Of course we have hints of this heavenly banquet throughout the life and ministry of Jesus. From the moment he is born in Bethlehem (a name which means “house of bread”) and is laid there in a feeding trough, to the night before He dies, when He gives His own body and blood as food and drink, Jesus’ proclamation of the Kingdom regularly involved the context of a meal
So we shouldn’t be at all surprised that in Matthew’s Gospel Jesus once again uses banquet imagery. Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a wedding feast, and this time the parable contains two crucial allegories. We’ll want to consider both of these allegories, how St. Matthew intended them for his audience, and how they can still inform our discipleship for today
The first allegory involves the history of Israel, and revolves around those who refuse to come to the banquet.
Clearly, the wedding feast is the Kingdom of God, and God is Himself the King. He sends out his messengers, the prophets, to invite His people to the feast but many refuse to come. The King sends other messengers, only to find that they are beaten and killed, just as so many of the prophets were.
In anger, the King sends His troops to destroy and burn their city – and by the time Matthew writes this Gospel, Jerusalem and its Temple had indeed been destroyed by the Roman army in the year 70 AD.
The second allegory, involves the community of the Church, and revolves around the guests who are gathered from the streets, and the guest without a wedding garment.
The Gospel makes it clear that the guests who are finally brought into the banquet are no better and no worse than the first set of invited guests. The king’s servants, it is said, gather the “good and the bad alike.”
This reflects the reality of the Church that Matthew was writing for. Already in the early days of the Church it was clear that the Church was made up of saints and sinners, good people and bad people. In particular, there were some people who had joined the Church for the wrong reasons, or who had the wrong attitude or disposition. These people are compared to the guest who is found without a proper wedding garment – they will not be allowed to remain at the feast.
Having established what these two allegories are, and how St. Matthew intended his audience to understand the words of Jesus, we can begin to apply them to our own situation.
It’s true that for all time God’s invitation is open to all people. But just as in the parable, it’s simply true that not everyone chooses to accept this invitation.
As incredible as it may seem, some people simply refuse to come to this marvelous banquet of peace and prosperity that Isaiah speaks of in the first reading. They either ignore God’s invitation completely, or more commonly, they become so involved in their own concerns, in their own individual pursuit of happiness, that they simply don’t have time for it.
Just as in the parable, a certain number of others actually attack those who have been sent to deliver the invitation. They would prefer not to be told that the true fulfillment for which they long is found in something other than their own desires – and so, feeling threatened and unsettled, they attack.
But lest you think I am speaking about people other than you and me, let’s honestly ask ourselves how we respond to the invitation.
Do we find ourselves making excuses for not going to Mass, for not making time to pray, for not contributing our own efforts to inviting others to share in God’s banquet?
Do we find the biggest sporting event, or the latest movie, or some other social engagement, or even our work obligations more interesting and compelling than the invitation offered to us by God?
Sadly, from time to time we too seem unable to find the time and energy that God’s wedding banquet might require, so we simply send our regrets and do our own thing.
But we must realize that when the end comes, and we experience the vision that Isaiah foretells, we will realize that all of life was in fact moving toward God’s wedding feast. All our worries and concerns, all our other distractions and interests will fade to absolute nothingness and only God’s banquet will remain – and we will have turned down our invitation.
Friends, the single most important question in our lives, the question that really matters most in life is not what career you will pursue, or even who you will marry – the single most important question is whether or not you will accept God’s invitation and come to His feast.
Make no mistake about it: though the invitation is freely given, there are still standards for its enjoyment. The banquet is open to all, but it is guaranteed to no one. Our Lord Himself makes it very clear: “many are called, but few are chosen.”
So you might ask, how is it that we can be sure we have accepted the invitation and come prepared for the feast? What exactly is the meaning of the garment that the wedding guests are expected to wear if they wish to remain at the banquet?
I said earlier that Matthew’s Christian community had discovered that some people had entered the Church without the proper attitude or proper disposition. Although they were invited, and had even accepted the invitation, they did so without preparing themselves, without allowing the invitation to change them and their way of being.
And so the image of the wedding garment is symbolic of more than the baptismal garment we have all received – it is symbolic of the life of Christ and how fully we have clothed ourselves in His way of being.
St. Paul uses this imagery of clothing in several of his epistles. He says: “Clothe yourself with Christ and make no provisions for the desires of the flesh” (Romans 13:14). “Clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience . . . and beyond all these, put on love which is the bond of perfect unity” (Colossians 3:12-14).
We can be sure that we have accepted the invitation, and put on the proper wedding garment when we allow our lives to be changed so that we more and more perfectly reflect the life of Christ Himself.
Through prayer and acts of charity, and especially through the Eucharist and Reconciliation, our lives can indeed be transformed – we can become a new creation and be clothed in Christ Jesus.
