We Come to the Lord on His Terms, Not Ours

A Homily for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Isaiah 25:6-10

Philippians 4:12-14,19-20

Matthew 22:1-14

At first glance our King in the parable that Jesus shares with us in the Gospel today seems unusually cruel because he throws out the guest who refuses to put on a wedding garment. He doesn't just make him go to another room or simply ask him to leave, he throws him out into the outer darkness, literally into the dead of night. In the ancient world, the night was considered a metaphor for death, and night was associated with death. That is so much the case that to this day in the Office of Compline or Night Prayer, which is traditionally prayed by clergy and religious, but can be prayed by anyone (and I would encourage that), we ask the Lord to grant us "a restful night and a peaceful death" or "a restful night and a perfect end." Many of the Psalms traditionally prayed in that office have to do with protection from calamity. Night would have been associated pretty heavily with death in the time of Christ. In the ancient world it was indeed the most dangerous time of the day. In an age before electric light, when candles could be had but it took effort to make them, and the oil used to light lamps and other light fixtures was precious and could be expensive, people only used their means of lighting when they had to. To be cast out into the outer or deep darkness was very dangerous indeed. Many traditional Catholic commentators usually view this casting into the outer darkness as Jesus telling us a parable about the judgment and particularly about the reality of Hell, or the possibility of condemnation if we fail to follow him. I believe that that is the correct interpretation of the Gospel here, but rather than show us an unmerciful God, a closer examination of this parable shows us the exact opposite, it shows us a loving Father who if going out of his way to make provision for as many people as would like to do so to be a part of his Kingdom.

The Father invites all of those who you would expect to be invited to such an event, the important "chosen people" of his list, but they didn't see the importance of his invitation. Other things were more important to them. They had to see each one to their business or their vineyard or their personal affairs in some way. Any of those things could have waited just long enough to celebrate the wedding, but the wedding wasn't important to those people. Just as in the parable, in our society today, the bridegroom, Jesus Christ, is not important enough to some people for them to take time and energy for him. Each week, and to a great extent even each day, the bride assembles here to be with the bridegroom. One day the bridegroom will come to take the bride away, but there are so many people in the world for whom the bridegroom is not that important. They pay lip service to him, they say they are some of his followers but they show in both actions and in words that they have no time for him, that their interests lie elsewhere.

The reaction of the Father then is to open the wedding banquet to all comers, to people who would never normally be invited to such a gathering, to include people who might otherwise be considered strangers to the celebration of the wedding. Indeed, the Father treats these people just the very same as members of the family would be treated. Those willing to come in celebration at the wedding feast, to be part of the marriage supper, are taken into the Father's house, made part of the family of the bridegroom. We can see clearly that this is showing us how we are taken into the Father's House and made part of the family of the Bridegroom. The Bridegroom is Jesus Christ and the family is the Family of God. We can look at this parable and see how wonderful and blessed it is to be included in the Family of God. It really makes one wonder why in the world anyone would choose not to be included in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. The Father is ready to include everyone who comes to the bridegroom.

The conclusion of the parable, then, doesn't seem to make sense with the rest of this message of what appears to be radical inclusion. A man is asked why he isn't wearing a wedding garment, he's the only one there who isn't wearing one. Literally, this means that all these people invited in from the highways and byways-literally the street people of the ancient world-were all wearing one of these garments, but this person didn't feel obligated to do it. In the ancient world if you were actually invited to what we would call a Society wedding, the family often provided a clean garment, a sash or a robe. The ancient Roman world was pretty good at cleanliness by ancient standards, but compared to us today, keeping clean was difficult so when you visited someone's house. Feet were often washed, if you were invited to a party clean robes or sashes or garments were often provided. People were dirty because people walked everywhere and were easily dirty.

To be invited to a wedding feast and then refuse to put on the garment you are presented with would be considered one of the most ill-mannered things that anyone could do.

St. John Chrysostom, as well as several of the other ancient Fathers of the Church said that this wedding garment represented the Grace of God as well as the virtue of Charity. The guest failing to put on the wedding garment was showing contempt for the host, contempt for the Father. Failing to live in God's Grace, knowing that our lives are not clean and not making that right with God is the same as entering the wedding feast without your wedding garment on.

The Father throwing the ungarmented guest into the outer darkness seems unmerciful to us, after all we are repeatedly told about God's Mercy, we want to focus on that, and with good reason. God is Mercy, his Mercy is limitless. But the Mercy of God is not divorced or separated from Justice and its demands. Any one of us who wish to avail ourselves of the Mercy of God have to remember that there cannot be Mercy without Justice, there can't be forgiveness without admission of wrong and an understanding of the wrongs we do and the sins we commit against God and others. To simply presume that God will grant Mercy to us is presumption and that is a sin in itself! Yes God is willing to grant Mercy to all of us, he's willing to give it to us freely even when we don't deserve it. He's willing to invite the undeserving to the marriage supper because they're willing to celebrate with the bridegroom. God does not have to prove the depths of his Mercy because he showed us just how far he was willing to go for us, he gave his Son for the sake of our souls.

What is the point of Jesus' parable of the wedding feast? It is meant as a reminder to each and every one of us that God loves us enough to invite us to be a part of his family. We do not come to God on our own terms, however, nor should we presume to come to God on our terms. No… We come to the Lord on His terms, and His terms alone. There is not a single one of us who could out Mercy or out Justice the Lord God Almighty. God lays out his terms for us in his Word. They're the most generous terms we will ever find and the reward is Life Eternal.