Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?

 

 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 in 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 recent readings, Jesus is in Jerusalem, and it is Holy Week.  He has made His Triumphal Entry into the city, He has cleansed the temple, and He was quizzed by the religious leaders as to His authority to do so.  In yesterday's reading, He told them, "Hear another parable:  There was a certain landowner who planted 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 vinedressers, 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."'   My study Bible comments that, like the preceding parables, this one also proclaims the transfer of the Kingdom from the faithless among the Jews to the faithful who will come even from among the Gentiles.  It is set as a joyful wedding banquet, as Christ is often called the "Bridegroom" (Matthew 9:15; John 3:29), and St. Paul uses a marriage analogy for the Kingdom (Ephesians 5:21-33).  The repeated sending out of servants shows the Father's great desire to have God's people with God in the Kingdom.  The first group of servants is interpreted to be Moses and those with him, while the second group is made up of the prophets, who repeatedly were sent to the "first-called," the Jews.  Additionally, my study Bible explains that the oxen represent the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, while the fattled cattle represent the eucharistic bread of the New Covenant.  It notes that "fatted" is better translated as "wheat-fed," or even more literally, "formed from wheat."  So both Old and New Covenants are fulfilled at the wedding of Christ and His Church. 

 

"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."   My study Bible says that, according to St. John Chrysostom, Christ is here prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70, and therefore attributes this destruction to an act of God rather than simply to that of human beings.  Nonetheless, patience was shown by waiting some forty years from the time of Christ -- thus giving an entire generation a chance to repent. 

 

"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 third group of servants are the apostles, sent out across the highways among the nations, the Gentiles. 

 

"But when the king came in 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."  According to my study Bible, the wedding garment would have been provided by the king, so there was no excuse for this man who was without one -- therefore he is speechless.  His refusal to wear the wedding garment provided by the king is an illustration of those who refuse God's hospitality, or who want God's kingdom on their own terms.  Specifically, says my study Bible, the garment refers to the baptismal garment, and through extension, a life of faith, repentance, virtue, and charity.  Without these, a person will ultimately be cast into outer darkness.   For many, an Aramaic expression repeated frequently by Christ, means "for all."

What is the wedding garment?  It is an intriguing speculation to consider.  My study Bible clearly states an affirmative explanation that it is one's baptismal garment, but also composed of the life one leads afterward, of "faith, repentance, virtue, and charity."  We can consider, then, the garment a type of weaving of the soul, if we may so phrase it.  It invites us to think of our own souls as those things in which we will come clothed to God, and the image in which we will appear at Christ's final judgment, which coincides with the time of the wedding banquet.  It's interesting to think of our souls as comprised of thread after thread of our lives, our choices, our faith lived or not, and woven into a garment that expresses more truly who we are than any clothing we could choose to wear.  Think about the weaving process, in which cloth is spun from threads woven on a framework which holds in place a basic structure, while chosen threads of whatever quality or color or substance are woven constantly through them, back and forth, to make a garment of whole cloth.  It is said by reference to a similar idea, that the word "history" comes from the ancient Greek word ιστός/histos, meaning loom.  Therefore in this same sense, history is like a tapestry or cloth being constantly woven until we can see the shape and pattern and quality of a cloth, thread after thread across the loom.  Our own histories, therefore, are written in the soul -- a wedding garment, then, is a life lived through faith in what God has given us, the teachings we're given for eternal life and attendance at this wedding banquet.  Certainly this is a gift of God, of Christ, and the working of the Holy Spirit throughout our lives, as well as our cooperation with the same, our "yes" to a life so lived.  And this is the invitation we're given, for the gospel message is clearly meant to be our invitation to the life Christ wants us to live with Him in His Kingdom, entering into His wedding banquet of the Bridegroom and the Church.  Let us consider how we weave our lives, the garments of our souls, and what we want that to look like -- composed of beauty beyond our knowing but that will shine forth in the Kingdom.  "Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" (Matthew 13:43).

Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?

 

 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 in 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 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus taught in the temple (speaking to the chief priests and elders who quizzed Him regarding His 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 vinedressers, 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 him.  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."  My study Bible comments that, like the preceding parables (from yesterday's reading -- see above, and also the parable of the Two Sons in Wednesday's reading), today's parable also proclaims the transfer of the Kingdom from the faithless Jews to the Gentiles.  Today's is set as a joyful wedding banquet (see also Matthew 25:1-13), an important theme, as Christ is often called the "Bridegroom" (Matthew 9:15, John 3:29), and also St. Paul will use a marriage analogy for the Kingdom (Ephesians 5:21-33).  The repeated sending out of the servants, my study Bible says, shows the Father's great desire to have His people with Him in the Kingdom.  This first group is interpreted to be Moses and those with him, while the second group in the verse that follows is composed of the prophets.  These groups call those initially invited -- the spiritual history of Judaism we can read in the Old Testament Scriptures.  The third group later in the parable represents the apostles sent out to the Gentiles, those who were not initially invited, but are now called.

