28TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - A
Matthew 22:1-14
What a joy to be invited to a wedding! We all
love weddings! A wedding is a
celebration of union between husband and wife and the union of families; it is
also a celebration of joy expressed by the revelry and the banquet.
The theme of the readings this Sunday is
about the Royal Wedding Banquet. It is messianic and royal, heavenly and
eschatological: messianic and royal because
it is the wedding of the Messiah and of the
King to his people; heavenly because it is a reality that represents the
Kingdom of heaven; eschatological because it will happen at the end of time.
The
first reading in the book of Isaiah prophesies that the banquet will be of fine
wines and rich food which will be served for all peoples. The parable in the gospel is about the King
who invited people to the wedding banquet of his son; it also shows us the attitude
of the invitees towards the celebration. The first ones to be invited
refused the invitation and killed the servants. In anger, the king sent
his troops to destroy the murderers. Then the invitation was extended to
everyone until the wedding hall was filled with guests. Yet one of the
guests was not in a proper wedding attire so he was sent out and was punished
as well.
In the Old Testament the Israelites were the
first ones to be invited being the Chosen People of God but they refused and killed their
prophets who represented God’s messengers.
In the New Testament they again
rejected the one sent by God, Jesus who was the Messiah. After the resurrection, the invitation was
extended to the Gentiles and the rest of the world who willingly accepted it
hence the growth and spread of the Church. These were the new invitees to
the messianic banquet who accepted Jesus Christ as the Messiah.
The parable is a story not just of the past
with the Jews and Gentiles but it is a living and present reality with us
as characters. We are the new People of God and being members of the
Church, we have responded positively to the invitation in the Wedding
Banquet. But this invitation is not just to those who received baptism
and became members of the Church but to all peoples of the world. The invitation remains a constant calling to
each one of us and the rest of humanity not just in the heavenly banquet at the
end of our lives but in the here and now of our existence. It is God who calls us into a fellowship with
Him as his children. Just like when we gather as a family in our homes most
especially during meals, we also gather together as a Christian family every
time we celebrate the Mass. It is the time
when we partake in a banquet prepared for us by God in the form of bread and
wine which is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. It is the foretaste of
the banquet we will be celebrating for the rest of our lives in heaven.
Our “wedding garment” represents good works as fruits of our faith which we
have to wear and bring into the celebration.
Our relationship with God is nuptial: it is about union, both as individual (personal)
and communal (ecclesial). If the Christian
family, the domestic church, is the mirror of the Trinity as a family then our
families should reflect this divine reality in the world. The Mass in its humblest form symbolises
the union of God with his family, here and now expressed in the earthly Eucharist
and also in the time to come expressed in the heavenly Eucharist. We are all invited into this union and
banquet…
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