Today's Gospel

Are You Ready for the Wedding Feast?

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. Today's readings from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 22, verses 1 through 14. And again, Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast, but they would not come." Again, he sent other servants saying, "Tell those who are invited, behold, I have made ready my dinner, my oxen, and my fattened calves are killed and everything is ready. Come to the marriage feast." But they made light of it and went off, one to his farm, another to his business. While the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry. And so he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, "The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the thoroughfares and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find." And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, "Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?" And he was speechless. And then the king said to the attendants, "Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. There men will weep and gnash their teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen."

What jumps out at you today? Is there a word? Is there a phrase? Is there an idea? The wedding feast is ready. The king sends his servants out to bring in the invitees. They refuse to come. This goes on a few rounds. And then he invites everyone. Jesus is telling a parable. He was sent to, as he describes it, the lost sheep of Israel, to the Jewish people. And they have rejected Jesus. And so there's a parallel here between the life, the ministry of Jesus, and the story that is being told. And ultimately, Jesus widens his circle wider and wider until everyone is being invited to the kingdom, to the wedding feast. And yet, even being invited to the wedding feast, there are some requirements around how you behave, in this case, how you dress for the wedding feast. I'm not sure that the moral of the story is how you dress. But I think the moral of the story is how you prepare yourself to come to the wedding feast. How you prepare yourself to come to the wedding feast matters. And so the ultimate wedding feast is the kingdom of God. How are we preparing for the wedding feast, the kingdom of heaven today? Have a great day and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.