"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."  The oxen, my study Bible comments, represent the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, while the fatted cattle represent the eucharistic bread of the New Covenant.  The Greek word for fatted in better translated "wheat-fed," according to my study Bible -- or even more literally it is "formed from wheat" (as in Luke 15:23, in the parable of the Prodigal Son).  Therefore, both the Old and New Covenants are fulfilled at the wedding of Christ and Christ's Church.

"And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city."   St. John Chrysostom is cited by my study Bible as explaining that this detail of the king who burned up their city is a prophesy by Jesus of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70, therefore attributing this destruction to an act of God rather than simply that of human beings.  Nonetheless, waiting forty years -- a full generation from the time of Christ -- gave to an entire generation a chance to repent.  

 

"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 in 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.'"   My study Bible explains that the wedding garment would have been provided by the king, and therefore the man had no excuse for not wearing one.  So, he is speechless.   His refusal to wear the garment that was provided is an image of those who refuse God's hospitality, or who want God's Kingdom on their own terms.  Specifically, the garment refers to the baptismal garment, and by extension, a life of faith, repentance, virtue, and charity, as my study Bible explains it.  Without these one will ultimately be cast into outer darkness. 

"For many are called, but few are chosen."  As in Matthew 20:24-28, we recall that for many is an Aramaic expression which means "for all."

It is perhaps useful for us to consider that for the Jews, the Gentiles and their ways were generally considered an abomination, especially in terms of power-hungry and ruthless rulers that characterized them.  So to be taught this parable, in which so many are called from the highways (suggesting the highways by which one could travel the Roman Empire), must have been shocking on a great many levels at the time of its hearing.  It might be relevant for us also to consider that this word translated as "highway" is also the same word Jesus used for Himself, translated as "way" -- as in "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).   Of course, by now Jesus has already taught a couple of rather stunning parables, and in yesterday's reading referred to Himself as the Stone which will become the chief cornerstone, warning of judgment in His language.  In yesterday's reading we were told that "when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them."  They even sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, because the people think Jesus is a prophet.  So the leaders have clearly understood Jesus' meaning in this respect.  But let us consider that out of the pagan world, with all of its differences from Jewish spiritual history, would be the ones called to Christ in the New Covenant.  Our Bibles all contain what we call the Old Testament Scriptures, and testify to the entirety of the Church understanding that our spiritual heritage is from Judaism, as, in the words of Christ Himself to the Samaritan woman in John's Gospel, "Salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22).  If we look closely at this parable, however, it isn't simply the Jewish religious leaders who are warned here about the great wedding banquet to come.  For also those called from the highways are themselves at risk of being cast into outer darkness; where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (in language already known from the Old Testament Scriptures).  That is, we who presently call ourselves the faithful, are also in danger of being cast out of this wedding feast.  If we look at the excuses altogether, we see those who refuse the invitation and simply aren't willing to come, others who  are too busy with their worldly affairs and "made light of" the invitation.  Both of these excuses are also quite familiar to us in our modern world, our spiritual lives not taken seriously at all but considered extraneous or not that important compared to the exigencies of the day when it comes to livelihood or property, many simply disdaining to bother at all and dismissing religious matters (or specifically Christ and the Church) out of hand as not worthy of much attention.  But the wedding garment puts us into another frame, of one who was called and comes to the wedding, but is unprepared due to a refusal of what has been offered.  In this I believe we can read not simply the importance of living out our faith here in this world, but also of the great and precious nature of the gift itself.  If we can't recognize its value, if we can't assign the worthiness and substance that is the true nature of the gift to what we're offered, then we're going to miss it.  We're going to go through life having failed to understand the worth of what we're offered, and even in the context of this wedding feast, the true substance of life.  And there we come to what seems to be quite common:  a failure to understand and assign the real value of what we're offered as spiritual life through Christ and the mission and ministry of the Church in its broadest sense, including the work of the Holy Spirit and all that is available to us -- saints, angels, prayers, and the richness of what can go into the creation of the wedding garment.  This, in my experience and corner of the world, is all too common among so many contemporaries for whom a spiritual history of Christianity is discarded or devalued.  And so the parable is prescient, and gives us a picture not only painted for these religious leaders face-to-face with Christ and His ministry, and seeking to seize Him and eliminate Him, but also for us today.  Jesus gives us a picture of reality, and paints an image of great loss in failing to actually live out what He offers to us, to assign it worth and value, to take it seriously and pay attention.  It is a loss indeed to lose the garments of beauty with which we could be clothed if we but work at this and take it seriously.  Like Adam and Eve in the beginning of the Scriptures, who realize their nakedness after they've ignored the guidance of God, we are capable of being clothed in the most beautiful garment fit for this ultimate cosmic royal wedding feast.  But will we accept to fulfill it, live it, accept it as the gift of the beauty, goodness, and truth we're offered in the invitation? 

