Thursday of Week 20 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
1Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 2“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 4Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ 5But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, 6while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ 10Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad, so the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, 12and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. 13Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Commentary on Matthew 22:1-14
In our readings we have jumped from chapter 20 to chapter 22 and read another Kingdom Parable, not unrelated to yesterday’s, about the workers in the vineyard.
Yesterday it was a question of resentment at God’s generosity to latecomers in his Kingdom. Today it is rather sadness over the Jewish leaders’ refusal to accept Jesus as Messiah and Lord. The parable is a kind of potted history and is more like an allegory than a parable.
The king (God) gives a wedding banquet (the happiness of the Messianic age) for his son (Jesus the Messiah). But when he invites people (the Jews) to attend, they refuse to come and make all kinds of excuses. Others actually attack the king’s servants and messengers (the prophets and the early Christian evangelisers).
The king became angry and:
…sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
This is surely a reference to the Roman army under the emperor Titus which sacked and destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70. The Temple, the heart of Judaism, was also destroyed and plundered and has never since been rebuilt. Today an Islamic mosque stands on the site.
Because the invited guests will not come, the servants (the Jewish disciples of Jesus) are instructed to go out and bring in anyone they can find:
Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad, so the wedding hall was filled with guests.
All are called—both the good and the sinful.
The climax of the story at first seems somewhat unfair. People have been pulled in from highways and byways, and now one is condemned for not wearing a wedding garment! But the parable has in fact moved to the final judgement. In fact, Matthew may be combining what were originally two original parables into one.
The wedding garment clearly stands for faith and baptism combined with a lived-out commitment to the gospel, something necessary to be accepted into the eternal happiness of the Kingdom.
As Jesus says at the end:
For many are called, but few are chosen.
Many were called and invited to attend the banquet, but more than that was expected of them. They had to answer the call by saying an unqualified ‘Yes’ to Jesus. Being baptised and having the label ‘Christian’ or ‘Catholic’ is not enough. We have also to live out in our lives and relationships what we claim to believe in.
