Oct. 11, 2020: 28th Sunday A
10-11-20 28th Sunday A
An average engaged couple spends a year in advance planning their wedding. I have learned that the average wedding is upwards of $30,000. When we receive an invitation, we know that the couple has intentionally included us in their wedding plans and anticipate that we will join them at their celebration. We need to take time to show gratitude to the couple for inviting us if we cannot attend. What would you do if you received an invitation to a wedding that costs $45 million? That’s how much Prince Harry and Meghan Markle spent on their wedding in 2018. With only 600 guests invited, that means they spent $75,000 per person. Would anyone turn down such a privileged invitation?
In Jesus’ Parable of the Marriage Feast, the first set of guests ignored and refused the invitation from a king to his son’s marriage feast. These guests insulted the king by putting their interests above the king whom they served. The king then opened the invitation to anyone whom his servants could find in the streets, both good and bad. Among those who showed up to the wedding, one who did not even take the effort to wear the appropriate wedding garment was expelled from the feast. Jesus addressed this parable to the chief priests and elders for their hardness of heart. Yet this parable also speaks to us.
Imagine then if each of us is invited to a wedding that costs far more than that of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle; in fact, imagine a wedding feast no earthly money can purchase, and yet, we are invited.
The Heavenly Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have invited us to a very special wedding feast; they spent the budget of the entire universe for the wedding between Jesus and His Bride which is the Church. The mystery of the Holy Mass that we celebrate every single day in the church is the mystery of the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. Each of us is not just a guest or a spectator at this Mass which is really a heavenly nuptial mass. Each of us together form the Church which is the Bride of Christ. We find this imagery of this wedding feast in the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Holy Bible.
The Book of Revelation ends with a mysterious vision of a wedding feast. In this scene, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is depicted as a bridegroom joining himself to his bride, the Church. An angel announces this union by saying, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9). Do those words sound familiar to you? At the climax of our Holy Mass celebrated in this church, the priest holds up the Eucharist and says, “Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.”
The Parable of the Wedding Feast in today’s Gospel highlights two inadequate ways we can respond to the invitation from the Heavenly Father to the wedding feast of His Son, Jesus. The first inadequate response is we ignore and refuse the invitation because we place another interest above God. When I was younger, I ignored God’s invitation, thinking that there were much more interesting things to do on the weekend than going to Church; we all have ignored the invitation to the Holy Mass at one point or another with one excuse or another. The Ten Commandments come to mind to correct our error: “I am the LORD your God. You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve… Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.” While the obligation to physically attend a Sunday Mass has been dispensed, if we are placing weekend sports, hobbies, and vacations above keeping the Sabbath day, then we have some explaining to do at our judgment day.
The second inadequate response is we come unprepared to the Holy Mass. In South Korea weddings, an invited guest is to come to the wedding well dressed with an offering for the couple in an envelope. For us, coming prepared to the Holy Mass is to come with a contrite heart clothed in humility and charity. Have we hurt anyone with our words, carelessness, or impatience during the week? Our Lord reminded us in Matthew chapter 5, “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother… (Matt 5:22-24) We are to clothe ourselves also with acts of charity as mentioned in Matthew chapter 25, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.” (Matthew 25:35-36)
Why is God placing so much emphasis on our preparation for the wedding celebration of His Son? At the end of our lives, all of our plans, all of our preoccupations, all of our earthly possessions will cease to exist. Only the Heavenly Banquet will remain. So we have a choice to make. Will we accept the invitation to respond to God’s invitation or turn down the invitation. Jesus foreshadowed for us the result of our choice to turn down the invitation-- 'Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’ (Matt 22:10) God is the one who spreads the Heavenly banquet table before us and invites us to the banquet. Will we accept, ignore, or refuse His invitation?