For many are called, but few are chosen

 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 in 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

Yesterday we read that Jesus taught another parable in the temple, addressing the chief priests and elders who had questioned His authority:  "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 vinedressers, 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."  My study bible comments that, like the preceding parables (see the readings from Tuesday and Wednesday, above), this one is also a proclamation of the transfer of the Kingdom from the faithless Jews to the Gentiles.  It is set as a joyful wedding banquet (see also 25:1-13).  Christ is often called the Bridegroom (9:15, John 3:29).  St. Paul also uses a marriage analogy for the Kingdom (Ephesians 5:21-33).  In this parable, the king repeated sends out servants to call those invited to the wedding.  This repeated call shows the Father's great desire to have His people with Him in the kingdom.  This first group called is interpreted to be Moses and those with him.

"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." ' "  This second set of servants is by tradition considered to be the prophets who call the people back to God.  Together with the first sent out to call people invited to the wedding feast, they call those initially invited, the Jews.  The oxen, my study bible says, represent the sacrifices of the Old Covenant.  The fatted cattle represent the eucharistic bread of the New Covenant.  The word in the original Greek text can be translated as "wheat-fed" or more literally as "formed from wheat."  Therefore, in the wedding of Christ and Christ's Church, both the Old and the New Covenants are fulfilled. 

"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."  That their city was burned up is, according to St. John Chrysostom, a prophesy by Christ of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70.   Thereby its destruction becomes attributed to an act of God rather than that of human beings.  Nonetheless, God shows patience by waiting approximately 40 years from the time of Christ, giving an entire generation a chance for repentance.

"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 third sent of servants assigned to call and invite "as many as you find" on the highways, both bad and good, is considered to be the apostles sent out to all the nations.  That is, to those who were not initially invited, but are now called. 

"But when the king came in 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."   By tradition, the wedding garment would have been provided by the king; therefore there is no excuse for the man not wearing one.  Thus, he's speechless.  The refusal to wear the provided garment is an illustration of those who refuse the hospitality of God, or who want God's Kingdom on their own terms, according to my study bible.  More specifically, this garment refers to the baptismal garment, and through its extension to a life of faith, repentance, virtue, and charity.  Without these, my study bible says, a person will ultimately be cast into outer darkness.  For many, as we've noted in other passages, is an Aramaic expression used to mean "for all."

