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“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.” Matthew
22:2–3
The king in this parable is God the Father, and the wedding is the
marriage between Christ and the Church. The Father invites each one
of us to be a member of the Church and to enter into divine union
with His Son Jesus, thus entering into the life of the Holy
Trinity. But we see right away in the parable that the invited
guests “refused to come.” As the parable goes on, the king tried
even harder to invite the guests, but they all responded in one of
two ways. “Some ignored the invitation and went away…” and “The
rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.”
Clearly, this was not the response hoped for by the generous
king.
We see in these two responses two levels of rejection of the Gospel
that are present in our world today, just as it was at the time of
Jesus. The first level of rejection is indifference. Many people
are very busy today. We easily become occupied with many things
that matter little in the end. Many are consumed by their
smartphones, computers and tablets. Many spend countless hours
watching television. Others become workaholics, spending most of
their time at their occupation and leaving little time for that
which is most important, such as family, prayer and service. As a
result, it is very easy to become indifferent to the matters of
faith and easy to fail to pray every day so as to seek out and
fulfill God’s will. This indifference is quite serious.
There is also a rejection of the faith in our world through a
growing hostility toward the Church and morality. There are many
ways in which the secular world continues to promote a culture that
is contrary to the Gospel. And when Christians speak out and oppose
these new cultural tendencies, they are condemned and often
characterized as being prejudiced or judgmental. Such malice was
displayed by the guests in this parable who “laid hold of his
servants, mistreated them, and killed them.” Hostility toward the
Church, the faith and clear moral principles laid down by God
appears to be growing every year. This form of rejection of the
Gospel is even more damaging than the simple indifference mentioned
above. In this parable for today, Jesus says that in response to
those who were indifferent and hostile, the king “sent his troops,
destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.”
This parable should not be read in such a way that we look at
others and condemn them as if we were the king and had the right to
do so. We do not have that right. Only God does. Instead, this
parable should be read from the perspective of your own life.
Hopefully you are not one of those who are hostile to the Gospel.
But perhaps you and many other Christians struggle with the first
form of rejection: indifference. We can easily become indifferent
in many various ways and on many different levels. The opposite of
being indifferent is to care and to care deeply about going to the
wedding feast when invited.
Reflect, today, upon the Wedding Feast to which you are invited.
You are invited to enter into the glorious celebration of becoming
one with the Savior of the World. You are invited to surrender your
life to Him without reserve. You are invited to holiness, moral
integrity, unwavering fidelity to God, service of others, charity
that knows no bounds and so much more. To enter the Wedding Feast
of the Lamb is something that must take place every day and every
moment of your day for the rest of your life. God is inviting you.
Will you say “Yes” with every fiber of your being?
My inviting Lord, You desire that all people fully accept the
invitation You have given to become one with You through spiritual
marriage. You call us to the glorious Wedding Feast and eternal
rejoicing. May I never be indifferent to Your invitation and always
make my response with all my heart. I love You, dear Lord. Help me
to love You all the more. Jesus, I trust in You.
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Featured image above: Parable of the Great Banquet
By Brunswick Monogrammist, via Wikimedia
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