Matt 22:1-14
In our Gospel, this great wedding feast is an image of the Kingdom of Heaven. Our God loves us to such a great extent that He has prepared a great feast for us in the life to come. The wedding, of course, is our union with God, when we are joined to Him and share in His Life. This feast is a spiritual feast in which we are given all the joys and pleasures that emanate from God Himself and which we then enjoy eternally.
This parable was originally directed to the Jews who rejected our Lord Jesus Christ – a warning of the eternal consequences of that rejection. It also foretold the entry of the gentiles into the Church – it continues to teach us throughout the ages about our relationship with Jesus Christ. Our Lord has invited us to a great feast – but we must respond to that invitation. It would seem that this would be an obvious choice, but as we all know, in this world, there are many things that seek to compete with our Life in Christ.
We are told that one man went to his farm – and indeed our possessions and our passion to acquire more possessions in this world, can prevent us from following Christ. Our time, energy, and resources that go into acquiring, maintaining and using our possessions, too often takes away from the time, energy and resources that we might use to pursue and acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is the means by which we are joined to Christ.
Another man went to his merchandise, which is to his business. The Evangelist Luke says that he had just purchased oxen – he was addicted to his work in the world; he was addicted to his reputation, to his fame, to the respect of others, to the influence that his labors provided for him. For us this is the same; we busy ourselves with this, that and the other thing, which then means, we have no time or energy left to do those things which are most vital and necessary to our spiritual well-being. We don’t have enough time to pray or to read the scriptures; the worship of the Church is relegated to those moments when we don’t have anything better to do.
Luke tells us of a third man who had “just married a wife” – and indeed many of us are addicted to pleasure; we run after every pleasurable experience and stimulus in this life and dedicate ourselves to enjoying every possible thing. We have no tolerance for the struggle of denying ourselves, the sorrow and suffering of taking up our cross or the discipline of following Christ. If we succumb to these distractions, then like the unfortunate friends of this king in the parable, we will be rejected and will face destruction.
However, for the most part, those of us standing here, have responded clearly to the invitation of Christ, and have entered the feast. But even having “accepted” the invitation of Christ is not sufficient. In the parable there was one person in attendance who was not dressed in the proper wedding attire. The host came to him and asked, “Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?” For us, what does this mean? How are we to be attired to participate in this spiritual feast that has been prepared for us by God? We must remember that the attire is not just the physical attire of the world, but it is the spiritual attire of our heart. We must be adorned not with jewels, fine clothing, t-shirts, cosmetics and perfumes, but rather with the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control, (Gal 5:22-23). These are the things that we need to seek to acquire – these are the “wedding garments” that are necessary for the spiritual feast to which we have been invited.
But this man had not bothered to work at acquiring these spiritual adornments, but put his trust in his own accomplishments and his own worthiness. And when the host confronted him about his improper attire, he was “speechless” – he had no answer. This speechlessness indicates for us a lack of repentance. Now, yes, we all sin, we all fail at times (well, to be honest, most of the time) in our spiritual labors. But when confronted by our failings, that is, when we are convicted of our sins, by the prompting of the Holy Spirit in our heart, there is a response, and that response is repentance. We fall down before the Host of the feast and confess that we have sinned, and beg His forgiveness, and we turn away from that sin, rejecting its place in our lives and its hold on us. Well, after repenting, we are to reject our sins.
From that moment on we strive to leave the sin behind and follow Christ. This is the response that God desires from us, when He confronts us with our sins. If we confess our sins, then He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If and only if we truly repent!
This means that God, by forgiving us, breaks the power that sin has over us and by cleansing us, He places us again on the path of salvation – but, it is now up to us to walk that path, being careful not to stray off from it and fall down again. As many times as we sin, we must repent. And as many times as we repent, God forgives us. Since it seems that we are never without sin, let us also never be without repentance.
But this man was “speechless”, he didn’t repent – perhaps he didn’t see his sin, or perhaps his pride was such that he tried to justify himself, or perhaps he loved his sin more than he loved God. As a result of his lack of repentance, he was bound hand and foot and “cast into the outer darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
St Gregory Palamas points out, the meaning of being bound hand and foot indicates, he was no longer able to do anything or go anywhere, but this ability was taken from him. It is well known to all of us that in this life we are given the opportunity not only to repent, but also to gather spiritual treasure (the grace and gifts of the Holy Spirit), for ourselves, but after we die, these things are no longer possible – we must “make do” with what we have acquired in this life. If we did not repent in this life, when we had the opportunity to do so, in the next life, we will not be able to repent. If we did not follow Christ, but went our own way in this life, in the next life we will be cast out into the outer darkness where we do not wish to go. If we do not gather spiritual treasure in this life, then we will be without any resources in the next.
Therefore, let us make use of the time and opportunity that God has given us, now. We have this life to repent, to nurture the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and bring it to fulfillment, to acquire spiritual gold and silver and gems, which are the grace of the Holy Spirit. Too often we waste this precious time; we have been given to strive after worldly riches, respect or pleasures, and we have no time for spiritual labor.
It is good to constantly remember, the time will come soon (sooner than anyone of us thinks) that we will no longer have the chance or the ability to acquire these Spiritual things, and we will stand before the throne of God naked, except for the “wedding garment” that we have sewn for ourselves in this life.
Let us therefore stop wasting time – stop this very moment. As St Herman instructs us, “From this very day, this very hour, this very moment, let us strive to love God above all else.” The day is indeed far spent, the night is upon us – perhaps even this worldly night will be our last. Let us then spend what little time we have left, acquiring heavenly riches, rather than worldly riches that we might enter into the heavenly banquet, clothed in a brilliant wedding garment, and be greeted by our Host with the words, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.”
So who do you chose, Christ our King, or this sinful world?
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