There is a lot of feasting in today’s readings. In the first reading from Isaiah, heaven is described as a big feast at the end of time when death will be destroyed forever (Isa 25:6-10). In the second reading, Paul thanks the Philippians for helping him in his need so that he could eat and he admits that he had gone hungry (Phil 4:12-14). In the Gospel, Jesus tells a parable about a king inviting to a wedding feast (Matt 22:1-14).
In the parable, the son’s wedding is Jesus becoming one of us. God becoming one of us in Jesus is God wedded to humanity. In other places in the New Testament, Jesus is described as the Bridegroom and we, the Church, are the bride. When the Pharisees complained to Jesus that his disciples were not fasting, Jesus said, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day” (Mark 2:19-20). In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians he wrote of Jesus as the Bridegroom of the Church: “I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Cor 11:2).
In the parable, the king issues two invitations to the guests to come to the wedding, in other words, to accept Jesus but they refused to come to the wedding. Jesus told this parable to the Jewish leaders (Matt 21:45-22:1) and they were the ones who refused to accept Jesus, refused to come to the wedding. In the parable, the king had their city burned down. This makes us think of Jerusalem being destroyed by the Romans in AD 70 because in Luke’s Gospel Jesus says the destruction of the city would be a judgment on them because of their lack of acceptance of him (Luke 19:41-44).
As the parable continues, the king sent his servants out to the main roads and the streets and they gathered all they could find, the bad and good alike, into the wedding hall. This was precisely what was happening in Jesus’ own ministry. The leaders were rejecting him but the sinners were flocking around him so much so that a saying was made up about Jesus, “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners’ (Matt 11:19; Luke 7:34) Jesus was not a glutton or drunkard so the first half of the waying was slander but he was a friend of tax collectors and sinners as we see many times in the Gospels. One of the apostles, Matthew also called Levi, had been a tax collector and that profession was known for overcharging but became one of Jesus’ apostles. Luke tells us about the woman who had been a sinner who performed the welcoming duties when Jesus ate in the house of Simon the Pharisee which Simon himself should have done for Jesus but did not (Luke 7:36-50). In John’s Gospel we read about Jewish leaders preparing to stone a woman, but Jesus said the one without sin could cast the first stone and one by one they all went away (John 8:1-11). The tax collectors and sinners were answering the invitation to the son’s wedding in the parable.
As the parable continues, there is a strange development. One of the wedding guests was not properly dressed for the wedding. The king doesn’t allow him to join in the wedding dinner. The king wanted the wedding hall to be full, but he also wanted everyone dressed properly for the wedding. What does this mean for our lives? The wedding clothes are normally understood to mean love of God and neighbor. Not wearing the wedding garment means someone going through the motions of becoming Christian but not following through afterwards by living a life truly converted to God. Other statements by Jesus elsewhere in the Gospel help us to understand. Earlier in Matthew, Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Matt 7:21). When we follow Jesus, he expects us to be all in. That is why he said, also earlier in Matthew, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Matt 12:30).
The wedding garment is love of God and neighbor. Concerning love of neighbor, James, in his letter, says good works must accompany our faith. “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? (James 2:14). “Indeed someone may say, “You have faith and I have works.” Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works” (James 2:18).
We have answered the invitation to the banquet of Jesus’ wedding to humanity. This Eucharist is our weekly banquet anticipating the banquet in heaven. We put on the wedding garment every time we love God and neighbor.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2026
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the Twenty-Eight Sunday Year A
Called to be Chosen 2023
Answering God’s invitation to the banquet: Prayer 2020
Psalm Related: The Lord is my shepherd