The Parable of the Wedding Feast

Today is the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time and our gospel reading is another parable taught by our Lord Jesus Christ called the Parable of the Wedding Feast that is found in Matt.22: 1-14.

“22 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son,3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.

“4 Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

“8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”

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If there is anything I find hard to believe in this parable it is the fact that the Catholic Church doctrines always teach us that God is the God of Love or Deus Caritas Est. However this Parable of the Wedding Feast talks about his Father in heaven giving out a wedding feast for his son. So he sent his servants to invite the people to the wedding feast, however no one paid attention to that invitation. Everyone was too busy with their work to give the king their time to join the festivities. But what happened here is that the servants bringing the invitation were treated shamefully and even killed. “This made the king angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.”

This gives us the impression that our God can be angry, and allow me to connect this parable to our angry God why today the whole world is suffering from this global pandemic. Remember in the Old Testament when Moses went down from Mt. Sinai he saw that the Israelites had constructed a golden calf to worship. So Moses cast the sacred tablets signed by God to destroy the blasphemous sacred calf and by doing so the earth opened up and swallowed hundreds of people. Indeed we serve a jealous god.

Wanting to find out and see his guest for the wedding feast the king went into the banquet place to look at his guests. Then he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing any wedding garments. “And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”

For the Jews that our Lord was addressing, the man without the proper wedding garments was harshly punished. So people ask, should this happen to those who cannot afford to wear expensive garments to a wedding feast? Actually the wedding garments represent the attitude of the person attending the wedding. If indeed the man was invited to attend the wedding feast and he was a sinner, he must therefore change not his clothes but his demeanor to avoid being found not to have changed his ways when the king invited them to the wedding banquet.