What is the difference between being called and chosen?  This can be quite puzzling.  But one thing we can learn from this parable given by Christ in the temple to the religious leadership:  everyone is called.  The Greek word for "called" is κλητός/kletos.  It literally does mean "called" as in being summoned or invited.  As used in the New Testament, it indicates a call from God.  As such, we can understand that all who were part of the kingdom of Israel were called to God's wedding banquet, and subsequently the apostles are sent out (the literal meaning of the word apostle is one who is "sent out") to call all the world to this feast.  They go out onto the highways of the world -- again, in their own time, quite literally, as the Romans had built highways for transport and trade across the Empire.  In the language of the text, there's a double emphasis that these servants are sent out to the crossroads or thoroughfares, the places where roads meet outside of cities.   In the Greek, they are told to invite all whom they meet on the "road" -- and this second word for road is the same one Jesus uses which is translated as "way" in "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).  Therefore we might understand a double meaning here for the apostles:  on their own journey of faith along the "way" of Christ, their job is to be those sent out to call those whom they meet, to invite them to this wedding feast of the Kingdom.  But to be chosen is another matter, and Jesus distinguishes these two things of calling and being chosen -- and not for the first time, either.  He used the same expression in the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard which He told to the disciples regarding their own work and calling, and the equal reward promised to all who answer the call to labor in God's vineyard (see 20:16).  To be "chosen" forms a sort of play on words by Christ, something that dots His speech in the Gospels, and makes it more clear to His original listeners what a brilliant mind He had in the use of language, of words.  While "called" is kletos, "chosen" is eklektos/ἐκλεκτός.  It literally means to be selected, or chosen out, and implies preference or favorite.  Perhaps it gives us a hint of the meaning to Jesus' words following the parable in chapter 20, in which He tells the disciples that the places on His right and left will go to those for whom it's been prepared by the Father (20:23).  In today's parable, we get a sense of being "chosen" as a kind of self-selection.  That is, the chosen are those who wear the garment prepared by the Father, who have accepted the place to which they are called to be citizens of this Kingdom, and who live it -- even embodying that calling.  This "self-selection," so to speak, echoes the meanings of judgment found in the parable of the Wicked Vinedressers in yesterday's reading (see above), in which the worthy vinedressers to come will be those who render the fruits of the harvest.  In other words, those who can accept and bear the spiritual fruit nurtured wisely and well by a properly tended vineyard of God's people.  In these parables we can obtain a sense of a kind of organic movement from within that constitutes being "chosen."  That is, who will bear the proper fruit of the harvest and return it to the Father.  Who can truly embody and wear that wedding garment, bearing graciously the fullness of citizenship in this Kingdom?  There is, somewhere along the line, an internal "yes" to that grace and its process in us.  It indicates a type of cooperation with God -- for why are we "called" if it is not so that we will respond in ways that others have failed to do?  Let us remind ourselves at once and marvel that it is indeed the whole world that is called to this banquet.  There is not one left out:  neither Jew nor Gentile, rich nor poor, master and servant, nor any distinction in this world.  The highways of the world -- including those of internet communications -- are those used to issue out this call, as we continue to do today.  Those of us who respond must bear the responsibility for wearing that wedding garment and assuming the duties and responsibilities that go with it, those things contained in the word of Christ for us -- for each of us.  Let us remember that garment is not of our own making, and will be provided for us.  We don't start all from scratch.  Our job is to respond to the grace which gives us everything we need.

Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled

 Then He also said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."

Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"  Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'  But they all with one accord began to make excuses.  The first said to him, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them.  I ask you to have me excused.'  Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'  So that servant came and reported these things to his master.  Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.'  And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.'  Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.  For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'"

- Luke 14:12-24

On Saturday, we read that as Jesus went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely.  And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy.  And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"  But they kept silent.  And He took him and healed him, and let him go.  Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?"  And they could not answer Him regarding these things.  So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them:  "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.  But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.'  Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you.  For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Then He also said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."   My study bible tells us that this instruction is based on the manner in which God treats us, although there is not one of us who could possibly repay God (see 6:30-36, 10:34-35).  It is another incident in which Jesus gives us a sense of exchange that is a matter of belonging to and participation in the Kingdom; what we sow in a earthly sense we reap in exchange in the life of the Kingdom.   Here the promise is fulfilled at the resurrection of the just.  But other readings invite us to consider a sense in which the life of the Kingdom lives with us even as we live our worldly lives, an unpredictable and mysterious intersection or parallel existence of both, as the Kingdom lives in us and among us (17:20-21).

Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"  My study bible says that this man unwittingly declares the ultimate beatitude.  The truth behind his words comes through the understanding that this bread in the kingdom is the eternal communion with God. 

Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'"  There are two levels to this parable.  Christ is the servant who is sent to gather many.  But supper indicates evening, the end of the age.  The people who are invited are first the Jews through Christ's earthly ministry, and then all mankind.  

"But they all with one accord began to make excuses.  The first said to him, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them.  I ask you to have me excused.'  Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'  So that servant came and reported these things to his master."  Regarding these three excuses, a traditional patristic interpretation sees them as having both a literal meaning -- that many are too attached to their worldly cares to accept the Kingdom of God (verse 26; 18:29).  My study bible cites St. Ambrose of Milan, who sees the three excuses of I cannot come as representing the Gentile, the Jew, and the heretic.  The Gentile's devotion to earthly wealth (see 12:29-31) is represented by the piece of ground, the Jew's enslavement to the five books of the Law by the five yoke of oxen, and the heretic's devotion to error by the man who refuses on account of his wife.  Theophylact, however, associates the excuses more generally with people who are devoted to earthly matters, to things pertaining to the five sense, and all pleasures of the flesh. 

"Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.'  And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.'  Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.  For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'"   My study bible notes here that those in the streets and lanes indicate (1) the Gentiles who accepted Christ after the faithless Jews rejected Him, and (2) those outside the Church who replace those within who have rejected their own baptism.

The talk here at this supper with lawyers and Pharisees clearly turns to eschatology.  The discussion begins with Jesus pressing home and reviving an already-existing point of contention:  "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"  (see Saturday's reading, quoted above).  Jesus has already given an illustration of the importance of humility before delving into the parable we read in today's lectionary passage from the Gospel.  And in that teaching on humility were clothed hints about those with whom one may be sitting, an unawareness of the rank in glory between invited guests and those with whom one is dining.  The suggestion is even reminiscent of the story of the hospitality of Abraham, who entertained angels unaware, and gained so much from his own humility (Genesis 18:1-15).  By this time in His ministry, Jesus has set His sights on Jerusalem, and has repeatedly warned His disciples about the Passion and death that await Him there.  So today's parable given to these Pharisees and lawyers comes as a kind of warning about judgment, or the time of the resurrection of the just.  These are the spiritually learned men of the time, those who are the experts on Scripture and the Law of Moses.  They full well know what He is talking about; they are schooled in the Scripture and its meanings.  They are the guardians of the faith in this sense.  As happens elsewhere with such men who belong to the ruling bodies of the Jews, there is unwitting prophesy that happens in response, showing us a connection between what they know and the Person of Christ (see also John 11:49-52).  There is a hint that these knowledgeable and learned men should be able to grasp who Christ is; they live and breathe the Scriptures that speak of Him (John 5:39-40).  But Jesus' parable is one of scathing vehemence, a profound response to the rejection of His teaching and ministry.  He seems to imply quite clearly that as those invited first to the wedding feast, they must not over-presume the exclusivity and superiority of their status as God's people.  There is one responsibility that goes with such an exalted people, chosen of God, and that is to respond to their God when He calls.  The failure to do so, Christ suggests, will be met with the certainty that there are millions of other children of God to be found, even "out of the way" in the streets and lanes of the city, and among the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.  Indeed, so many places are available at this wedding feast of the Kingdom that even more simply must be found, and the command goes out to find those in the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that God's house may be filled.  The response to rejection, however, goes even further, as Christ declares, "For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper."  This is about absolute and final loss, and it is a dire warning, as strong as it can get.  Jesus is not mincing words about the importance with which we take our faith.  That is, a faith that is living and alert, not complacent, and not self-satisfied.  It is a faith that calls us to an awareness for the things of God, a living spiritual reality which may be hidden from us, which we will always be tempted to take as material possession or substitute with the cares and concerns of the world.  If even these men, who surely take their positions and their knowledge seriously, may overlook the ministry of Christ and turn in hostility toward it, so the warning is clear to each of us.  Humility is the only way we can truly know our God, and be listening for God's call to us.  Let us consider what that means to us, especially when we pray, and that we are all on a long learning curve in the life of this Kingdom.

None of those men who were invited shall taste my supper

 Then He also said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you will be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."

Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"  Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'  But they all with one accord began to make excuses.  The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it.  I ask you to have me excused.'  And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them.  I ask you to have me excused.'  Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'   So that servant came and reported these things to his master.  Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.'  And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.'  Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.  For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'"

- Luke 14:12-24

 On Saturday, we read that it happened, as Jesus went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely.  And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy.  And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"  But they kept silent.  And He took him and healed him, and let him go.  Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?"  And they could not answer Him regarding these things.   So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them:  "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.  But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.'  Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you.  For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

  Then He also said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you will be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."    Here is a continuation from the previous reading (above).  Jesus' previous words were instructions about being a guest; here He shifts to the duties of a host.  Of course, while the words are teachings on "gentle" behavior, they are also instructions and even chastisement to His dinner companions regarding the true life of the godly.  My study bible says that "this instruction is based on the manner in which God treats us, even though not one of us could possibly repay Him (see 6:30-36).  You shall be repaid:  See 10:34-35."  Let us remember that while the example is based on money or largesse, we also consider every gift we have when we think of giving.  A smile, a kind act, a prayer, the sharing of a talent, spending time with someone -- all of these may work in the same ways to create community.

Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!" My study bible suggests that this man is unwittingly declaring the ultimate beatitude.  "The truth behind his words can come only through understanding the bread to be eternal communion with God."

Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'"  Jesus sets the tone for a new parable, about the Kingdom.  My study bible says that the parable works on two levels, illustrating both the first and second coming of Christ, who is this servant sent to gather many.  Supper indicates evening, the end of the age.  The people invited here are first the Jews, and then all mankind.

