October 12, 2014 – Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Is 25: 6-10A; Ps 23: 1-6; Phil 4: 12-14, 19-20; Mt 22: 1-14
If we received an invitation to a royal wedding feast, it is likely we might be flattered and make every effort to attend. Yet none of those invited by the King in today’s Parable of the Wedding Feast attend. In fact, they refuse twice and then actually mistreat those who bring the invitation.
Jesus was very careful with what He said and communicated in His parables. What then is His real message here, and how does it apply to us? Each of us has been invited to the Feast, in fact to several feasts. Mass, the Eucharist, is indeed a Feast. Yet, as we know, many do not respond to the Lord’s invitation to join Him at the table. Even those who do respond may not always keep in mind both the importance and the love behind this Feast.
God invites us in so many ways to become close to Him, to answer His invitation and to embrace stewardship as a way of life. This invitation comes to us constantly through Holy Scripture and through the Gospel. How many of us hear the Word, but then just go back to our lives as they were before? That is what is happening in this parable. Those invited ignore the invitation and continue with their lives. The key message from Jesus is that it does not matter if we respond to God’s invitation with anger or indifference; they are equally grave reactions.
