October 11, 2026, at San Marco and Saint Peter Parishes
Isaiah 25: 6-10 + Psalm 23 + Philippians 4: 12-14, 19-20 + Matthew 22: 1-14
You have to feel sorry for the King in this Gospel. I think he is the focus of the story for Jesus who wants us to understand something about his Father. This is the last of three parables spoken in the Temple to the Pharisees who resist and simply will not accept the action of God in the presence of Jesus Christ. Like the father with two sons two weeks ago, and the owner of vineyard that we heard of last week, this King never gives up. There have been three invitations described here, and each refusal escalates the rejection: from simple refusal to disrespect as they return to farm and business, and finally to the seizure, mistreatment and murder of the king’s slaves. You have to wonder what this King thinks of his banquet when it finally gets started. The one he ends up with is different from the one he planned. All he has managed to pull off is a banquet feast that looks more like a Soup Kitchen feeding the homeless than a fine elegant dinner party. Yet, when you stop to think about it, maybe it should look more like life on the streets than a dinner party of elites.
It’s hard to keep focused on him however when that underdressed guest gets thrown out. The whole scene is illogical. There was no dress code announced. What we find here is someone who has clearly not taken this invitation seriously adding another insult to the King. With doors obviously wide open, imagine him casually strolling in sampling the food checking out who is there and who is not until he is spotted and thrown out.
Of course, all of this kind of thinking suggests that this story is about some event in the past. That thinking gets us off the hook when it comes to the invitation we have received, and what Jesus has to say to us right now. There is a difference between and invitation and a call when it comes to faith. While we might come up with some lame excuses to get out of baby shower or neighborhood potluck, turning down God’s call to the Banquet in the Kingdom would serious consequences. Anyone headed to that Banquet would do well to make some changes and be at their best. That was the problem with the one who get thrown out.
We have more than an invitation. We have a vocation, a call to sit at the heavenly banquet. Everyone, sinner and saint, will have a place at that table, and all that is asked of us is that we be willing to change, which in this Gospel language means put on a wedding garment. We have a call to intimacy with God, and to a deeper and more authentic personal life. But it is also a call to community with others. The invitation challenges us to abandon our isolationism, our exclusivism, our self-sufficiency, and to be willing to share with others, to associate with others, and to collaborate with others. And of course, in the final analysis, it is a call to eternal life which has already begun for those who show up for the banquet at this table.