The Parable of the Wedding Feast (Matthew 22.2-14) expresses what we can expect at the Final Judgment of Christ. It won’t only be those who are violent to the Church who are left out. Those who are indifferent to God’s invitation will be excluded by Him, remaining outside the Kingdom. We must hear God’s invitation and not stop ignoring it. We must change our lives and accept the invitation from God, if we want to be with Him in heaven.
The Lord said this parable, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast; but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have made ready my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves are killed, and everything is ready; come to the marriage feast.’ But they made light of it and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment; and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Matthew 22:2-14
This morning’s gospel, my brothers and sisters, is an invitation. Of course, in the general sense, every gospel lesson is an invitation, an invitation from God to listen to his words, to embrace his words, and to somehow change our life. This morning’s gospel, my brothers and sisters expresses to us how God is going to judge us in the end of time. He begins the gospel: “The kingdom of heaven is like.” And that like my brothers and sisters, he says that this is, if we’re going to understand the parable, we’re going to understand heaven. And so we begin with this invitation to the wedding feast, and the wedding feast was ready.
But here’s the deal. The people who had been invited by the king ignored the invitation. Now, I shared this in the bulletin with you all. All of us love getting invitations. In fact, when we don’t get invited to something, we feel slighted. What did I do? Maybe they forgot about me. How come I didn’t get invited? So-and-so got invited. Even if we have no intention of attending the party, we want the invitation. We want to think that we are special enough to be invited. So here’s the thing. We have been invited by God. So we’ve gotten that far, but it says they made light of it. One went to his house, one went to his business. The others actually got violent against the servants. Those are the people, my brothers and sisters, that God will not allow into heaven.
Those who heard the invitation ignored it, those who heard the invitation, understanding that they were one of the few that were invited, did nothing about it. Went about our day. We wake up, we go to work or we go to school or we go here, we go there, totally ignoring the invitation from God in our life. And so the warning, my brothers and sisters in this morning’s gospel is that God wants his kingdom filled. He sent his servants. It says the good and the bad were brought in so that his house was filled. If we are people who ignore God’s invitation, God will find someone else to fill our spot in heaven. This has been the message the past few weeks, a warning from God, we must take him seriously, not out of fear, but out of love and devotion. You see, he gave the example of the marriage feast because this is a true, joyful celebration.
The father of the groom and the father of the bride, they want to share their joy with their guests. These invitations don’t come out of obligation, but out of love. And so God has invited us, my brothers and sisters, because he loves us, because he wants to share the joy of heaven with us. But it’s up to us to accept the invitation. It’s up to us, my brothers and sisters, to do something with our life where we remember God in everything. The time has come for us to stop making light of the gospel. We come here every Sunday and we hear the gospel. We go home. Does it change us? Has it changed us? Or are we going to wake up tomorrow the same way we woke up yesterday?
This is the warning of the gospel. Don’t just hear God’s word, but allow it to be part of you. Allow it to drive you to God. Allow it to draw you into his celebration because the alternate, he says, bind him and cast him hand in foot. Cast him out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. Can you imagine for a moment having the invitation in your hand and showing up at the wedding feast and the doors are locked and you’re stuck on the outside? I don’t want us to feel that. I don’t want us to be left on the outside.
So it begins today. It never ends. Allow the gospel to change our life and stop being indifferent to the gospel and start living the invitation. And when God says he’s ready for us, we don’t know when that will be. The church teaches that we should be ready at any moment for God’s call. We may not make it tomorrow. This is our chance to accept his invitation so we’re not found on the outside, but on the inside celebrating and sharing in the joy of God’s kingdom because God loves us, but he won’t force us. He will allow us to use our free will. God will not obligate us into the kingdom. He only invites us. We bring ourselves to him in love and joy and celebration. Glory to God for all things.
