The sumptuous feast on God’s holy mountain or, its variant theme, the festive wedding banquet, was a familiar one in both old and new Testaments. We see that from this coming Sunday’s first reading from Isaiah and from its Gospel reading according to Matthew. Whether it was described as feast or wedding banquet, that festive celebration of food, drink and happy fellowship stood for “that Day” when God would bring his creation, his covenant and his people to perfection. They would gather with him on his holy mountain to enjoy the newness of life that he himself would give them.
It was a day that for many centuries people of faith looked forward to with hope, promise and expectation. In Sunday’s reading from Isaiah, the long-awaited “Day of the Lord” is still way off in the distant future. That is why the prophet uses the future tense to speak of it. In contrast, Jesus describes the wedding banquet for which “everything is ready.” All is prepared and the special day is now at hand. Thus, in Jesus, promise has become fulfillment. As Jesus relates the story, the king tells his servants to summon his invited guests to the wedding feast: “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 is telling the first hearer of this parable that what the prophets such as Isaiah had long ago foretold and promised about “the Day of the Lord” is now at hand. Indeed, in his person and preaching, the long-awaited promise of God’s kingdom is now finally present. The only thing remaining is for us to enter the banquet hall and begin to enjoy the feast that God has prepared for us.
Incredibly and sadly, the majority of Jesus’ contemporaries did not heed his call or accept his invitation. He was, in fact, rejected and crucified and the message of his good news largely ignored.
But what about you and me who believe in Jesus? How do we react to his invitation to come to the wedding feast and celebrate the Presence of the living God in our midst? Do we, for instance, truly believe that Jesus is present upon our altars and that, when we receive Holy Communion, he truly enters into our hearts and becomes an intimate part of our daily lives with others? Will the way we live with one another and in our world in the coming week really reflect the fact that we have welcomed God into our hearts and into our lives? Are we different, better, more kind and just? Are we more caring, giving and decent people because in Jesus the Kingdom of God has come into our midst and, through us, is already active in our world?
Have we put on the wedding garment of justice and love, compassion and forgiveness? Or –sadly-- do we perhaps live no differently at all, forgetting in daily practice that “that Day” promised by Isaiah is already “this Day” for us?
Let us begin today to live lives that are qualitatively different because we have entered the Lord’s wedding banquet and are now robed with the baptismal garment of faith, hope and love. Because of those gifts, let us resolve to be a holy leaven in our families as well as in our world of work, school and play. In short, because “that Day” is for us “this Day,” let us live differently in our own lives and make a difference for the better in the lives of others.
Jesus says to each of us today what he said long ago in Sunday’s Gospel: “Everything is ready; come to the feast!”
God be Praised!
Gratefully,
V. Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS
Provincial
This reflection originally appeared in DeSales Weekly, the e-newsletter of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales.
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Father Bill McCandless, OSFS
Oblate Development
