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And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding."' But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.' So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.
"But when the king came into to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' For many are called, but few are chosen."
- Matthew 22:1-14
In our current readings, Jesus is in Jerusalem. In yesterday's reading, He spoke to the chief priests and elders in the temple, who had challenged Jesus' authority: "Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedresers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.' So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?" They said to Him, "He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons." Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?
"Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder." Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.
And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding."' The wedding of Christ has His Church is a theme essential to our understanding of the mission of Christ, the Son. Christ is called the Bridegroom, and His Church is His Bride -- that is the "people of God," or Israel. Marriage, in today's parable, is an analogy for the Kingdom (see Ephesians 5:21-33). The first invited to the wedding are those under the Old Covenant, represented in the oxen who are prepared as representing the Old Covenant sacrifices. The "fatted cattle" are more literally (in the Greek) the wheat-fed, or "formed from wheat" -- meaning the Eucharist, or those under the New Covenant. All are invited under both Covenants, and all is prepared for the wedding, and the wedding feast. Both Covenants are fulfilled in the wedding of Christ and His Church, His people. My study bible says the first group of servants sent out are interpreted to be Moses and those with Him, and the second is composed of the prophets. These groups call out the initially invited, the Jews. The repeated sending of servants is once again a theme of the message of the prophets. My study bible says this shows "the Father's great desire to have His people with Him in the Kingdom."
"But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city." St. John Chrysostom interpreted this passage as prophetic of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70, thereby attributing it to the effects of refusal of the mission of Christ which culminates that of the "servants," the prophets, so repeatedly abused and rejected. This happened 40 years from the death of Christ, thus giving time for a generation to repent as the Church grew and gained followers.
"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.' So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests." This great call along the highways is the call to the whole world, the Gentiles -- those not initially invited, as my study bible puts it, but now called.
"But when the king came into to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' For many are called, but few are chosen." My study bible explains that the wedding garment would have been provided by the king; therefore the man had no excuse for not wearing one. Therefore, he's speechless and has no defense for being without. The lack of wedding garment is an illustration of a refusal of grace -- God's hospitality -- or by those who want His Kingdom on their own terms. This garment refers to the baptismal garment, and the promised "life of faith, repentance, virtue, and charity" (in the words of my study bible) implicit in baptism. "Without these," my study bible says, "a person will ultimately be cast into outer darkness." That there are many called, and few chosen is illustrative of this phase of the spiritual life of the Church in our current age that was initiated by Christ: the call goes out on the "highways," and all the world is called to be "people of God." But only those with the proper "wedding garment" will be chosen.
What does it mean to live in fulfillment of our baptism? This parable tells us clearly about the call to all the world, but it's also an important warning about being dressed in the proper wedding garment when it's time for that great wedding banquet or feast. The garment is the gift of the King, the gift of grace. This parable shows us that grace also needs our consent to work within us. Somewhere there is a life of "yes" to God's work in us, the gift that makes us fit for this kingdom, or "god-like." The Scriptures and particularly the Epistles speak to us of what god-likeness is, the virtues cultivated through a life active in receipt of the Spirit with which we're graced at baptism. In the Second Epistle of Peter, we read of the "most great and precious promises" we're given, and that by those promises we "may be made partakers of the divine nature." Peter writes that by ministering our faith, we receive "virtue: and in virtue, knowledge; and in knowledge, abstinence; and in abstinence, patience; and in patience, godliness; and in godliness, love of brotherhood: and in love of brotherhood, charity." These things make up the true "garment" of baptism; that is, the fulfillment of the promises made in our baptism. In St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, a letter chiefly concerned with baptism and the promises therein, he writes, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23). What we have given to us in baptism is the Holy Spirit, and clearly the apostles urge us that ministering in our faith means nurturing this gift and growing in it, producing fruits such as are named here in the excerpts from the Epistles of Peter and Paul. This is what it means to become "god-like" and it is a fulfillment of the promise within which we may dwell in the Kingdom here and now, in the world but not "of it," as Christ put it in His prayer to the Father at the Last Supper. This is what it means to be present wearing the wedding garment. St. Paul writes, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, that "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb 11:1). As such, part of those things hoped for are the fruits of the Spirit manifest in us here and now, in our lives even as we are in this world, and dwell in the Kingdom, and carry it with us, within us. It is when we neglect the promise of baptism, the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, that we're in danger of showing up at this wedding without the proper garment, the acceptance of the grace of God. Saints Peter and Paul clearly teach us what it means to live our baptismal call. It's not a matter of "doing good deeds." It's a matter of living the fulfillment of the promise of grace, active participants in and engaged with the work of the Spirit in us, right here and right now. Our Kingdom is not "pie in the sky" and its promise is not just for a life after this one. The fullness of life in abundance is the living out of a prayerful life, manifesting the mystical call of the Spirit who is given to us and who is everywhere present and filling all things, even as we live in an imperfect world. There is no telling -- and no limit -- to the ways in which God makes use of all of our circumstances, even conferring a strength made perfect in weakness, if we are to heed the words of St. Paul. How do you live out your call? When we lose the mystical reality of the Spirit, we lose that call.