Put simply, we can come to realize that our own efforts to pursue happiness are fruitless, but that if we depend upon God alone we will be able to say with St. Paul: “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.”
As we gather around this sacred altar and celebrate the Eucharist, which is a foretaste of the wedding feast of heaven, may we be given strength and courage to accept God’s generous invitation and the humility to be transformed into images of His beloved Son.
The first allegory involves the history of Israel, and revolves around those who refuse to come to the banquet.
Clearly, the wedding feast is the Kingdom of God, and God is Himself the King. He sends out his messengers, the prophets, to invite His people to the feast but many refuse to come. The King sends other messengers, only to find that they are beaten and killed, just as so many of the prophets were.
In anger, the King sends His troops to destroy and burn their city – and by the time Matthew writes this Gospel, Jerusalem and its Temple had indeed been destroyed by the Roman army in the year 70 AD.
The second allegory, involves the community of the Church, and revolves around the guests who are gathered from the streets, and the guest without a wedding garment.
The Gospel makes it clear that the guests who are finally brought into the banquet are no better and no worse than the first set of invited guests. The king’s servants, it is said, gather the “good and the bad alike.”
This reflects the reality of the Church that Matthew was writing for. Already in the early days of the Church it was clear that the Church was made up of saints and sinners, good people and bad people. In particular, there were some people who had joined the Church for the wrong reasons, or who had the wrong attitude or disposition. These people are compared to the guest who is found without a proper wedding garment – they will not be allowed to remain at the feast.
Having established what these two allegories are, and how St. Matthew intended his audience to understand the words of Jesus, we can begin to apply them to our own situation.
It’s true that for all time God’s invitation is open to all people. But just as in the parable, it’s simply true that not everyone chooses to accept this invitation.
As incredible as it may seem, some people simply refuse to come to this marvelous banquet of peace and prosperity that Isaiah speaks of in the first reading. They either ignore God’s invitation completely, or more commonly, they become so involved in their own concerns, in their own individual pursuit of happiness, that they simply don’t have time for it.
Just as in the parable, a certain number of others actually attack those who have been sent to deliver the invitation. They would prefer not to be told that the true fulfillment for which they long is found in something other than their own desires – and so, feeling threatened and unsettled, they attack.
But lest you think I am speaking about people other than you and me, let’s honestly ask ourselves how we respond to the invitation.
Do we find ourselves making excuses for not going to Mass, for not making time to pray, for not contributing our own efforts to inviting others to share in God’s banquet?
Do we find the biggest sporting event, or the latest movie, or some other social engagement, or even our work obligations more interesting and compelling than the invitation offered to us by God?
Sadly, from time to time we too seem unable to find the time and energy that God’s wedding banquet might require, so we simply send our regrets and do our own thing.
But we must realize that when the end comes, and we experience the vision that Isaiah foretells, we will realize that all of life was in fact moving toward God’s wedding feast. All our worries and concerns, all our other distractions and interests will fade to absolute nothingness and only God’s banquet will remain – and we will have turned down our invitation.
Friends, the single most important question in our lives, the question that really matters most in life is not what career you will pursue, or even who you will marry – the single most important question is whether or not you will accept God’s invitation and come to His feast.
Make no mistake about it: though the invitation is freely given, there are still standards for its enjoyment. The banquet is open to all, but it is guaranteed to no one. Our Lord Himself makes it very clear: “many are called, but few are chosen.”
So you might ask, how is it that we can be sure we have accepted the invitation and come prepared for the feast? What exactly is the meaning of the garment that the wedding guests are expected to wear if they wish to remain at the banquet?
I said earlier that Matthew’s Christian community had discovered that some people had entered the Church without the proper attitude or proper disposition. Although they were invited, and had even accepted the invitation, they did so without preparing themselves, without allowing the invitation to change them and their way of being.
And so the image of the wedding garment is symbolic of more than the baptismal garment we have all received – it is symbolic of the life of Christ and how fully we have clothed ourselves in His way of being.
St. Paul uses this imagery of clothing in several of his epistles. He says: “Clothe yourself with Christ and make no provisions for the desires of the flesh” (Romans 13:14). “Clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience . . . and beyond all these, put on love which is the bond of perfect unity” (Colossians 3:12-14).
We can be sure that we have accepted the invitation, and put on the proper wedding garment when we allow our lives to be changed so that we more and more perfectly reflect the life of Christ Himself.
Through prayer and acts of charity, and especially through the Eucharist and Reconciliation, our lives can indeed be transformed – we can become a new creation and be clothed in Christ Jesus.
Put simply, we can come to realize that our own efforts to pursue happiness are fruitless, but that if we depend upon God alone we will be able to say with St. Paul: “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.”
As we gather around this sacred altar and celebrate the Eucharist, which is a foretaste of the wedding feast of heaven, may we be given strength and courage to accept God’s generous invitation and the humility to be transformed into images of His beloved Son.
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