Twenty-Eight Sunday of the Year, A – October 15, 2023
Readings: Isaiah 25:6-10; Responsorial Psalm Ps 22:1-6; Phil 4:12-14,19-20 & Gospel Matthew 22:1-14.
Theme: Weaving Your Wedding Garment!
Sunday Synopsis
In the first reading, the Prophet Isaiah assures that the wedding feast of the lamb would take place on a mountain. Weaving the wedding garment requires endurance and patience. This is the more reason why like St. Paul in the second reading. He testifies that we can master everything with the help of the one who strengthens us. The wedding invitation in the gospel is open to all [and] wearing a wedding apparel is a must. The man without the garment represents those who lack integrity and holiness. The time to weave our garment, prepare for heaven, is now.
Introduction
Friends in Christ, today Jesus presents us with a “window parable.” Last week we quoted Mark Link (2006) as saying that a window parable is a simple story which teaches about God or his kingdom. As verbal windows, they enable us to get insights about heaven. Since we stated that these parables often begin with “the kingdom of God is like,” in today’s gospel (Matthew 22:1-14), Jesus presents us with another “window parable” which has that kind of beginning – That is, the parable of the wedding feast.
Background and Summary of the Readings
In the first reading (Isaiah 25:6-10), the prophet Isaiah assures that the wedding feast of the lamb would take place on a mountain – for us Christians, that mountain is the new Jerusalem where Isaiah assures that the Lord would destroy death forever. What is more, tears, mourning and shame would be replaced by exultant praise and the gift of everlasting life.
Weaving the wedding garment requires endurance and patience. This is the more reason St. Paul in the second reading (Phil 4:12-14,19-20) urges us to endure full stomach or empty stomach in our discipleship towards heaven. He testifies that we can master everything with the help of the one who strengthens us.
The “window parable” – wedding feast which the gospel (Matthew 22:1-14) presents gives us a scenario of what happens before, during and after a typical wedding – The wedding invitation is open to all; wearing a wedding apparel is a must; failure to be washed in the blood of the lamb attracts punishment. Jesus is the storyteller; the chief priests and elders of the people are the audience; the king is God; the king’s servants are the prophets and the first people who refused to turn up for the wedding are the chief priests, elders of the people and the Israelites.
Interestingly, invitation to the banquet is the Old Passover which as a prelude to the new covenant established by Christ with his blood in the Eucharist and the three reasons of not turning up at the banquet – apathy, mundane interests, and sheer wickedness. It is the Gentiles who eventually attend the feast. The man without the garment represents those who lack integrity and holiness.
Pastoral Lessons
1. Invite others to the Banquet: The central point of the first reading is that God’s banquet of rich food is for people of all nations which urges us to share the Lord’s Eucharist with others while breaking down racial prejudices and unjust immigration laws.
2. Be Contented: In the second reading, St. Paul invites us to imitate him by bearing with full or empty stomach which implies being contented with ŵhat we have as we await the eternal banquet in heaven where we shall all be rich in the sight of God.
3. Wear the wedding garment: Since the bible tells us that only “the man with clean hands and pure heart will climb the mountain of the Lord” (Psalm 24:4), we are advised to make wearing the wedding garment of integrity and holiness, top priority.
4. Refrain from giving excuses: In a society where people easily rationalise when mundane interests like being too busy with sports, in the bar, at the cinema or on vacation, we are charged to refrain from giving excuses concerning not attending Church functions, having quality time for prayer, and undertaking charitable works.
5. Spare Contemporary Prophets: We are urged not to wage a war of calumny against our priests, the contemporary prophets like the Pharisees who seized the king’s servants, maltreated, and killed them bearing in mind the scripture which says: “Touch not my anointed and do my Prophet no harm” (Psalms 105:15).
Summary Lines
1. In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah assures that the wedding feast of the lamb would take place on a mountain.
2. Weaving the wedding garment requires endurance and patience.
3. St. Paul assures that we can master everything with the help of the one who strengthens us.
4. The wedding invitation is open to all [and] wearing a wedding apparel is a must.
5. The man without the garment represents those who lack integrity and holiness.
Conclusion
It behooves us to use our time on earth wisely to weave our wedding garments. Judgment would be passed at the end of time based on what the prophet Isaiah outlines: “Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives” (Is. 58:6, 7). As such, we ought to make concrete the Corporal Works of Mercy – Feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, healing the sick, visiting the imprisoned, and burying the dead. The time to weave our garment, prepare for heaven, is now. Have a terrific week ahead!
