The wedding in today’s Gospel is interesting and strange: a king prepares a wedding for his son and sends his servants to invite some people to this wedding, and they refuse to come. Then he sends his servants a second time to tell them that everything is ready for the wedding, the food and the drink; and they despise the invitation. Some go to their trade, some go to their farming, and the others kill those servants. So the king punishes the killers of his servants and burns their city.
What stirs me in this part is these people’s disdain for the king’s invitation. Is it not astonishing how they dealt with a king, when normally everyone hastens to seek the favor of the holders of authority and high office? Here, on the contrary, this king of authority and sovereignty invited a group of people, and they disdained his invitation — that is, they belittled it, ignored it, neglected it. And disdain for the invitation means disdain for its sender.
It is a strange thing that human beings should belittle the invitation of a king. Why? How? Today, if someone who owns a little money invites us, we go gladly; while they disdained the invitation of a king. These invited people are of the class of the rich: among them are merchants, owners of land, and those of authority. They killed the king’s servants. So these invited people are those who possess a material source and those who possess sovereignty; they have enough independence that makes them feel self-sufficient. As for the others, they did not merely refuse, but killed the servants. This killing is a rejection not only of his invitation but of his sovereignty — a rejection of him.
It is the custom of kings to invite for two matters: an invitation to the king’s table, which is a political table, or an invitation to the wedding of his son, that is, the crown prince.
An invitation to the king’s table is a special invitation to eat at the table of the ruler, the table of the kingdom; and partaking of this invitation means showing favor and closeness to authority, and means that the invited one is close to the king and of high standing. As for an invitation to a wedding, it is a general invitation; responding to it is not linked to authority and political standing, but linked to a relationship of joy, and carries no benefit. Therefore they went to their trade and their lands. While the last group not only refused but killed his servants — and this means a challenge to the king’s authority. He offered a peaceful invitation to a wedding and joy; they met it with killing. This group is the most foolish and stupid of people. The king was not in a state of war with them, but they treated him with the utmost hostility; therefore he destroyed their city and killed them.
They disdained it because this invitation to the wedding is a general invitation and not a special invitation; in it there is no drawing near to authority and influence, but rather a sharing in joy. It is a general invitation to many, an invitation from which they reap no benefit for their positions. By their refusal the king saw them as unworthy, because they revealed their inner selves: they do not care about the concern of the king, but about the concern of the kingdom.
The striking thing in this parable is that the invitation Jesus recounts is an invitation to a wedding and not an invitation to the king’s table, to show you that the gain in this invitation is the king himself — that is, Jesus — and not what the king gives. Thus the invitation itself becomes the prize.
In the second section, the king asks his servants to invite everyone they find on the roads; so they invited everyone they encountered, the wicked and the good. Notice he did not say “the poor and the homeless,” but said “the wicked and the good.” Then the king sees a man who was not wearing the wedding garment, and asks him: “How did you enter without wearing the wedding garment?” And he was silent. So the king ordered that this man be cast outside.
What is the difference between these wicked and good people and this man? Is he alone unworthy, while the rest of the wicked whom he did not cast outside are worthy? The difference is that this man came to the wedding without preparation; whereas the rest saw an invitation from the king and said in their hearts: “The king invites us to his son’s wedding, let us put on our garments and prepare.” And preparation is not about the kind of clothing, but about the manner of preparing. For he was careless; he went to the wedding as though going to work, and the state of his tongue says: “and on top of that, clothes.”
As for the difference from the first group: that group was unworthy, while this man was unprepared. The first disdained the invitation and refused it — no benefit is reaped from it; whereas this man disdained the inviter, and did not prepare to be at the king’s wedding. So the king treated him as harshly as he treated those who killed his servants.
And in this parable, whom do we resemble? We may resemble the first group, or the killers, or this man. Some may say: what do we gain if we draw near to God, if we pray and fast and read the Gospel — do we win money, or do we become richer? What do we gain from devoting ourselves to prayer and to the relationship with God and to answering His call? A man once said to me: “Look at the non-Christians — they succeed and profit in their trade and become rich; why should I pray, what does this God benefit me?”
Perhaps another question answers the question: what benefit do you reap when you marry the one you love? Do you become richer, or more learned? No — on the contrary, we may become poorer, with more responsibilities and expenses. What is the benefit of marrying the one I love? To marry the one I love. Therefore we answer the call of Jesus because it is His call; we want Him, not a benefit we reap. Indeed, Jesus often told us that whoever follows Him will suffer as He did. But whoever accepts the call of Jesus does not take a position in a kingdom, but takes Jesus Himself. And He does not call you to be present at the wedding, but that you yourself become the bride to a Bridegroom who is Jesus.
So let us think today: do we accept the call of God because God calls us, or do we wait for a benefit? Do we wait from the Church for a benefit, an interest, and material fruits, in order to come to it and belong to it? The question that determines the truth of it — do we accept the call of God — is: where is our heart? This parable places us before an honest mirror that does not beautify our faces, but reveals our inner selves and our intentions. The divine call is not an invitation to the table of the kingdom, but an invitation to the wedding of the king. And the divine call is not a commercial contract, nor a job, nor a position, but a wedding and a relationship of surpassing love between the Creator and the creature.
Let us think: do we accept the invitation?