AN INVITATION THAT WAS REJECTED.

TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME. YEAR A.
October 12, 2008.
(First reading: Isaiah 25:6-10) (Psalm 23:1-6)
(Second reading: Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20) (Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14)


AN INVITATION
THAT WAS REJECTED.

The ones who were invited to the greatest banquet of life rejected the invitation, says the gospel. The tragedy, however, does not end there, as those who rejected the invitation went on to choose death instead.

What does this banquet consist of?
The gospel uses the term "banquet" to describe a world of justice and peace, of goodness and truth, of unity and equality among all human beings; a world where each human being possesses the ability to live life at the highest level of quality. The banquet is life lived to the fullest.

The gospel presents this banquet as "a wedding feast a king gives for his son" (Matthew 22:2); a feast God the Father gives for his Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, a feast to which all human beings are invited.

This "banquet" is the culmination of God's diligent preparation through human history, God acting through men, in order to achieve justice, peace, unity and fulness of life.

A banquet of abundance and joy.
The gospel highlights the abundance of the banquet: "Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready" (Matthew 22:4).

The Book of the Prophet Isaiah presents the "banquet" as the joyful realization of all human aspirations: "the Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face", when "he will destroy death for ever" (Isaiah 25:8).

There are people who reject the invitation to participate in this kind of life, in this "banquet".
The ones who reject such an invitation are those who cannot accept the universal human order based on justice, peace and unity. That order is not acceptable nor convenient nor desirable to them; and, in fact, it is detrimental to their interests.

The gospel describes them as those who "ignore the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business" (Matthew 22:5).

A "wedding garment" is required.
All it is required to enter the "banquet" is a courageous commitment to bring about justice and peace, unity and mutual respect for all human beings. This is the requirement which the gospel describes as an appropriate "wedding garment".

He who came into the banquet not dressed in a "wedding garment" was "cast into the darkness outside" (Matthew 22:13). Those who fail to clothe themselves in a garment pleasing God, will be "cast into the darkness outside".

Let us clothe ourselves with the courageous commitment to accept the Lord's invitation to his banquet.