Jesus spoke to the elders and chief priests of the people in another parable that the
kingdom of God is like a wedding feast, a king gave for his son. The feast, planned as
an event of hospitality and joy was responded with hostility by the invited guests. A
feast of plenty and joy is the dream/vision of all people, especially the poor of this
world. The elders of the people who had their set of laws and traditions lived in a selfcontained system and rejected Christ and his gospel, God’s gift of feast for the world.
The invitation then goes out to a surprising group of people: go to the peripheries! I
imagine this mission as, to find people who lost their way, who lost love for living, who
are hurting, who live in anxiety, who are depressed, who imagine violence to
themselves and others and the poor; these people were told by the pharisees and
priests that they were sinners, outcasts, traitors, their misfortune was God’s
punishment. Jesus says to them: come to the feast of forgiveness, healing; rejoice and
let us walk the path of peace and fellowship. They saw in Jesus the fulfillment of
Isaiah’s words in the first reading: ‘behold our God, to whom we looked to save us; this
is the Lord for whom we looked, waited; let us rejoice’!
This feast of God is peace/wellbeing, life in harmony with God and others. St. Francis
Assisi once said: ‘as you announce peace with your mouth, make sure that greater
peace is in your hearts; for we have been called to heal wounds, to bind up the broken
and to call home any who have lost their way’. How shall we experience this feast of
peace? Isaiah says: ‘the richness of creation is created for joy; the Lord shall destroy
the web of darkness, shadow of death [the pandemic] woven over all nations’. But
nations, peoples refuse the invitation to come together for a feast of peace and the
web of many ills keeps tightening its grip on the world. Many lives are like an attic of an
old house where no light goes in, a damp and sad look! Open the windows of hearts
and minds, let the fresh air of the Spirit come in; throw away what clutters, chokes life.
Put on the wedding garment to enjoy the feast of peace. The wedding garment is
Christ and his gospel. The act of putting on the garment is acceptance of Christ in faith
through repentance/change of heart [cast away dirty clothes]!
The reason for inviting all kinds of people to the feast is simply love, God’s love that
knows no boundaries that human reason cannot comprehend! Human temptation is
often to be a separate group like pharisees/priests in the gospel. Jesus reminds us that
such divisive notions have no place in the kingdom of God. This is made clear in the
rich Eucharistic symbolism of the parable, God’s invitation to his free gift of love, his
Son in the Eucharist. J. R. R. Tolkien wrote to his son Michael, just before his first
communion; ‘I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the blessed
sacrament. There you will find romance, glory, honor, fidelity and the true way of all
your loves upon the earth’. God is endless hospitality, inviting us to his Son Christ’s gift
of himself in the Eucharist and to his gospel, that our dreams of loves may be fulfilled
on earth and in eternity. Learn the true way of loving from the Eucharist that we may
put on the garment of light, that is Christ!