If you have ever planned a wedding, then you know there are three separate guest lists right? Guest List A is the whittled down one with all the “must haves”. List B is the “we really want you to come, but if all of List A show up, we have no room for you”. And finally, List C is the “acquaintances that we would love to have come, but they didn’t quite make List A or B” or “friends of mom and dad that get to come if people from both List A and B don’t show”. Usually, List C’ers know they are on List C because they get pulled in at the 11thhour. It’s all based on reception hall sizes, catering budgets, and familiarity to the wedding party. I’ve seen family fights over these precious guest lists and don’t even get me started on seating charts! Weddings are personal and close to our hearts and we want to share this special day with people we love, people that love us, and people that will bring honor to the occasion. Today, Jesus gives us a parable comparing the Kingdom to a wedding complete with Guest List A, B, and C.
Weddings in the Middle East were a seven-day event. Imagine having to pay for seven days of festivities for the whole village. This story tells us again that God invites us all to the banquet. The king in the story summoned all the “invited” guests to come party for seven days but they refused the invitation. Don’t you just hate when people don’t RSVP? How much food do I buy? How much wine? So he sends out his servants a secondtime to those “invited” this time with the menu for the feast so as to draw them in via their stomachs. I am guilty of wondering what food is going to be served at the parties I’ve been invited to and I find this to be a darn good strategy on the king’s part. It says only some ignored the invite and the rest killed the king’s servants. WTH? Was this a foreshadowing of the martyrdom of the Apostles? The king was pissed needless-to-say and destroyed those that did this to his servants. Don’t mess with the king!
The king said, “The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come.” To me it sounds like he’s talking about the religious leaders here who were the ones with all the education, scripture, and liturgical practices but were still missing the deeper message of God and definitely of the Messiah. So the king says, “Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.” Yay!! That means us!! Get your dancing shoes on! The servants gathered “all” that they found “bad and good alike and the hall was filled.”
The Apostolic church has been highly successful in gathering people for the feast, good and bad. What do we wear to the party? This is the twist in the story. In the Middle East, if you are hosting a wedding, you provide the proper wedding garment for each one of your guests, similar to how yamakas are supplied in Jewish temples for those that don’t have one. Remember that this story is about a king who would definitely follow this protocol. So all were invited and accepted the garment offered them to enter the wedding in the proper fashion (pun intended) except for one man. When the king noticed the man he said, “My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?” The man was “reduced to silence” because the answer was “your servants gave me the garment but I refused to put it on.”
How often do I know the right thingto do and I deliberately choose the wrong? How often do I defy the rules that I think are pointless? How often do I refuse God’s unconditional love? How often to I disrobe God’s generosity and ignore His invitation to the table?
Our human nature and pride tend to cloud our good judgment and keep us from receiving the free gift of grace that God wants to constantly clothe us in. May we decide today to accept the invitation and to wear the garment of God’s love that is freely given so that we can get out there on the dance floor and celebrate the king’s son on his wedding day! It is well with my soul.
Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Lectionary: 422
Reading 1 JGS 11:29-39A
The Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah.
He passed through Gilead and Manasseh,
and through Mizpah-Gilead as well,
and from there he went on to the Ammonites.
Jephthah made a vow to the LORD.
"If you deliver the Ammonites into my power," he said,
"whoever comes out of the doors of my house
to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites
shall belong to the LORD.
I shall offer him up as a burnt offering."
Jephthah then went on to the Ammonites to fight against them,
and the LORD delivered them into his power,
so that he inflicted a severe defeat on them,
from Aroer to the approach of Minnith (twenty cities in all)
and as far as Abel-keramim.
Thus were the Ammonites brought into subjection
by the children of Israel.
When Jephthah returned to his house in Mizpah,
it was his daughter who came forth,
playing the tambourines and dancing.
She was an only child: he had neither son nor daughter besides her.
When he saw her, he rent his garments and said,
"Alas, daughter, you have struck me down
and brought calamity upon me.
For I have made a vow to the LORD and I cannot retract."
She replied, "Father, you have made a vow to the LORD.
Do with me as you have vowed,
because the LORD has wrought vengeance for you
on your enemies the Ammonites."
Then she said to her father, "Let me have this favor.
Spare me for two months, that I may go off down the mountains
to mourn my virginity with my companions."
"Go," he replied, and sent her away for two months.
So she departed with her companions
and mourned her virginity on the mountains.
At the end of the two months she returned to her father,
who did to her as he had vowed.
He passed through Gilead and Manasseh,
and through Mizpah-Gilead as well,
and from there he went on to the Ammonites.
Jephthah made a vow to the LORD.
"If you deliver the Ammonites into my power," he said,
"whoever comes out of the doors of my house
to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites
shall belong to the LORD.
I shall offer him up as a burnt offering."
Jephthah then went on to the Ammonites to fight against them,
and the LORD delivered them into his power,
so that he inflicted a severe defeat on them,
from Aroer to the approach of Minnith (twenty cities in all)
and as far as Abel-keramim.
Thus were the Ammonites brought into subjection
by the children of Israel.
When Jephthah returned to his house in Mizpah,
it was his daughter who came forth,
playing the tambourines and dancing.
She was an only child: he had neither son nor daughter besides her.
When he saw her, he rent his garments and said,
"Alas, daughter, you have struck me down
and brought calamity upon me.
For I have made a vow to the LORD and I cannot retract."
She replied, "Father, you have made a vow to the LORD.
Do with me as you have vowed,
because the LORD has wrought vengeance for you
on your enemies the Ammonites."
Then she said to her father, "Let me have this favor.
Spare me for two months, that I may go off down the mountains
to mourn my virginity with my companions."
"Go," he replied, and sent her away for two months.
So she departed with her companions
and mourned her virginity on the mountains.
At the end of the two months she returned to her father,
who did to her as he had vowed.
Responsorial Psalm PS 40:5, 7-8A, 8B-9, 10
R.(8a and 9a) Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
Blessed the man who makes the LORD his trust;
who turns not to idolatry
or to those who stray after falsehood.
R. Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, "Behold I come."
R. Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
"In the written scroll it is prescribed for me.
To do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!"
R. Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
R. Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
Blessed the man who makes the LORD his trust;
who turns not to idolatry
or to those who stray after falsehood.
R. Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, "Behold I come."
R. Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
"In the written scroll it is prescribed for me.
To do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!"
R. Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
R. Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
Alleluia PS 95:8
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
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."
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."
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