Some ignored the invitation and went away,
one to his farm, another to his business.
The rest laid hold of his servants,
mistreated them, and killed them.”
The above text reads that only one person went to his farm.
This person might have been holding a huge ‘farm’.
The second person went to his ‘business’.
We are not sure of who ‘the rest’ are.
But, the text further reveals who the rest are:
“The king was enraged and sent his troops,
destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.”
Third time, he sent his troops to destroy them, who murdered his servants.
The king’s troops burned their city.
It reveals that they were from a city (not from a town or a village).
We do not know the name of the city.
The king sent his servants for the fourth time to invite anyone on the roads.
“Then he said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready,
but those who were invited were not worthy to come.
Go out, therefore, into the main roads
and invite to the feast whomever you find.’”
The king reached out to the ordinary people.
He told his servants to invite whomever they find for the feast.
Now, the feast is ready and the king calls out to those who were refused, ignored, marginalised, deprived, and downtrodden by the chief priests and elders of the people in the name of rituals, religiosity, rules and regulations.
They were not in the first list of invitees.
But, they received the invitation when the feast was ready.
How is it applied to us today?
We are in the pandemic world.
Some of us refused to be part of God’s presence to our neighbours during the pandemic.
God gave us the first preference.
God gave riches.
God filled us with grace.
We refused God’s invitation and preference.
Rather, we questioned God where is He, like the Israelite in the wilderness.
This is the same question, we ask every time when faced with suffering, or at the loss of our loved ones in our lives.
We avoid coming to the Church.
Some of us were busy in doing what brings in more wealth rather than sharing our blessings with the poor and the needy like those two men.
Some of us killed our divine spirit with abuse, addictions and so on.
There is no more repentance of heart.
We kill our conscious.
We become selfish.
It becomes only I, Me and Mine.
The little ones accepted God’s invitation to repent.
They reached out to whomever they can with their words, prayers, actions and by charity with their limited resources.
We are called to imitate them in our lives.
B. Guests
There are three kinds of guests in the text.
The first kind of guests refused to enter into God’s banquet.
They are busy doing what they think is good.
They are not the people, who do not want to be part of the banquet.
They are preoccupied with their own priorities rather than giving priority to God.
They really do not know the true feast of the kingdom of God.
They do not know what satisfies them.
We are in the same boat.
We do not know what satisfies us in our lives.
We run after wealth and popularity.
We are with a small mind set in our lives.
What is left with us, when we are at the end of our lives?
End of our lives, we realise that there is only one thing that can satisfy us.
What is the only one thing?
It is:
“Thou hast made us for thyself,
O Lord, and our heart is restless
until it finds its rest in thee” (Augustine of Hippo, Confessions).
Nothing…matters in our lives other than being in union with our Lord, Christ Jesus.
The second kind of guests, are those who accept the invitation but they go to the wedding feast without the wedding garment.
No preparations.
We may say that there was no time.
It was an immediate call.
If we want to play football, we must wear our football shoes.
If we must go to a wedding, we must wear our wedding garment.
Without a wedding garment, we are strangers.
We are physically at the wedding feast.
But, we are not present there with our minds and with our spirits.
In other words, we are present physically.
But, we are absent in spirit for the feast.
This is a hypocritical attitude.
In fact, it is better not to be part of the kingdom of God than to be there and yet not there.
The invitation is for all.
The party is free for all.
Yet, anyone who decides to attend has a responsibility to present himself/herself fit for the wedding feast.
The kingdom of God is freely offered to us.
Those of us on the way to the kingdom of God, must spare no effort in acquiring the moral and spiritual character.
Our attitude and behaviour must match with life in the kingdom of God.
The third kind of guests, who attend the wedding feast, take care to appear in the proper wedding garment.
They are the only ones who have love, hope, faith, peace, joy in their hearts.
They are the models for the true disciples of Christ Jesus.
They are an example for us.
The message is loud and clear that those who are keeping away from the Lord’s banquet miss out the love, hope, faith, peace, and joy of life.
We are not like the second kind of guests, who take God’s grace for granted.
Rather, we can become the most beautiful person in God’s sight acknowledging our brokenness.
“The Lord GOD will wipe away
the tears from every face;
the reproach of his people he will remove
from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken.
On that day it will be said:
“Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us!
This is the LORD for whom we looked;
let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!”” (Isaiah 25:8-9).
We repent and show in our character and conduct that we are invited guests to enjoy the eternal life in the kingdom of God (Philippians 4:19-20):
“My God will fully supply whatever you need,
in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
To our God and Father, glory forever and ever. Amen”.
The wedding is binding two souls together as one soul.
When we are invited by our loving God to be part of the wedding feast, He says as Saint Paul writes (Colossians 3:14):
“Above all,
clothe yourselves with love,
which binds everything together
in perfect harmony.”
Let this extraordinary wedding feast bind everything together in perfect harmony with love in our personal lives, in our families and in the Church.
May the Heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all. Amen…
