Three times in our Scripture Readings today we are told how God will provide for us. In the First Reading (Isaiah 25:6-10a) Isaiah says “On this mountain the Lord of Hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines… he will destroy death forever.” Here, God is reminding the Israelites that he will be faithful to his covenant with them and provide for them. In our Second Reading from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Philippians (Philippians 4:12-14; 19-20), Paul tells the community, “God will supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” At this point in human history, what Isaiah had prophesied had come to pass: through Jesus, death had been overcome and the Lord had opened the doors to eternal life. So Saint Paul is reminding the Philippians that they can be content with whatever circumstances come their way, because the banquet has begun. For all who have responded to the invitation to faith by their Baptism, the feast of salvation is plentiful.
In the portion of Matthew’s Gospel that we heard today (Matthew 22:1-14), Jesus tells the parable of the wedding feast hosted by the king. The wedding feast serves as an image of the Kingdom of God. The benevolent king in the parable had prepared a lavish banquet in celebration of the wedding of his son, and sent out many invitations to people to come and enjoy the feast, free of charge. For the third time today, we hear of how God provides for his people. And yet, there is something very different about this example. In this parable, all who were initially invited – the worthy – refused to attend, including some who literally kill the king’s messengers! So the king widens his invitation will those whom the servants could find – good and bad alike – and the banquet hall was filled with guests. In telling this parable, Jesus is highlighting the rejection many of the Jewish people have shown to him and to the prophets who had preceded him. Jesus is telling the Jewish elite around him that what they refuse to accept will again be offered to the Gentiles, who will readily accept the invitation to salvation and be thankful for it.
Bad and good alike were invited to the wedding feast. This is all of us. We, the Church, are not a club where we gather to celebrate our successes and revel in how much better we are than everybody else. Rather, the Church is what Pope Francis has called a “field hospital” where we come for healing, hope, and help; believing, as Saint Paul did, that “I can do all things in him who strengthens me.” Our responsibility is to honor carefully God’s invitation to salvation and respond with conviction and love – and then prepare, through living a sacramental life, to partake of the heavenly feast for eternity.