Gospel of Matthew, chapter 22:14

The Lord invites everyone into His kingdom, but not everyone accepts the invitation. In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 22:1-14, Jesus paints a picture of the behavior of the invited guests to His kingdom. In this parable of the banquet, there are three kinds of invited guests.

1. There are the absentee guests who initially accept the invitation, but when the time comes to attend the banquet they fail to turn up.

2. Then, there are the guests who are invited from “the streets; the good and the bad alike” to fill up the wedding hall (Matthew 22:10).

3. Finally, there are the guests who are not properly dressed for the occasion because their hearts are not in what they are doing.

The Lord does not say that the first groups, the invited guests, were engaged in sinful activity. One went to his farm, another to his business (Matthew 22:5).These were worthwhile activities. Sometimes what keeps us away from the kingdom is not sin but preoccupation with the good things of life. To be attentive to your job is a good thing, but when it keeps you from attending the Lord’s banquet; the Eucharist, it becomes an obstacle to experiencing God in your life. Even a good thing can be the enemy of something better. The Lord is telling us that we should not make excuses for avoiding His banquet; even good excuses.

The second group that is invited to the banquet from “the streets;” the “good and bad alike” (Matthew 22:10) is a symbol of the church which exists, not for the perfect but for sinners. This is similar to the parable of the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13:24-30) where the good and the bad can co-exist in the Lord’s kingdom; yet this does not free them from the obligation of making every effort to behave correctly.

The third group or guest who was not wearing the wedding garment is the one who is there in body but not in spirit. By not wearing the wedding garment, he or she was at the banquet but was not prepared to taste the goodness of the Lord. If you must go to a dance, you must wear your dancing shoes; if you go to the Lord’s banquet, you must dress appropriately. You must be willing to hear the Lord’s word, and put it into practice.

This parable of the banquet illustrates that “many are called but few there are that answer the call” (Matthew 22:14).

Fr. Hugh Duffy