Gospel Reflection Oct 11 – Deacon Frank Iannarino
Sunday, October 11
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 22:1-14
Gospel:
Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and elders of the people
in parables, saying,
“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who gave a wedding feast for his son.
He dispatched his servants
to summon the invited guests to the feast,
but they refused to come.
A second time he sent other servants, saying,
‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet,
my calves and fattened cattle are killed,
and everything is ready; come to the feast.”‘
Some ignored the invitation and went away,
one to his farm, another to his business.
The rest laid hold of his servants,
mistreated them, and killed them.
The king was enraged and sent his troops,
destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
Then he said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready,
but those who were invited were not worthy to come.
Go out, therefore, into the main roads
and invite to the feast whomever you find.’
The servants went out into the streets
and gathered all they found, bad and good alike,
and the hall was filled with guests.
But when the king came in to meet the guests,
he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment.
The king said to him, ‘My friend, how is it
that you came in here without a wedding garment?’
But he was reduced to silence.
Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet,
and cast him into the darkness outside,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’
Many are invited, but few are chosen.”
Gospel Reflection
In this Sunday’s Gospel reading, Jesus uses a parable by comparing the kingdom of heaven to a king hosting a wedding feast for his son. The invitations have been sent, the feast has been prepared, and everything is ready. All that is needed are the guests. However, those who receive the invitation either ignore it or do violence to the king’s messengers.
What surprises the people about Jesus’ teaching is how the king instructed his servants to go out to the main roads and invite anyone they can find to the feast. In Jesus time, eating together signified shared values, and social status. The further the servants traveled on the main road away from the city center, the poorer the people they found would have been. Therefore, this round of invited guests would have entailed an intermingling of the poor and the elite.
The important thing to remember is that both the good and the bad are invited to the feast. At each Mass, we experience a foretaste of this heavenly feast. May we prepare ourselves, having received our spotless garment at our Baptism, to accept the invitation to this heavenly banquet, clothing ourselves in the appropriate attire of both repentance and good deeds.
Deacon Frank Iannarino