28th Sun Ordinary A 10-15-17 Sat5:30

ISA 25:6-10 JMJ

PS PROPER – P.342

PHIL 4:12-14, 19-20PREFACE VIII– P438

MT 22:1-14

This is the 3rd Sunday in a row that Jesus “speaks”,in parables, to the chief priests and the elders of the people, the hierarchy, those responsible for interpreting God’s laws and guiding God’s people. Instead, they were focused on finding opportunities to put Jesus to death. So to them, Jesus “spoke” this parable: The Kingdom of Heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.

We can almost hear the excitement in Jesus’ words. He is tellingus the story of His own Wedding plans with mankind.

The Kingdom of God is a Wedding Feast, a great celebration of joywhich My Father has personally planned, leaving no detail unattended.

“Eye hasn’t seen, nor has ear heard, nor has man’s heart conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Cor. 2:9)

The parable makes it clear that this is no typical wedding. It is planned and hosted by the king himself and it is being held in the Palace. This particular wedding feast will be a spectacular event, and its invitation should be coveted by those who were lucky enough to receive one.

This, once-in-a-lifetime event will last for several days and willconsist, as Isaiah described it, of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food, and pure choice wines. Who in their right mind, would refuse to attend a week-long, all-expenses-paid, wedding bash at the king’s palace?

But they refused to come.

The king is not daunted however and, so as not to cast a dark shadow over the wedding feast, he, like the king in the parable of the vineyard, patiently dispatches his servants to the same guests, a second time, not to reproach them for refusing the first invitation, but with the instructions: whet the appetites of those who were invited with details of what is on the menu;

My calves and fattened cattle are killed & everything is ready; come to the feast. God’s is a personal invitation to holiness.

But, as the story unfolds, things get worse.

Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. Some simply considered work more important than the wedding feast. Others decided that their business came first. Still others were too involved in their own petty affairs. Some may have questioned if the king had an ulterior motive for inviting them. Others were just disinterested, indifferent, or jealous.

We may not see ourselves in these characters at first, but if we look closely, we will see that we too, are too often involved in our own petty affairs to respond to God’s invitation to share in His joy. We develop “must do” or “must have” lists that define who we are, and we will not allow, even God, to violate them. Our priority is to be in Control. So we frenzy our lives with busy work, rather than risk just, being at peace in the king’s presence.

When we our minds are occupied with counting and recounting our fears, worries and possessions, weare putting off RSVP’ing to the King’s invitation.

God’s invitation is extended to all, and is an invitation to joy. Responding shouldn’t yield gloom and misery, but happiness and contentment. And God’s call to Holiness does not last for only a day or a week, but for eternity.

No wedding gift is required, simply a heart-filled-“YES” to the invitation. The King is not obliged to invite anyone. Rather, He is offering us a gift. If your response is, “how am I going to fit this in?” rather than, “nothing is more important”, than you are carrying around too much baggage, too many worries, and your, “to do” list, is too full of unimportant “things”.

The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.” We may rightly think, what kind of person kills another sent to invite them to a banquet? But JesuswasprophesyingHis own deathat the hands of the chief priests and elders, showing them for what they were, hate filled, violent men.

The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.

You may remember that the Temple was totally destroyed the 2nd time about the year 70 AD. Jesuswas foretelling what was going to happen as He did when He said, not one stone would be left standing on another. (586 BC)

Then he 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.

Two invitations had been actively ignored and the ensuing violence against his servants pushed the king to judge those who were originally invited as being completely unworthy to receive another invitation.

But when the king came in to meet the guests, he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. The king took the time to meet all his guests individually, to let them come to know him personally, as friends.

Guests would be expected to wear their finest clothes.

The king said to him, ‘My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?’

The man who was not dressed appropriately represents the sinner who attends the wedding feast but does so without a repentant heart. He wants the benefits without having to change his life.

The guest cannot claim ignorance so he makes no response when he is questioned by the king. He knows full well what the appropriate garb is, and he know that he is not wearing it.

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’.

The parable of the Wedding Feast is also an analogy for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. God the Father holds a feast at which Jesus is the banquet. His Body, given up for us, is the “Juicy Rich Food” and His Blood is the “Pure, Choice Wine” that Isaiah spoke of in the first reading.

The king doesn’t force anyone to attend the banquet. A free response is always necessary. And upon responding, the king welcomes his guests as friends, not as simply someone to fill an empty space. None of us are forced to pursue a life of holiness. Rather we are invited. If we accept the invitation, the Lord will provide all that we need. With God’s help, we can live holy lives.

May God bless you.

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