Greetings! How are you doing? According to biblical scholars, one of the most recurring images in Sacred Scripture is of the relationship between God and His People is in terms of a marital covenant. God is always understood to be the loving and loyal and faithful spouse while His People have had varying degrees of success in living out the covenant. It is worth noting that the first public miracle or sign that Jesus performed was in the context of a wedding at Cana in Galilee (See John 2:1-12). He also taught the crowds and his disciples about marriage through parables. Within the Gospel for the Daily Mass today (Matthew 22:1-14) we have one of the more challenging stories that Jesus told because of its surprising and even jarring conclusion.
Jesus told a parable in Matthew 22:1-14 that refers to the Kingdom of Heaven as a wedding banquet that is prepared for those who have been invited. Sadly, the general response was not enthusiastic acceptance but rather reluctance, indifference, and outright rejection. Some even, “laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city” (Matthew 22:6-7). The King then sent his remaining servants to invite everyone else they could find to participate in the wedding banquet. “The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests” (Matthew 22:10).
During this festive occasion with folks from various walks of life, the King came upon a fellow who was not wearing the proper wedding attire. The King questioned the man in a seemingly kind-hearted way, “My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment” (Matthew 22:12). That pleasant tone took a shockingly dramatic turn when the man didn’t reply to the King’s question. The ruler then said to the servants, “Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth” (Matthew 22:13). What are we to make of this unexpected development?
For years I thought the man was literally a poor person from the streets who had been invited at the proverbial last minute. As such, it seems logical that he would not have had a wedding garment for the occasion. However, according to some biblical scholars, it would have been customary for the one throwing the banquet to offer a special garment to all who showed up. Therefore, even if the man was an economically poor person, he would have been given the opportunity to vest himself for the banquet. The implication is that he willfully chose not to do so. A spiritual interpretation of this passage that I came across is as follows: Jesus Christ provides the basic garment of righteousness, forgiving our sins and renewing us through the grace of the Holy Spirit, beginning in baptism (John 3:3-5; Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 2:38; Tit. 3:5; 1 Pet. 3:21). However, we need to respond to the gift or garment of God’s salvation and persevere in it. We ultimately accept or reject this salvific garment through our good works in the Lord, for faith without works is dead, as St. James reminds us (Jas. 2:17; see Matt. 7:13-14, 21-23). (catholic.com)
May the Lord help us to press onward so that we would joyfully enter (properly clothed) into the wedding feast of the Heavenly Kingdom.
