“A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many.
When the time for the dinner came,
he dispatched his servant to say to those invited,
‘Come, everything is now ready.’
We are invited by the Gospel to follow Christ and to participate in his Church, leading us to a great banquet at the end of time in the Kingdom of heaven. This call comes to some when their are baptized as infants, to others when they respond to the invitation to faith as adults. It is a call that is made to the whole world. Particularly in an age where Christianity is well known and where the resources to learn about it are ubiquitous we may certainly say that many have been invited. Why, then, do so few respond?
But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves.
The first said to him,
‘I have purchased a field and must go to examine it;
I ask you, consider me excused.’
And another said, ‘I have purchased five yoke of oxen
and am on my way to evaluate them;
I ask you, consider me excused.’
And another said, ‘I have just married a woman,
and therefore I cannot come.’
The issue for the individuals described in the parable was not that they did not believe that there was a banquet planned or that they had been invited. It was rather that a banquet in the invisible distance of the future could not displace their more pressing quotidian concerns.
The one who was just married was certainly occupied with something good. But even family was not a greater good than Jesus. Why not go together to the feast? Why allow a significant other to pull one away from the Kingdom and into complicity with the fallen world?
The other two categories of rejection seemed to occur because they prioritized work more than the Kingdom. They had become subjects of jobs that were actually meant to be ordered toward freedom. But we do know, don't we, how we can become so tethered to the routine of work that interruptions become unwelcome? We forget about the good that leads us to pursue the work and begin to struggle as if the work itself is our greatest good.
There are in fact many reasons why we are not sufficiently sensitized to the possibility of the Kingdom banquet. Most of them involve being overly sated with lesser things. These are summed up in the categories of "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (see First John 2:16). In one way or another these are what drive us in pursuit of lesser goods when God awaits our response to his invitation.
Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town
and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.
Those less able to take satisfaction in the things of earth are typically more able to embrace the hope of the feast of the Kingdom. If we, though rich, become poor in spirit, and, though healthy, become humble, we too may make ourselves more ready to embrace the call of the master.
The master then ordered the servant,
‘Go out to the highways and hedgerows
and make people come in that my home may be filled.
The master was eager to fill his feast with as many individuals as would willing come. We ourselves have responded to this call in some measure. But even after receiving our RSVP of yes once he continues to invite us. He knows that as we are now we will not be able to fully appreciate what he longs to give. And so we are called, not just once, but daily, to make ourselves more and more ready to enter the feast. The Eucharist is given as a dress rehearsal for the feast on the last day. So let us celebrate it with all of our heart, mind, and strength, as much as we are able.
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