A Cycle – 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time 26
Mt. 22:1-14
We have heard the “banquet God has prepared for us” from the beginning of our faith formation. Isiah describes it as a feast involving rich in juicy food and choice wines. He tells us the feast is celebrating the moment when “the veil which separates us form God will be removed.” That image is a powerful image. They would recall that prophecy when Christ died and the veil in the temple was torn apart from top to bottom (Lk.23:45). Yet we fail to understand there is a veil we have placed between us and God. It is a veil of guilt that overwhelms us because of past sins. That guilt clings to us and is used by the evil one to feel unloved, unforgiven, and believing we are incapable of pleasing God.
That guilt causes us to ignore the words of Christ when he told us He came to set the prisoners free. We ignore the words of Christ when He said, “He came to show us the Father.” We are incapable of understanding forgiveness and because that is true, we continue to remember past sins. They haunt us and continue to condemn us. Why do we confess our sins, but we do not leave our guilt in the confessional, it remains with us and condemning us. God promised us a remedy and that was to send us the Holy Spirit to change us and pour God’s love into our hearts.
The scriptures tell us to “clothe ourselves with Christ” (Rom. 13:4). Did you ever consider the parable about the one guest who did not wear a wedding garment is an image of ourselves clothed in guilt? Sin keeps us from enjoying the feast while God is inviting us to reap the reward of righteousness given to us by Christ. Paul in today’s second reading is exhorting us to live a life worth our calling. To understand God does not withhold His love from us. Jesus dined with and was criticized because He did. We have been set free by the very life, death, and resurrection of Christ. The penalty of our sins has been paid. Because of that, we can stand before our God and know we will not be ejected but will be embraced. We have been clothed in righteousness because God loves us and desires us to understand noting can separate us from the love of God. Nothing!
That invitation remains today. We are invited to be a part of the Kingdom of God on earth. To be in a place he would strive to be but wonder if we are worthy. The message of this parable is a warning to the righteous as well as the unrighteous. Those who are confident in God’s mercy embrace His promise f eternal life if only we believe. Believe and trust God will embrace us as He did the prodigal son. That parable should increase our confidence in a merciful loving God. Should motivate us to seek to live as disciples instead of practicing our faith. Disciples who are active in spreading the good news of salvation. On the other hand, those who worry about past sins doubt God’s promise of forgiveness. Instead of a merciful God, doubters doubt God is slow to anger, rich in kindness and fidelity. The invitation to come is ignored because like the prodigal son we will settle for less than God desires to give us.
We fail to rely on the grace of salvation and the gift of the Holy spirit to transform us. We all need a Pentecost moment in our life. The disciple’s reaction to Jesus’s resurrection is duplicated in us today. We are amazed at what Jesus has done but how has Jesus’s resurrection impact us. We are too cerebral in our response to the resurrection. We need something to awaken our emotions and do everything we can to experience forgiveness.
The best place to discover forgiveness is in the scriptures. Did you ever consider the underdressed guest shows us how being unaware causes us to fail to respond as we should to God’s invitation. The disciple’s confusion after the resurrection shows us how a lack of understanding can only increase our doubt. Instead of us focusing on the purpose of their lives. For them it all changed at Pentecost and that change was dramatic. We need to understand how we have been equipped for holiness. We are righteous because of Christ not because we do what is appropriate like all the well-dressed guests.
To realize what Christ did was exactly what Isiah said He would do – remove the veil that separates us from God. Imagine yourself standing before Christ as the prodigal son. Stand before God knowing you have sinned and your desire is to just be a slave in the kingdom of God. A slave, without a voice, without the ability to look Him in the eye, only able to do what he commands. Knowing we can never do what He demands as perfectly as He demands. Or knowing He knows everything about us as He did the woman at the well. Those images should be easy for us because they are who we are. If we believe we are righteous then we suffer from another sin – called pride. That was the sin of those who were invited but decided they could ignore the invite.
Imagine ourselves standing before Christ and feel His embrace as He ignores every regret, every failing, every doubt, and our desire to become a slave in His house. Imagine yourself standing before Christ hearing him say “I have what you need, if you only ask” it will be yours. In a few minutes you will stand before Christ, present to us in the Eucharist. I invite you to respond by mentally inviting Jesus to fill you and wash away all your long held guilt. Do more than acknowledge him by saying amen and moving on. As you return to your seat, stand, kneel or sit with Jesus.
What we fail to consider is what happened to those who refused to attend the feast. What we fail to consider is what happened t the man who was tossed out into the wilderness where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth. All we consider is that the Old Testament image of God is an angry, condemning and one who is hard to please. Yet we know God shows us the impact of sin is death. While Christ reveals God as abounding in mercy, willing to forgive the most egregious of sins if only we acknowledge Him.
What image we choose to focus on depends on how we respond. I believe those who failed to attend would be given mercy by God. Because of the simple fact that they satisfied themselves instead of attending the feast. God would embrace them as e promised He would do. I believe that man thrown out of the feast, if he repented and went before the master would have received mercy. It is never too late for us to seek God’s embrace, His forgiveness, and our restoration and to be clothed in Christ.
