God’s Banquet Is Open for All!

(Homily 28^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr . A)

          The predominant context of today’s readings is that of a feast, a banquet. Thus, the theme of banquet or feast serves as a bridge connecting our first reading and the Gospel passage. Indeed, by banquet here, the sacred authors do not allude merely to ordinary feasting; rather it is a symbol of the happiness and joy that are essential elements in God’s Kingdom. In the first reading and the Gospel we see a promise and the ratification of the promise respectively. In the first reading (Is. 25: 6-10) we see the promise of a change and transformation, from a situation of disgrace that the people of Israel were living in, to a life of happiness and joy, as symbolized in the imagery of the feast on the Mount Zion, to which all nations were to participate. It is for all. Again, in the Gospel (Mt. 22: 1-14) we see the dramatic situation of the King whose guests did not honour his invitation and consequently, the exceptional condition of inviting all, to the banquet of his Son’s wedding feast without ifs and buts, no merit, no preference and no consideration of class. On the other hand, in the second reading (Phil. 4: 12-14.19-20) the apostle presents a Christian community living in authentic love, joy and sharing in one another’s trouble. The gifts they sent to St. Paul are eloquent manifestations of their participation in the eternal banquet.

          In the Gospel passage Jesus employed the use of imagery in the narration of the parable to teach about the different aspects of the Kingdom of God. As a matter of fact, the theme “Kingdom of God” occupied a very important place in the life and ministry of Jesus. For at the beginning of his ministry, he started with the imminent call: “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel” (Mk.1:15). And the Kingdom of God that Jesus has come to inaugurate on earth is not to be understood as a mere eschatological reality, but also as an experience of the love and peace that are parts and parcel of Jesus’ public ministry. It is a situation of inclusiveness where there is no discrimination and injustice. Drawing the issue further, the parable is full of symbolic personages: the King is God, his Son is Jesus, the invited guests are the chief priests and elders of the people and the messenger-servants are the prophets. The chief priests and elders refused to recognize God’s invitation to a call of holiness as delivered by His Son, but they rejected the Son and ignored his message out of stubbornness and hypocrisy. As such, the parable of this Sunday continues in the same direction of the previous ones, it does not matter who you are, where you come from and what your past has been, what matters is one’s readiness to respond to the Lord who calls. At the heart of that parable we see the theme of the universality of the Kingdom of God that Christ came to inaugurate.

          The Gospel periscope from Mathew presents the wedding feast of the Son of the King, and contrary from what is obtainable in the ordinary human existential context, none of the invitees seem interested, not even the rich and the wealthy wanted to come. But the King does not give up at the prime refusal of those invited, and he went ahead and launched another invitation, yet they did not honor it, but he did not give up. Afterwards, the third time, he said to his servants: “the wedding feast is ready, but those invited are not worthy”, then he sent them to call all, good and bad, and lastly, the wedding hall was filled with people. He asked his servants to invite all, without consideration of merits or formalities anymore. Here lies the central message of this parable: God is like one who organizes a feast, the best of all feasts, and He invites you and gives you the conditions for a good and joyful life. At this third time, he sent his servants to go out, this gesture cannot but remind us, of the invitation of the Church to be on the move, and not an immobile Church. They were sent out to call all, men and women of little importance, what is important is that they are thirsty for the feast and for life. Through this parable Jesus is telling us that God has opened the door of his heart for all men, no one and no race is excluded, likewise, we are expected to open the doors of hearts to welcome his invitation. Therefore, this parable reveals the image of a God whose purpose is to share his life and blessing with all and the outright rejection of man does not reduce the intensity of the divine insistence. This loving and open-hearted persistence of God in invitation us to a joyful life in and with Him is a renewed Gospel that should re-echo ceaselessly in our hearts and ears.

          An important aspect of the Kingdom of God is explained through the parable of the Wedding feast. As such, to belong to the Kingdom of God, is a personal choice of an individual, for therein all are invited, but each person has the freedom to choose to be or not to be a participant. And to become a participant of the Kingdom of God is both a Gift and a Responsibility; the responsibility to undergo a radical transformation and change, leaving behind the old man (cf. Rom. 6:6; Col. 3:9-10), in the Pauline parlance. We as followers of Christ are called to create an atmosphere of love, peace, sharing and passing from the logic of self-centeredness to that of God-centeredness, which depicts the reality of God’s Kingdom.

          In the same vein, the theme of universality was anticipated in the first reading from the prophecy of Isaiah, where he prophesized that the Lord: “will prepare a banquet for all the nations”. St. Mathew in the Gospel sees the parable of the banquet prepared by the King, as a summary of the history of Salvation of mankind. God sends on different times and occasions his servants to call the invited, there are those invited for the wedding banquet, particularly the Jewish people, and a good number of them did not honour the invitation. And their refusal served as an avenue to invite all. Interestingly, in the context of this parable, Mathew sets out to communicate to his readers that the true chosen people are made up of both Jews and Gentiles (pagans) alike, for Jesus has broken all the barriers of separation between peoples and nations. Meanwhile, in the person of Christ, the history of salvation reaches its culminating point: “everything is ready, come to the wedding” (v.4). The kingdom of God is present in Christ, for he is the “Autobasilea”, Kingdom personified. The Kingdom of God is realized through him and with Him the Kingdom of God is present. It is not just only an eschatological reality, for the Kingdom of God is present in our midst. Thus, there is no time to waste, man has to decide and make a choice. Are you honouring the invitation of the Great King or no?

