We just heard the parable of the Royal Wedding Feast, and I hope you can see here that as with Jesus's other parables, this is one of those stories that is rooted in common experiences that even today people will be familiar with - like being invited to a wedding and to the reception.
That was a common part of Jewish life in the first century A.D. And yet at the same time, there are some aspects of the parable that are unexpected, that are twists. We’ve been focusing on the twists of parables, right? So, for example, in this case, number one twist, why don’t the people accept the invitation to the Wedding?
This royal wedding is a big deal. It’s like the Installation Mass being held here this week, there are only 967 tickets available, 12 of those went to Bishops, about 100 of those went to Priests, about 200 went to Deacons and their wives, 320 went to parishes throughout the diocese, about 50 went to greeting dignitaries, which only leaves about 300 left for Bishop Zinkula’s family and friends, yet there are lots more who want to go.
This type of historic event really doesn’t happen very often, once every ten years at most, and this is only the 13th time in the last 186 years here. So if you got offered one of those 300 tickets, and you just said, “No, I’d rather not go, I’m too busy with other stuff,” well, that’s a real missed opportunity.
Another twist, notice that some of the reactions to the invitation is that they seize the servants, mistreated them and killed them. Now that’s an unexpected response to a wedding invite. If somebody came to your house with a wedding invitation, you would not take them and beat them up, much less kill them.
So already, you are only a few verses into the story and you are already realizing very clearly that this is no ordinary King, this is no ordinary wedding, and these are no ordinary invitations.
Another twist occurs with regard to the King’s response. If you sent a wedding invitation out to your relatives and your neighbors and a bunch of them didn't come, what would be your reaction? Would it be to go and find them and burn down their homes?
Probably not, and yet that’s how the king reacts here, which shows it is serious. So the King is angry, he sends an army in, and he burns down the city of those to whom he had sent the invitation but who rejected it and killed some of his servants.
And then finally, why does the King then turn around and say “go out to the streets and bring everyone in”? The good, the bad, everyone. I want anyone who will say “yes” in my wedding feast. But then at the very final part of the parable, when this guy comes in and he is apparently not dressed adequately for the wedding, what is the King’s response? Tie him up and throw him out of the wedding hall.
And not just throw him out of the wedding hall, but throw him out into the “outer darkness; there people will weep and gnash their teeth.” Now if you're a Jew in the first century and you hear Jesus give this parable, you know what the outer darkness means.
The outer darkness was a way of referring to Gehenna, of referring to the realm of the damned, of the place of darkness and distress, where those who were wicked and who had rejected God would weep and gnash their teeth in punishment and in eternal separation from God, in the torments of what today we would call hell.
So at the beginning of the parable, the kingdom of heaven is like the wedding feast, and at the end of the parable, being outside the feast is like hell; both make clear to the audience that this is no ordinary wedding and reception.
So what’s going on here? Well a couple points. First, the symbols, obviously the king in the parable represents God, and he’s giving a royal wedding feast for his son. So the son here is a symbol for Jesus Christ, the Messiah. The wedding garment that the man is missing is “the robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10) or in other words, Holiness.
Second point is the feast itself. In our first reading from Isaiah 25 we have a prophetic description of what is called the Messianic Banquet, and this is how Isaiah describes this great feast. Notice several characteristics of it.
Number one, it’s universal. Isaiah says it will be a feast “for all peoples.” That is very important. That means that it’s not just going to be a banquet for the Jewish people, but for the Jews and the Gentiles, a universal feast.
Second, it’s a sacrificial banquet. That is really important. You can see this when Isaiah says it will be a feast of “juicy, rich food” or in other translations, “fat things.” What is this reference to “fat things”? Well here Isaiah is alluding to the language of Temple sacrifice. If you go back to the Old Testament, in the book of Leviticus, Leviticus 3:16 says “the fat belongs to the Lord.”
What does it mean? Well basically, in context, Leviticus 3:16 means that when they would offer the sacrifices, they didn't keep the very valuable fat of the animal for themselves, but they would offer it to God. It would be burned up in the fire. So when Isaiah talks about a feast of fat things, it’s just an allusion to the Temple and Temple sacrifices.
So it is a universal banquet, it is a sacrificial feast, and number three, it is a supernatural feast, because at this banquet, what will be swallowed up? Not just the sacrifices, but death itself. Death will be swallowed up forever, which means that the banquet is also salvific, it has saving power.
As it says, “the Lord will come and will save us…” which means take away our sins. I hope you can see now what the significance of that prophecy of the messianic banquet is for Jesus' parable in the Gospel of Matthew.
If you go back to the parable, you will understand that the banquet that Jesus is speaking about in the parable is the Messianic Banquet, the Banquet of the Kingdom of God, the Banquet of Salvation, the Banquet where God will swallow up death forever and ever in the resurrection of the dead.
And that’s why it’s so shocking and so important that when God invites people to come to the Messianic Banquet, that when they refuse God, that when they reject the invitation, it is a matter, literally, of eternal life and death. This is no simple invitation to an ordinary wedding feast, it’s an invitation to God's kingdom.
I wonder if, when people say no to God if they really understand what they are saying. It is like a child who is just learning to speak and they learn the word “No” - they just say no all the time. “Do you want water?” “No!” “Do you want food?” “No!” “But the food is good for you.” “No…No, No, No!” Do they even understand? Do we really understand?
God is offering us the invite to the eternal banquet, but it is up to us to say “Yes.” And we practice saying “yes” here, when we come to Mass, when we receive Sacraments, when we take time to pray, when we serve our brothers and sisters, when we engage in our community, we are learning the value of our “yes” and we are growing in Holiness.
It starts here at Mass, because everyone will say that they want to go to Heaven, but many of those same people won’t come to Mass. Well, what do they think Heaven is like? It is like Mass, worshiping God for eternity, this is a foretaste of Heaven. It is universal, sacrificial, and supernatural, just like the wedding banquet.
My advice: First, Make Mass a priority, the most important thing of the week. No excuses. Say ‘“yes” and show up to hear God speak to you and grow in holiness, this is you putting on your wedding garment, the robe of righteousness.
Second: Invite people to come back to Mass. Not just because this is October and these attendance counts go to the Archdiocese to use to make decisions, invite them because this impacts the salvation of their Souls. They don’t even know what they are saying “No” to, after all.
Encourage your friends and family to go to Mass, to say Yes to God. There are lots of excuses why they can’t come to the banquet, but this feast is important. They need to put their wedding garment on as well, if they really want to be in Heaven with us. May God bless you as you accept the King’s invitation and help others to do the same.