Yes? No? Maybe?

August 23, 2018

Raise your hand if you have ever refused someone’s kindness, or an extravagant gift, or someone’s apology, or a party invitation, or to recognize the gifts that God has given you. I know that when I refuse generosity it comes from a place of pride, or deep pain, or selfishness, and all of these do not allow me to receive. Today’s gospel guards us against this unfortunate tendency. The parable of the King inviting guests to his son’s wedding would be extremely relevant for Jesus’ culture because everyone in the village would be invited to the seven-day wedding feast and it would be crazy to think that someone would refuse the invitation. That would be rude and it would simply insult the families of the bride and groom. And, obviously, a Prince’s wedding would be an irresistible invitation to ignore. So Jesus uses this blatant hyperbolic scenario to demonstrate that yep, we still do turn down the lavish extravagant generosity of God! What reasons does he give for our refusals? “One to his farm, another to his business…the rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them…” How many times have I let work, or a hectic schedule, or anger, or ugliness, or my own shallowness get in the way of God’s unconditional love for me? 

Guess who responds to the King’s invitation? The poor, the lowly, the outcast, the abandoned, the street people, the ones on the margins, the unemployed, the lonely, etc. Today I need to check my RSVP to the party. Yes? No? Maybe? It’s not like He’s inviting me to do laundry, or to scrub toilets, or to drudgery, it’s a party for His son, the Prince of Peace, where everything good overflows in abundance. Once I respond, yes, I need to participate in such a way that gives honor to the one that invited me. This is where the guest that showed up without his wedding garment comes on the scene. The King would have provided proper wedding garments for all those that He invited knowing that they would be lacking these according to their place in life. To show up without it would be shameful to the King’s hospitality and kindness. And so it is with us. We should do all we can to give honor to God always. He has provided the proper garments of love, kindness, peace, patience, gentleness, joy, self-control, and goodness, and when we refuse to wear these, we dishonor our host. Yes, we will still fall short, and sin, and make mistakes, and do things that are shameful, but the generosity of God is not to be outdone if we just accept it.   

So….Yes? No? Maybe? I choose “YES” and it is well with my soul. 

Reading 1 EZ 36:23-28

Thus says the LORD:
I will prove the holiness of my great name, 
profaned among the nations, 
in whose midst you have profaned it.
Thus the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD,
when in their sight I prove my holiness through you.
For I will take you away from among the nations,
gather you from all the foreign lands,
and bring you back to your own land.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you
to cleanse you from all your impurities,
and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you,
taking from your bodies your stony hearts
and giving you natural hearts.
I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes,
careful to observe my decrees.
You shall live in the land I gave your ancestors;
you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Responsorial Psalm PS 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19

R. (Ezekiel 36:25) I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners shall return to you.
R. I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R. I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.

Alleluia PS 95:8

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel MT 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."