          Secondly, we cannot but underline the gratuitous nature of this banquet; it is God that offers it. It is God that calls, and he expects us to accept the invitation. However, accepting the invitation entails accepting it with all its implications and consequences. It is surprising and astonishing that some of those invited to the banquet turned down the invitation, thus ungrateful of the generosity of the King. This is discouraging because the banquet is already ready, there are no serious reasons not to respond. For as we can see, the major reasons for turning down the invitation is because one prefers his own interest and personal work to the work and invitation of God.

           Consequently, others were invited “good and bad”, “Go on the streets, and call all you find there” (v.9). Here, once again the theme of last Sunday resurfaces, the people of Israel did not listen, and God turned towards all who are ready to welcome his Word. He does not ask about who they are, where they come from and what they have been doing before. Here, we see divine logic in action: from the Few invited to the All invited, from important persons to simple people of no worth. He says let them all enter. Interestingly, he says the bad before the good. The Gospel verily demonstrates that God is not in search of perfect people; rather he welcomes all who are ready to begin a journey of perfectibility and not of perfectionism. He does not want the wedding hall (Church) full of self-acclaimed saints, rather a Church full of pardoned sinners.

           Furthermore, the second part of the parable seems a little bit in contrast with the first one. The King calls all, good and bad, and then, when they are already at the banquet room, he pretends that those invited have the “wedding garment”, and sends away who does not have it (Mt. 20:11-14). In any case, above any exegetical discussion on the interpretation of the fact, it is certain that the parable is calling the attention of the disciples of Jesus, and all of us against the idea that the only thing important is to answer the call, and enter inside the banquet room, but that is not enough, there is also need to put on the “wedding garment”. The king enters the wedding hall and discovered that one of the invitees has not changed his garment, he has not put on the wedding garment, while all changed, he did not. He was still looking like those outside, the fact of his not changing and putting on the wedding garment is symbolic of one who remained in the old life, someone not ready to embark on the journey of conversion, a journey of perfectibility. He refused to enter into the dialectics of pardoned sinners. God’s banquet is open for all, but with the prospective of a spiritual and moral change, because man, and as such a Christian is in a constant becoming! It is indeed surprising that after inviting all, beggars and people of less importance, he now discovered one invited guest without the wedding dress. How come? What is this wedding garment that is necessary in order not to be sent away from the banquet? More than that, the wedding garment here does not refer to the one you wear on the body, it is a garment of the heart. It is a fervent heart, a heart desirous of an encounter with God in His eternal banquet. The wedding garment can be identified with promptness and readiness to begin anew, to start a new life, a state of mind in grace, and it has to do concretely with love (charity), the love of God and the love of neighbours poured on our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us (cf. Rom. 5:5). The wedding garment can also signify the “dazzling white linen” of the book of Apocalypses (19:8), which consists “in the work of the saints” or “in the works of justice” that Mathew talked about in the Gospel (5:20), and particularly in the great sermon on the Mount (5:1-7:29).

          The consideration above, invites each and every one of us to ask himself or herself the basic question: if he has the wedding garment? This is an important examination of conscience, we all have to do, because the parable ended emblematically with the phrase “many are called, but few are chosen”. The parable of the today’s Gospel is suggestive of four considerations:

►First, is that God continues to invite man to his banquet, even till today, but how do we respond? Sometimes like the invitees of the banquet in that Parable. The Eucharistic banquet is a sacramental sign of the biggest banquet of God, and it is the prefiguration of the eschatological banquet prepared for eternal life.

►Second, God calls each and every one of us to the banquet of friendship with him, to a life of communion with him. How do we respond to this? Do we always find excuses or we respond positively?

►Third, the parable admonishes us that it is not enough to enter in the Church, in order to be saved, there is need to live in accordance with the divine call. There is need of putting on the “wedding garment”, or to say it with St. Paul of putting on Christ (cf. Rom. 13:14).

►Fourth, it serves equally as an invitation to continue the work of evangelization to all: “All that you can find”. As such, in accordance with his invitation: “Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations” (Mt. 28:19).

          Above all else, however, our God is a God that does not sit unconcerned on his Divine throne; rather he comes close to his people, a God that organizes feast for His people. As a matter of fact, as emanating from our readings today, especially from the Gospel, we cannot but re-affirm that the invitation of God to holiness is an invitation of joy, joy that is likened to a great banquet. So, responding to the invitation of the Great King to embrace the life of holiness does not subject us to sadness, rather it yields the fruits of happiness and joy. It is happiness that links us to eternal celebration with the Great King. In fact, St. Paul captured it well when he re-affirmed the words of the Scriptures thus: “What no eye has seen and no ear has heard, what the mind of man cannot visualize; all that God has prepared for those who love him” (1Cor.2:9). Who can imagine how the great banquet will be? My prayer for us all is that when the Great King comes, we may be found with our wedding garment, for indeed “blessed are those invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:9). Amen!!!

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)