Thursday in the 20th Week of Ordinary Time, August 18, 2022

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.”

In the Parable of the Owner of the Vineyard, the Lord explained the Kingdom of heaven in terms of God’s desire for the salvation of all, even of those “latecomers” who seem undeserving to others.  In the parable given us as the Gospel Reading for today’s Mass, the Lord teaches us that not all people will share this desire for salvation.  The Lord addresses the parable particularly to the leaders of the Jews who are already plotting to kill him, it applies to people throughout the ages who have deliberately rejected God and his plan of salvation for them.  The describes in this parable how they will suffer as a result.

“The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.”  The likening of the Kingdom of heaven to a wedding feast would have been quite familiar to the Jewish leaders, for the Prophets had often spoken of the “marriage” between God and his people.  The Prophets typically warned Israel not to forsake their Spouse for other gods, and at the end of the prophecy God would reaffirm through the Prophets that he could never break his covenant with his Bride.  The Lord’s divergence from this pattern would have greatly disturbed the Jewish leaders, beginning with, “He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come.”  They would have known very well that the Lord was speaking about them because of his frequent remonstrations against them.  “A second time he sent other servants.”  The first servants the king sent out were the Prophets, and second servants signify John the Baptist, who made it abundantly clear that the time of the Messiah had arrived: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast.”  That is, his coming is imminent.  “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.”  Those who ignore the invitation are those for whom the things of this life are so important that the notion of eternal life does not make any sense.  They go to their “farms”, that is, to the pleasures of the flesh, and to their “business, their preoccupation with gluttony, avarice, and ambition.  Then there are those who see the king as a threat to their imagined autonomy and kill his servants: they will not in any way place themselves in the proximity of someone who might contradict them.  Of course, the irony is that they continue to live in the king’s realm and benefit from his peaceful rule.  “The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.”  We can read this as pertaining to the final judgment and the damnation of the wicked and also as the Lord withdrawing his peaceful rule, in this life, from those who reject him so that they suffer the consequences of their actions: inner rage, chaos with those of their kind, and insanity.

“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.”  This is analogous to the vineyard owner in the previous parable who went out at the late hours of the day to hire more workers.  The Lord is telling the Jewish leaders that their rejection of him as their Messiah whom the Father had sent, as made absolutely clear by his powerful miracles, meant his rejection of them — that is, he accepted their rejection and would not force them to accept him against their will.  “The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests.”  These are the workers the vineyard owner hired in the afternoon and evening.  They were hoping to be hired even despite the lateness of the hour, and the owner’s hiring of them was an act of great mercy.  They were “bad and good alike”.  Both came of their own free will.  Thus, those who had lived bad lives shook these off to live good lives and loyal subjects of the king, glad to enjoy his offer to them.  These are the great penitents of the ages.

“But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment.”  This is one who came for the meal but did not intend to be a good subject.  No one was going to tell him what to do.  He was going to live on his own terms.  Perhaps he was a member of the group which had rejected the original invitation but had come out of hunger or even in order to demonstrate his defiance.  The king attempts conciliation: “My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?”  The refusal of this man to give any sort of reply is a grave insult.  It is further defiance.  The king does not waste time with such a one: “Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”  He is “bound” in the chains of his own imagined autonomy so that he can no longer take advantage of the generosity and patience of others; he is cast into “the darkness outside” where there is no longer sensual pleasure but rather anguish.  There will be “wailing” due to the torments inflicted by the demons and “grinding of teeth” in self-hatred.

“Many are invited, but few are chosen.”  That is, all are called, but few accept the invitation and come to the feast.

Detached from the incessant calls of this world for our obedience to it and our confirming ourselves to the people around us, we shall be ready for the king’s invitation to walk on the road of life and to enter the heavenly palace.