The wedding feast is the biblical image of the encounter of love between the Lord and Israel. In the parable, the bridegroom is Jesus, he is the son and the bride is the whole of humanity.
The banquet is the happiness of the Messianic era. Whoever accepts the proposal of the Gospel and enters into the kingdom of God experiences the most authentic and deep joy.
The servants are sent to invite the guests. The first to be invited did not come to the party; they didn’t have the heart to abandon their interests––the farm and business. They did not need a banquet; they felt satiated, believed that they already had what is needed for a life without problems.
The guests gathered along the streets and squares are people of the whole world, the good, the bad and the ugly, without distinction. In fact, it gives priority to those who do not have merit.
This reminds us that the people of God is made up of people who are bad and good. The poor, the marginalised, those who feel rejected in the Church must find a place where they feel accepted, understood and valued.
The parable continues with an episode that seems to ruin everything. The king enters the room, browses at the guests and gets angry with a guest who did not wear the proper attire.
He treats him with unprecedented harshness, even unjustifiable, considering it was only a venial sin. Those who joined the joyful feast cannot but be stunned. How do you explain that?
The second part of the parable is not the continuation of the first. It is a new parable that is isolated and interpreted without reference to the previous one.
The theme that the evangelist wants to focus on in this second part is the possibility, even for those who have accepted the invitation to enter into the kingdom of God, to turn away from the logic of the Gospel. They risk failure as those who declined the invitation.
The new life of the Christian is often compared in the New Testament with a new dress, worn on the day of baptism. It is not enough to have received the sacrament; you need to assume the appropriate behaviour.
You cannot present yourself in the rags of the old life: adultery, dishonesty, disloyalty and moral debauchery.
As for the punishment inflicted on the man without a wedding dress, it should be noted, above all, that this rough way of expression is typical of Matthew. Only Matthew uses the expression “thrown out into extreme darkness” (Matthew 8:12; 23:30) and “where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:42-50; 23:30; 24:51….).
The other evangelists do not use this language.
Matthew writes to the Jews who are used to being encouraged and reprimanded by their preachers with these strong expressions.
They are cultural expressions. This should be kept in mind to avoid holding an absurd or even blasphemous image of God, a God without heart and without mercy.
The purpose of the evangelist is to remind Christians — of his and our communities — of the seriousness of which they assume and carry out their baptismal commitments.
Father Fernando Armellini SCJ
Claretian Publications
bibleclaret.org
Translated by Father John Ledesma SDB
Abridged by Father Jijo Kandamkulathy CMF
