THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 2010  -  TWENTIETH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME  

EZEKIEL 36:23-28                           

    Thus says the LORD: I will prove the holiness of my great name,  profaned among the nations,  in whose midst you have profaned it.  Thus the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD, when in their sight I prove my holiness through you.  For I will take you away from among the nations, gather you from all the foreign lands, and bring you back to your own land.  I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from all your impurities, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.  I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts.  I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees.  You shall live in the land I gave your ancestors; you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

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MATTHEW 22:1-14

    Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and the elders of the people in parables saying, "The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. A second time he sent other servants, saying, ?Tell those invited: "Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast."' Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest 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.
Then the king said to his servants, ?The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.' The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. He said to him, ?My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?' But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, ?Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.' Many are invited, but few are chosen."   

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In today's Gospel Jesus compares the Kingdom of heaven to a wedding feast given by a king for his son.  This is significant.  To be invited to the wedding feast of a prince is a great honor and one that is not casually refused.  The invited to such a feast carries an expectation of acceptance.  We can understand the king's anger over the invited guests' refusal to attend.  Some of them even beat and killed the messengers.  This is a rejection of the king himself.  The destruction of the invited guests and their cities, while cruel and over the top by our standards, is understandable in terms of the story.  The invitation then goes out to all those the servants find, the bad and good alike.  Many of us have a harder time with the treatment of the man who attended the wedding without the proper attire. 

We, of course, are aware that in this story Jesus is equating the Jewish leaders with the invited guests who ignore the invitation.  Jesus himself is the last of the servants killed for issuing the invitation.  The invitation to enter the Kingdom then goes out to all, Gentiles and Jews alike. What are we to make then of the man who arrives improperly dressed?  A clue is in the last line of the story, "Many are invited, but few are chosen."  We have been invited into the wedding feast of the King himself, Jesus Christ, the Heavenly Banquet.  Yet it is not a "come as you are" invitation.  The invitation goes out to all, bad and good alike.  We are invited "as we are," but acceptance requires of us a change of attire.  We must put on the wedding garment.  We must put on Christ.  Accepting the invitation calls for a changing of our old clothes of sin, greed, selfishness, to the wedding garments of repentance, forgiveness, humility and service.  We dare not show up at the feast not clothed in these garments. 

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Lord Jesus, we are grateful for the invitation to the Heavenly Banquet.  Help us to clothe ourselves in repentance, forgiveness, humility and service, that we may not only be invited but may also be chosen to enter. 

Deacon Ed