Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

My dear parishioners,

God is Good!!!  All the Time!!!  And All the Time!!!  God is Good!!!

This oracle develops further Isaiah’s portrayal of God’s ultimate triumph over all that tries to interfere with the plan of salvation. The opening line introduces once again Isaiah’s favorite image of the Lord’s Mountain. Isaiah had declared that the day will come when this mountain towers above all others (2:2). Those other mountains represent human pride that obscures the view of God’s Mountain, the only one that must prevail on this earth (2:12–17). With God’s Mountain clearly visible, all nations will stream toward it to learn how to walk with God (2:3).

In today’s Gospel, Jesus once again presents a parable describing the dynamics of the kingdom of heaven. The parable is loaded with allegory. The main symbol is the wedding feast, which in the Old   Testament frequently designates the eschatological banquet (Isaiah 25:6). The king who gives the wedding feast stands for God. The son for whom the wedding feast is given is usually understood as symbolizing Jesus. The banquet is the kingdom of heaven.

The story is told in four stages: 1) A king gave a wedding feast for his son, but those invited refused to come. 2) The king sends out invitations a second time. Again, the guests refuse to come, even mistreating and killing the king’s servants. The king is now enraged. 3) He now invites whoever he can find, both good and bad, to fill up the hall. 4) A man without a wedding garment is cast out. The closing verse gives the clue to the parable’s meaning: “Many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Prophets and disciples. The parable highlights two groups of servants. The first are the Old Testament prophets sent by God to call the Jewish people to ac[1]countability. Their prophecies were not heeded. The second group refers to early Christian disciples, probably from Matthew’s communities. These missionaries are being warned about following faulty leadership.

The surprise ending. At the beginning of the parable, the king seemed almost apologetic when he received refusals from those invited to the banquet. With the second rejection and a violent response, the king’s mood turns to rage. This reaches a climax when the king discovers a man at the banquet without a wedding garment. Rather than overlook what at first seems like a small item, the king confronts the man and reprimands him severely. He has the man bound up and thrown out of the banquet hall. “Many are invited but few are chosen.” Being invited to the eschatological banquet does not imply free entrance. The wedding garment symbolizes the moral preparedness essential for entry into the kingdom of heaven. No one can presuppose automatic entrance simply for showing up.

Excerpts from “Sunday Homily Helps”, is used by permission of Franciscan Media. www.FranciscanMedia.org.©2023. All rights reserved

 

Sincerely in Christ,

Fr. Aloysius