Reading
Matthew 22:1-11
22 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.
13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
Comment
At the beginning of his mission, Jesus sends his disciples recommending that they turn "to the lost sheep of Israel" (Mt 10:6); he expresses the same intention openly to the Canaanite woman who asks for the healing of her daughter tormented by a devil: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel” (Mt 15:24). But we are now in the last days of his earthly existence and in this parable, which precedes the prophetic sermons about the end of time, Jesus definitively takes note of the refusal that the house of Israel has reserved for him. He now fully expresses his own messianic and royal nature.
In this parable, not to be confused with the "great banquet" present in the Gospel of Luke (Lk 14:15-24), it is not an ordinary man who organizes the banquet but a king who prepares the wedding of his son. Here, moreover, the guests do not just refuse the invitation by giving an apology, but some show carelessness while others insult and kill the master's servants. There is a clear reference to the rejection of the gospel by the Jews, who will come to crucify Christ and, subsequently, persecute his disciples.
The destruction of the city by the guests seems a clear allusion to the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD. and it is significant that, in the parable, it happens before the extension of the invitation to "anyone you find", "bad and good" (vv. 9-10): salvation has now extended beyond the borders of the people of Israel, including the multitude of peoples. The king's entrance, to see the diners, reflects a court custom: the king always entered the dining room last, when the diners had already taken their seats. The allusion is clearly to the judgment at the end of time.
The king sees among the many diners a man without a wedding garment, a symbol of faith, an indispensable requirement to participate in the celestial banquet. Man is thrown into darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, representing God's judgment at the end of time. The final sentence attests to the call of the "many" or the grace bestowed on the multitudes, but the election that belongs only to those who accepted it.
It is clear that we cannot identify with the indifferent and in those who persecute the king's servants only the Jews who rejected Jesus. Even today among the people and even among the Christians themselves there are many who do not care about the proclamation of the gospel or who they show only external faith.
Let's welcome with joy the invitation to the wedding of Christ with his Church, but let us not be proud to be simply among his guests; each put on the Lord Jesus (Rom 13:14), "examine themselves before eat of the bread and drink from the cup" (1 Cor 11:28).
Prayer
We thank you, o Father, for the invitation to your son's wedding with his Church. Putting on the garment that you yourself have given us, we want to praise your glory forever. Amen.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
