Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The case of the guest who came to the wedding feast without a wedding garment and got thrown out is one of the most intriguing details in the gospel. He was not one of the original invitees who had refused the king’s invitation. He came because the king asked his servants to invite “whomever you find” (Mt 22:9). He came, but he was called out for lack of a wedding garment. He was bound hand and feet and thrown out into the darkness. At the end of the parable, Jesus says, “Many are invited but few are chosen” (Mt 22:14). What shall we make of the bizarre end the parable?
There are important lessons in the parable. But to understand the parable and draw these lessons, we should begin elsewhere.
A Parable of the kingdom of God
Jesus begins the parable by saying, “The Kingdom of God may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son” (Mt 22:2). The analogy is between the kingdom of God a wedding feast. In other words, just as a wedding feast is joyful occasion, the kingdom of God is a celebration of joy and happiness. This is seen also in today’s first reading. On God’s mountain, Isaiah says, “The LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines” (Is 25:6). “The Lord God will wipe away tear from every face” (25:8), and the people will rejoice and be glad that God has saved them.
Both Isaiah vision and Jesus’ parable tells us something about God’s eternal plan for us. God created the world and all in it so that the created world and every human person may share in the joy and happiness of God’s kingdom. From the beginning God’s eternal plan is joy and happiness with God forever.
A Feast for All Peoples
Before we get to the case of the man without the wedding garment, there is yet another detail that draws our attention. Isaiah vision states, “On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide ‘for all peoples’ a feast of rich food and choice wines…” (Is 25:6). Notice the universality of the vision. The feast is not just for Israel and the inhabitants of Judah. It is for all peoples. The vision says that God will destroy the web that is woven over all nations; that God will wipe away the tears from every face; that God will remove the reproach from the whole earth (Is 25:7-8).
We see this universality in the parable of the wedding feast as well. When the original invitees refused the invitation, the king asked his servants to invite “whomever” they find.
This universality was a hallmark of Jesus ministry, and it most seen in Jesus sitting for meals with all kinds of peoples. Jesus went to the homes of the Pharisees, and he went to the homes of tax-collectors like Zacchaeus and Levi. He dined with those who opposed him and he ate and drank with prostitutes and sinners.
In many ways, Jesus’ table fellowship foreshadows the kingdom of God. It was a feast for all peoples. It was a feast for “whomever.” Many are invited. I dare say, all are invited.
The Wedding Garment
That brings us to the question of the guest without the wedding garment. If many are invited, how come only a few a chosen? Perhaps an understanding of a Biblical era custom can help us better to understand the real happening. Jesus was referring to a not-so-common practice which kings and very wealthy royalty observed in his time. These wealthy hosts would provide a wedding garment for each of the guests. In the parable, that is the only thing that makes sense. After all, the king’s servants had gone out “into the streets and gathered all they found, good and bad alike.” Not everyone had the time to prepare and dress up for the wedding. In other words, if the man was found without the wedding garment, it was because he refused to wear the garment the king provided. It was an affront to the king.
If this is true, then the spiritual meaning of the episode is that if we wish to be part of the joy of kingdom, we must be clothed with God’s righteousness and not our own. The one thing that can prevent us from sharing in the joy and happiness of God is self-righteousness. We can’t clothe ourselves into heaven. We cannot get there by ourselves. Many are invited but those who are chosen are those who allow God to take them there.
The second lesson is that a wedding feast is associated with love, celebration, joy, happiness and life. No one comes to a wedding feast out of hate and with selfish motives. If the wedding feast represents the kingdom of God, then we can think of the person without the wedding garment as a person whose values are irredeemably inconsistent with the God’s kingdom. Just as there is no place for hatred and selfishness at a wedding feast, there is no place for self-righteousness in the kingdom of God. Even more, there is no room egoism, selfishness, pride, arrogance, unforgiveness, and greed in God’s kingdom. If we want to be part of the joy and happiness of God’s kingdom, we must be clothed in love. The wedding garment is Christ-like love. All are invited. But only those clothed with Christ-like love can enjoy the joy and happiness of God’s kingdom.
As we participate in the Eucharist, the feast of God's kingdom, may we be found with the garment of Christ-like love.
- Fr. Satish Joseph