Home Page
To Sunday Gospel Reflections Index

The parable in today’s Gospel is another gem from our precious Lord. It speaks directly about God’s shocking generosity and our need to respond to him in a fitting way.

The king in the parable represents God the Father, who greatly desires to throw a wedding feast for his son and his spouse, the church. The father dispatches servants three times to invite guests to the feast. The initial refusal of the guests to join is rather disturbing. The lack of appreciation and gratitude is insulting. The invited guests turn their backs on God who greatly desires to gather with his invited guests and share the joy of the banquet with those who are dear to him.

The story gets worse. The king dispatches servants a second time to invite the guests. This time the privileged guests ignore some of the servants again, but this time, they also seize and kill others. This might very well be a reference to the Apostles who were all martyred, except for John, as they strove to spread God’s word to the corners of the earth and invite the world to the banquet of the Eucharist. The burning of the city is likely a reference to the destruction of the temple that took place in 70 A.D.

A third time the king sends servants out “into the main roads” to invite “whomever you find.” This is, at least in part, a reference to the church’s mission to the ends of the earth, including the Gentiles. Finally, the hall is filled with banqueters.

One outstanding element of this parable is the generosity of the father who profoundly desires to share the gift of himself and depths of his goodness with his beloved sons and daughters. Despite being rebuffed by those who should best be aware of his goodness and care, he perseveres in his plan to bestow the wealth of his gifts upon a broken and selfish world. No doubt, Jesus is revealing the big-heartedness and faithfulness of his Father.

Another outstanding element is the corresponding forbearance and patience of Jesus. He is the beloved Son whom the Father sent to resolve the irreparable damage done by human beings to their Creator. He is the one capable of bridging the abyss we created by our sins, including our lack of appreciation and gratitude. He is the one whose Eucharistic feast we have been graciously invited to attend and which too many choose to ignore. Yet, Jesus also perseveres in the plan to redeem and restore to life our hardened hearts.

The passage ends with a surprising twist, perhaps a second parable added to the first by Matthew the Evangelist. A man shows up to the banquet improperly dressed and is tossed out. While the invitation from God is completely gratuitous, and he deeply desires our presence, our attendance demands a fitting response. When we show up, there needs to be a form of recognition of the gift being offered, an awareness of the magnitude of the offer. We do not need to show up in a tuxedo, but we need to demonstrate in some fashion that God is offering something undeserved and stupendous. We must show up with a garment of gratitude.

The Father invites us every week to a spectacular banquet. Are we profoundly grateful for that invitation?