Grace—it is the Life of God in us, sanctifying us (forming us to be more fully in the image of God). Grace—it is also a mercy gift of God, unearned, undeserved—God’s loving kindness. It is a beautiful word, a breathtaking concept. That God would create us in his image, then offer to us what we need to fill out that image to become Christ-bearers, lights of the world, his true children—something to ponder with wonder!
How do we respond to this goodness of God? That is a question we can ask the Scriptures of today’s readings.
Matthew 22:1-14
There are two similar parables of Jesus about invitations to a wedding banquet. One is in Luke 14:15-24. The other is today’s Gospel. I read numerous resources to work at the meaning of this Gospel. It was the wedding guest with the wrong clothes that focused meditation.
Why would Jesus suggest that what you wear is that important?
Let’s start with the setting. This is still Monday of Holy Week. Jesus is in the temple area. He just told the parable of the Wicked Tenants. At the end of that, Matthew adds, “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. But when they tried to arrest him, they feared the multitudes, because they held him to be a prophet.”
Context: Jesus just made the religious leaders very angry by publicly naming their disobedience to the Father and their ill will toward him. Scripture does not say that Jesus told today’s parable to them specifically, but they were still there, because right after it, Matthew says “Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how to entangle him in his talk.” So this parable made them even more angry. Were they the guests who refused to come? The one not properly attired? Something must have hit home.
There are some key differences in this parable and the similar one in Luke. In Luke’s version, the invited refuse, but then the lowly ones are welcomed in. Descriptions of the later invited guests are different in Matthew.
He says “as many as you find” described by the servants as “both bad and good.” There also is a difference in the response of the man or king. Both are angry, but only in Matthew’s version does the main character king punish those who chose not to come with something more than exclusion.
But the guest who has on the wrong clothes—what does that mean? One interpretation is that ALL are invited to God’s great feast of love, the Kingdom of God. But you can’t STAY in the kingdom if you “come as you are” and stay that way. At some point, you must match the culture of the Kingdom. You do as people in the Kingdom do.
In Jesus’ day, according to resources I read, appropriate dress was an absolute must. AND weddings often lasted for a week. So those who heard Jesus tell this story would not have gasped at the story detail that appropriate attire was expected—even for those included at the last minute. Also remember, that in this Gospel, it is not the poor, lame, maimed, and blind who are invited in the second round. So it would be expected that the guest who was thrown out would have had something appropriate to wear. God (the king) didn’t throw him out for something he couldn’t help.
Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20
Was Jesus saying social custom was a requirement of the Kingdom? Philippians tells us that is perhaps part of life, but not the important part. Paul says being a preacher of the Kingdom of God has put him in humble and abundant circumstances. BUT, that is not what is important. What is important is “I can do all things in him who strengthens me. Still, it was kind of you to share in my distress…My God will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
Two thoughts come from this related to the Gospel: One is that Paul received the grace of the vision on the road to Damascus, AND IT CHANGED HIM. He became a disciple. He put on the garment of God’s grace and wore it at all times and everywhere. He was not an original disciple that walked and talked with Jesus, but he was an original apostle, sent by Jesus and cared for by his followers.
The second thought is that Paul was helped and strengthened by the people he evangelized. He is saying here that God will bless the Philippians for the care they have given to him. Was there no one to bless the ill-clothed guest? Was perhaps some of the meaning of this parable aimed at Jesus’ disciples or would-be disciples: reach out to each other when bad things happen to protect and help each other?
Isaiah 25: 6-10a and Psalm 23:1-6
Both the reading from Isaiah and the familiar 23rd psalm tell of God’s care for his people. Isaiah is predicting the banquet of the Kingdom of God that is in Jesus. He is writing to give the people hope, even as they are deported to Babylon. The psalm, chosen by the church for today, reminds and reassures us in our circumstances that God is and can be with us, caring for us.
Perhaps God’s core care is “grace.” Grace is the invitation to the banquet.
Responding to Grace
“Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life. It is participation in the life of God. It introduces us to the intimacy of Trinitarian life: by Baptism the Christian participates in the grace of Christ, the Head of his body. As an ‘adopted son,’ he can henceforth call God “father,” in union with the only Son. He receives the life of the Spirit who breathes charity into him and who forms the church.” (CCC 1996-1997)
Grace is no small gift.
We have ALL been invited to the banquet of God—the Kingdom of God—as sons and daughters. Even if we have wandered away, have a boatload of unconfessed sins, or are not even sure God exists—we are invited in. And, if we are pretty good folks or even saints—we are invited in with everybody else. Tickets of grace are given, not earned or deserved.
But, this parable says the tickets aren’t without cost of discipleship. There is a response to grace which can clothe us. “God’s free initiative demands man’s free response, for God has created man in his image by conferring on him, along with freedom, the power to know him and love him. The soul only enters freely into the communion of love.” (CCC 2002)
Grace is about the supernatural. Therefore, “we cannot rely on our feelings or our works to conclude that we are justified and saved. However, according to our Lord’s words—‘Thus you will know them by their fruits.’ (CCC 2005)
Perhaps the garment the ill clothed guest needed was good fruits.
Yes, that would make a self-righteous person mad if the circumstances of his/her life showed no fruits.
Fruits of the Spirit (grace active in us) are love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Put them on and wear them each day.
Prayer:
Amazing grace! Lead me, guide me, Lord, to clothe myself with your grace, that I may be welcome at the banquet of Your Kingdom. Let there be fruits of my faith today. And, if my brother or sister is low on fruit today, lead me to somehow help them along. Let everyone be clothed! Lead us, guide us all, Lord.
