October 15
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.”
Readings
Reflection
Over the last few Sundays we’ve had several parables to digest and apply to our lives and again today we continue this same pursuit! But like our probable distance from owning and operating a vineyard (last Sunday), our familiarity with the practices of weddings and wedding feasts in biblical times is also a bit removed from our present experience. As is the case with this wedding feast, there were stages of invitations to say when it would be, and another to proclaim when it was ready, and this celebration was welcome to not just family and friends, but entire towns and villages (imagine the costs!). What is the intention for us today? All of Jesus’ parables have an element of shock to wake us up and invite a response from us.
Biblical Scholars / Commentators, Curtis Mitch and Edward Sri, give us a few “I”s to consider that I think are quite helpful after hearing today’s gospel reading. Overall, the parable of the wedding feast pertains to our response to God’s invitation and call to relationship. It cautions us first to the dangers of indifference or a lack of enthusiasm to answer. When God the Father invites us into relationship with his Son, Jesus, in freedom, we either choose to respond or we decline and go about our own way or our own plan as though nothing has changed, no new demands on our lives, etc. Let’s ask the Lord to strengthen our hearts against indifference to his voice.
Additionally, the parable highlights a danger of indignation. It’s not difficult to find others around us who might fight or reject the idea that we are all sinners in need of a savior—or even to hear and receive the call for repentance leads us to think that our personal happiness in this life or our deepest desires are threatened somehow, we might not have a willingness to change or grow. Naturally we can feel defensive or hostile toward anyone who challenges us with the authentic claims of the Gospel. Let’s ask the Lord to help us to live, not in a space of indignation, but rather docility and trust toward the Gospel.
The last important warning we receive is toward incomplete conversion. The man in the parable who enters the wedding without the wedding garment had neither ignored nor refused the invitation to come to the wedding feast, but yet, his ‘yes’ to respond has not carried all the way through his life. We might say he wanted the good things of the kingdom (or the wedding feast) but not enough to clean himself up or break from his old ways. Let’s ask the Lord to help us to see that we are all ongoing in our conversions and that this is not something to be afraid of but will lead to our embracing the fullness of life and friendship with God.
While these “I”s might provoke some discomfort within us, we have the additional assurances in our other readings today that God is generous and chooses to lavish his grace upon us in abundances (cf. Isa 25). St. Paul doubles down for us and says, “My God will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19). When we choose to live in communion with God and respond to his friendship rather than struggle for everything on our own strength, we receive the fullness of freedom, life, and love from a God who will never cease to provide for our needs both now and in eternity.
Peace,
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