Episode Transcript
Gospel Mt 22:1-10
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew
Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and elders of the people in parables, saying, "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.
A second time he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those invited: "Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast."' Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.
The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, 'The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.' The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests."
The Gospel of the Lord
When we read the parable in the gospel, we think that the people who turn down the invitation to the banquet were stupid. After all, there was good food, choice wine, good company -- and they said they were too busy and made excuses. But then when you think about the meaning of that parable, you begin to see that we ourselves do the same thing sometimes.
Jesus tells us that life is meant to be a feast. God has given us gifts and we are called upon to celebrate them in the same way that we do when we throw a dinner. When you have dinner, you share what you have. It is the opposite of simply storing things up in your own freezer. You spend a lot of money on good meat, good wine - and you share that with others.
You also invite various people to come in, rather than isolating yourself. Some of them are good friends, some of them not so close. Some of them don't get along with one another. But you ask them to come together, put aside their differences, and share the meal.
Life is meant to be a feast sharing God's gifts. But sometimes we say, like the people in the gospel, we are too busy to come to the feast. We are too preoccupied with our own cares, and we cannot be concerned about the people in India, or the poor people in our own country. And so, we cannot feast with them. Or there is division between us and others, and we cannot bring ourselves to sit next to them -- literally or figuratively. And so, we cannot come to the feast.
We are very much like the people in the parable. We are obsessed with our financial concerns, and for us life can never be a feast of sharing with others. We are petty or deeply prejudiced, and so we make excuses rather than become involved with others in celebrating the feast of life.
Life is too short for all of that. Our compulsion to acquire possessions rather than share them will look ridiculous centuries from now. Life is so short that it is a shame to miss the feast of life because, with furrowed brow, we worry and worry about being ahead in this world.
Life is also too short for the divisions between ourselves and others. A hundred thousand years from now those fights and tiffs will look a bit ridiculous. Life was so short, and we wasted all that time and fussed about such things.
Think about life as a banquet, sharing God's gifts. You and I have been invited. Like the people in the gospel parable, sometimes we say we are too busy or too concerned about other things to come to the feast.
