Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 142

"The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.”

 

Catholics who frequently invoke the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as they make the Sign of the Cross, will recognize the Trinitarian allusions of this story. God the Father is hosting a wedding banquet, in the form of the Mass, for God the Son. The servants who are sent with the inviting Word are inspired by the Holy Spirit. But the citizens despise the Father, the Son, their servants, and their Banquet. Despite the elaborate preparations and gracious invitations, the invited prove themselves “unworthy to come.”

It is a painful story for the teller and those who hear it. The parable is clearly a prophetic rebuke of "the chief priests and elders of the people." It can be welcomed only by those who love to hear God’s word. The righteous will be glad to hear the parable because they think it doesn’t apply to them. But the guests – who are described as “whomever you find, the good and the bad alike” – allow the Lord’s fiery anger to purge their hearts and purify their minds and gather them to worship.

The parable reminds us of the integral, necessary bond between Jesus's mission and our Mass. The Eucharistic prayers which say, "On the night before he died..." may be confusing. He died on the very same day as his Last Supper. Since the Jews counted sundown as the beginning of the day, that long awaited Day -- which the Prophet Amos had announced in the ninth century bc -- began and ended as Jesus the Priest offered one single sacrifice for the salvation of the world. 

When we attend the banquet of the Mass and receive his Precious Body and Blood we, as a priestly people, united by Baptism in the Body of Christ, offer to God the Father the passion and death of his Son. We are like Mary, who gave her only begotten son to God as she prayed on Calvary. Eating his flesh and drinking his blood we are consumed by the grace which gathers us into the Father's presence. 

As Catholics we pray for the Salvation of the World. We do not simply hope God hears the prayer of Jesus. Salvation is not a spectator sport, nor is our Mass -- which is why no Catholic can be satisfied with watching it on television. A television image is, after all, nothing more than sparkling pixels on a piece of glass. To offer the Sacrifice of Calvary we must drink and eat. We should feel the presence of human bodies around us with their weight, density, and odor. 

Secularization would remove us from life, putting an image in front of our eyes and telling us, "This is real." It costs nothing, demands nothing, and gives nothing. 

When we listen for God's voice we often hear a stern, distressing word of rebuke. Today's gospel suggests the wrath that demands obedience, justice, and mercy. We do not dare to ignore the invitation to the Banquet. 

The Author of Hebrews insisted: 

....we have had our earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not submit all the more to the Father of spirits and live? They disciplined us for a short time as seemed right to them, but he does so for our benefit, in order that we may share his holiness. At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.

Through the Mass the Lord restores us to life. It might be painful for a moment, like your stinging leg when you've been sitting awhile and get up to walk. But pain is feeling coming back; it's often good news! Because we love to hear God's voice we delight even in a sharp rebuke.