‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet,
my calves and fattened cattle are killed,
and everything is ready; come to the feast.”’
Jesus has prepared for those who love him things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard. The Father has prepared a wedding feast for his Son and his bride, the Church. They want to share their joy so much that they don't simply cancel the party when those first invited don't come. Even open hostility to the invitation doesn't diminish their desire to share their delight.
There is such an amazing celebration so close at hand. Yet we act like the elder brother of the prodigal, determined to wait outside because, perhaps, it isn't all about us. We are more interested in those things which are all about us, even if they are trite or boring.
Some ignored the invitation and went away,
one to his farm, another to his business.
Sometimes we are triggered by the very fact of such a celebration being prepared when our own affairs, and the affairs of the world around us, don't seem worth celebrating. We may even actively suppress such joy as it tries to spring forth, insisting that nothing rise above the dour levels of the circumstances in which we find ourselves.
The rest laid hold of his servants,
mistreated them, and killed them.
What are we really waiting for? Will our farms and businesses ever provide anything by comparison to that to which we are invited by the King? Will the circumstances of the world ever so align as to provide anything close to these calves and fattened cattle? Then why wait? Everyone is invited, after all. Nothing is unfair to anyone about choosing to delight in that which is offered to all. For if we see any still out on the street, the bad and good alike, we too can invite whomever we find.
Go out, therefore, into the main roads
and invite to the feast whomever you find.
A legitimate concern is how we are to present ourselves before such a great and generous king while the dirt of the streets still clings to our clothes. Where are we to find an appropriate wedding garment?
He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it
that you came in here without a wedding garment?’
But he was reduced to silence.
We need not be reduced to silence. The garment itself is a gift.
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure” (see Revelation 16:7-8).
This gift is first given in baptism, for "as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (see Galatians 3:27). It is the new heart about which Ezekiel speaks.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you
to cleanse you from all your impurities,
and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you,
taking from your bodies your stony hearts
and giving you natural hearts.
We read that "the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints" (see Revelation 16:8). But we know that these deeds can only come from a new heart, filled with the Spirit, responding to grace. What an amazing feast it will be as the LORD offers himself to be our food and our drink. He clothes us with himself and his own righteousness. He himself gives us the gift of new wedding garments and even new hearts.
Let us not hesitate. Neither can we go unprepared, when all we need to enter is freely given. We need not remain in the darkness outside. We can be among those who are both called and chosen.
And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified (see Romans 8:30).
If we have been missing the joy of our salvation, we should be free to pray for it to be restored, just as the psalmist prays.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
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