28th Sunday in Ordinary time- Cycle A

Readings:

Isaiah 25: 6-10    Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20    Mt. 22:1-14

We hear another parable today which for many see it as something quite difficult to understand.  The gospel of today tells us of a king inviting his people to the wedding feast of his son.  Unfortunately, the people whom he invited turned down the invitation and went on with their regular day to day activity instead.  The king in his frustration has ordered his men to destroy these people who did not heed his invitation. Finally, the king extended his invitation to everybody and the banquet hall was filled. However, he found a guest not properly dressed so he ordered that person to be removed from the banquet hall and was put in place where he will weep and gnash his teeth.

Our problem in understanding the parable comes from the difficulty in reconciling our belief of a God who is compassionate and loving to a seemingly punitive and vengeful king we see in this parable. It will truly be difficult to reconcile these conflicting portrayal of God if interpret the story literally.  Scholars agree that this particular parable is an allegorical allusion.  The destruction of the city is an allusion to the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem which the Romans carried out.  The killing of the servants, which we have also witnessed in the parable last Sunday, refers to the attitude of the people of Israel towards the prophet sent by God.

God continues to be loving and compassionate to his people.  Today's gospel shows us that He has prepared for us something beautiful, a feast and he is never tired of inviting all the people. A king inviting anybody is already unbelievable.  When Prince William and Kate Middleton got married, there were only a handful of people who got invitations to join in the ceremony.  They were not even ordinary people but heads of states and luminous personalities around the world.  But in today's gospel everybody was invited.  Yet, when guests went into the hall, one man was found to be improperly dressed so he was removed and was thrown in a place proper for his behavior.
How often do we think and behave that we can do anything we want even if we say we are a Catholic. We behave and think without considering what God teaches, what our church teaches. God is always willing to give us all the beautiful things as what the prophet Isaiah tells us:"the Lord of host will provide for all people". However, our affiliation to our church requires a degree of obedience to her teachings.  In the same manner that responding to the invitation of God requires conversion of mind and of heart.  We have to dress properly according to the occasion. We have to act like a true christian.  We have to be loving and merciful like the God we say we believe and love