"But they all with one accord began to make excuses.  The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it.  I ask you to have me excused.'  And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them.  I ask you to have me excused.'  Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.' "  These three excuses have been seen traditionally by the Fathers as having both a literal meaning -- that many are too attached to worldly considerations to accept the Kingdom of God (see also 18:29), and also spiritual meanings.  My study bible says that "St. Ambrose sees the three excuses of I cannot come as representing the Gentile, the Jew, and the heretic.  The Gentile's devotion to earthly wealth is represented by the piece of ground, the Jew's enslavement to the five books of the Law by the five yoke of oxen, and the heretic's espousal of error by the man refusing on account of his wife.   Theophylact more generally associates the excuses with people devoted to earthly matters, to things pertaining to the five senses, and to all pleasures of the flesh."

"So that servant came and reported these things to his master.  Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.'  And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.'  Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.  For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'"   My study bible says that those who are in the streets and lanes are (1)  the Gentiles who accepted Christ after He was rejected by those Jews who had no faith in Him, and (2) those outside the Church who replace those within who have rejected their own baptism. Clearly, the call goes out to all the world.  The "highways and hedges" indicate every last one.  We note finally the invitees are those who are outsiders because they are in some way suffering and afflicted (the poor, maimed, lame, blind), and those who are strangers (those in the highways and hedges).

I once read a novel by the Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, titled "Things Fall Apart."   To render the book's subject in a very hasty way, it is about the traditional religion and culture in an Ibo village in Nigeria, the coming of the Christian church via missionaries,  and the colonial influence that has its effect on all relationships thereafter, including in the Church.  There is plenty of criticism to go around.  But reading closely, Achebe's story tells us -- at least to my mind -- precisely the essential point of Christ's parable here about those who are invited to the Supper.  It also touches upon the themes we read in Saturday's reading, in which Jesus preached parables using the subject of  hospitality.  In the end, in Achebe's book, despite whatever bad influences were wrought by politics and power, the message of Christ was clear to those who were the outcast in the old religion or tradition.  At Christ's table, everybody is invited.  But as we see in today's parable of the great supper, those who are particularly invited in the end are the afflicted and outcast:  the poor, maim, lame, blind, and the stranger.   It's a message that we can't afford to forget.  It is the ultimate message of mercy, and there is more to it as well.  We see in this action the great justice of God, wherein, as in Mary's canticle, God has "lifted up the lowly."   This song of Mary is in Luke's chapter 1, and it sets a tone for the whole of the meaning of the Gospel, and the reality given to the world by the life and ministry of Jesus:  that God's justice is mercy.  But to know this mercy, and to value the gift requires of us a particular kind of insight, knowledge, discernment.  It is still a revolutionary kind of concept.  John the Baptist (also called Forerunner) sends the same message as Mary's song, when as herald he quotes from Isaiah, to "prepare the way of the Lord; and make His paths straight."  In the image he gives, we see a similar understanding:   "Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."  With a geographical sort of metaphor, we see God's justice that is mercy itself.  The arrogant are cast down, and the humble lifted, every valley filled and every mountain and hill brought low.  In this Great Supper of reckoning, so much depends on where mercy finds mercy.  It's not just a simple understanding of haves and have-nots.  This is not, despite the analogies, a simple equation based on worldly, material, monetary understanding.  Jesus has also taught us in the Beatitudes:  "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."  To lose out in this Kingdom, at this Great Supper, it is a consideration of the quality of mercy, and its absence.   What are we more concerned with?  How do we treat those we consider "less-than?"  Those who can't pay us back, aren't of a social status we care about in our "group?"  Those who can't get us ahead in some way?  These considerations affect all classes of people everywhere.  Let us remember that we all have our "poor and maim and lame and blind" and those outsiders who are in the "highways and hedges."  This reality overshadows every group, every little community, every social structure, and it is meant for consideration by each of us individually.  It isn't simply a "macro" picture of country, and it's not just about money, because money can be given without ever touching the heart.  It is about who we are, in our own interior, and how we come to grips with this command for mercy and practice it in our own lives, among those whom we consider "not important."  Furthermore let us understand the ingratitude of those who refuse the invitation!  Where there is no value given to mercy -- a gift -- there is a justice in its ultimate refusal.  It is Jesus who also taught us not to cast our pearls before swine.  Let us all remember God's grace, this great gift that is offered freely -- and remember to be godly likewise.  It is also Luke the Evangelist who gave us the question, "Who is my neighbor?"