By +Guy Sansaricq.
Isaiah 25, 6-10; Psalm 23; Philippians 4, 12-14 +19-20; Matthew 22, 1-12
Who does not like to go to a wedding banquet especially when the host is the king? Yet the invited guests blatantly turned down the invitation. This is the way Jesus compared the people of the Old Testament. They refused to listen to Moses and the Prophets; they even rejected the call of Jesus preferring their evil ways to the joys proposed by Jesus. Severe punishment will be their fate just as it will be for us if we stubbornly ignore the joyful message of the Gospel.
There is a twist to the story! While the invited guests were eliminated from the scene, the party is not cancelled. A change of policy is announced. The doors are now open to everybody, the poor, the lame and the passer-bys, the bad and the good. Do we get the point? The feast is not exclusive, accessible only to a chosen few. It is universal. Even the perverts and the criminals are urged to enter.
Yet, indeed there is a requirement that of the nuptial dress. While all are invited a wedding garment must be worn by all, meaning the garment of grace. One cannot bypass the requirement of repentance and conversion. Those in the Church who persist in ways of injustice, hatred and perversion will be thrown out of the King’s party unless they conform to the code of righteousness and purity.
Let us be excited by the many interesting points highlighted by this simple story: first the festive nature of Jesus’ invitation, second the frightful fate of those who refuse it, third the universality of the Gospel and fourth, the inevitable requirement of Conversion and grace for ultimate admission into the festive banquet hall. “May the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our hearts so that we may know what is the hope that belongs to our call!” (Eph. 1, 17)