Sometimes, the best news seems like the worst news. If you get really attached to your own plans, you likely know the feeling of receiving an invitation, and seeing at first not the joy that will come from taking part in a great event, but of the hassle and bother it will create to break your routine, get out of the house, and do something different.
The people in the Lord’s parable today receive the best invitation possible: to a wedding. In the ancient world, there was no party better than a wedding. Jewish weddings lasted several days and were filled with food, dancing, and generally having the time of your life. In a world where six days of each week were filled with the drudgery of subsistence farming or constant work, and in which there was no notion at all of a vacation, a wedding invitation was the best news you could receive – especially the wedding of a king’s son.
But the way you receive a gift is usually determined more by you than by the gift itself. You’ve seen the small child who is more interested in the box or the packaging than the present she’s received. But even the best invitations, the best news, can seem a threat to our happiness when you’d rather just stick to your own plans.
The invitation to the wedding of the King’s son seems a threat to the happiness of his subjects who are too concerned with their farms or businesses. Some ignore the invitation, and some even violently reject it, mistreating (which could mean violence or particularly shameful acts) and killing the messengers. These latter receive a harsh response when the king’s soldiers burn their city (a presaging of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D. as retribution for Israel’s rejection of the Messiah).
We see one other guest who does respond to the invitation, but wants to have it both ways. The king finds a guest who lacks a wedding garment. Historians tell us that there was most likely not actually a custom of having different clothes for different occasions in this part of the world at that time, so our Lord is more likely referring to the fact that the man is dirty. He has come directly from the field, the workshop, or so forth.
So why does he receive such a harsh treatment from the king, when his only crime seems to be to have responded right away to the invitation? This man is an image of the effects of sin upon the soul. He is so used to not bathing, that he shows up at a royal wedding smelly and dirty. This is what habitual sin does to the soul: It makes us incapable of realizing our own condition.
We can see the man without a wedding garment as someone who wants to have it both ways. He wants to attend the great party, but he does not want to make the appropriate preparation. Maybe he has a problem with greed – just one more row of corn to harvest, just one more job in the blacksmith shop to finish instead of taking the time to prepare himself well. Whatever it is, he doesn’t really want discipleship, doesn’t really want to bear the cost – even a rather small cost – to participate in the feast.
How do you know which of these people is you? Are you the one who ignores the invitation, violently rejects it, accepts the invitation with joy and follows through with the appropriate preparation for the feast, or are you the one who wants to have it both ways? You can know based on the choices that you make. Desire resides in the will. That is, what you desire is more present in the choices that you make than in the ideas in your head. When we think of desire as being only an idea in our head, we might think that the man without a wedding garment desires to be a good participant at the wedding feast, but just doesn’t put it into practice. But this is a wish, not a desire. Because desire resides in the will, and because he freely chooses not to prepare himself for the wedding feast, we can say with confidence that he does not desire to be a proper guest at the wedding feast of the King’s son. In short, he does not desire the kingdom.
This is why the King’s response is entirely justified. It seems harsh to “bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.” But the King is merely giving the man what he himself desires, as expressed by his actions. And this is why those who likewise experience God’s condemnation at the end of their lives concur completely with God’s justice and wisdom when His judgement is revealed. No one goes kicking and screaming into Hell. The damned recognize the justice of their punishment, even though they hate it as they hate themselves. They did not actually desire the Kingdom – and the proof is in their choices.
The man without a wedding garment stands for those who have accepted Christ’s invitation, who have come to his banquet, but have not come with the adequate preparation. This is the case both for the banquet of Heaven, and for the foretaste of the banquet of Heaven here on earth, the Eucharist, when it is approached with unconfessed mortal sins. And mortal sin, contrary to popular opinion, is a lot broader of a category than just murdering innocent people. It includes occult practices, rejecting Church teaching, blasphemy, false oaths, missing Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation, neglect of one’s duties towards ones parents or children, supporting euthanasia or assisted suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, hatred, bribery, sexual activity outside of marriage, using contraception, theft, cheating, paying unfair wages, taking advantage of the poor, encouraging others to perform evil actions, lying about serious matters, speech that does significant harm to another’s reputation, voluntary doubts regarding revealed articles of faith, greed that leads to harm of another – to name a few.
The good news, though, is that we have plenty of opportunities to make sure that we are coming to the wedding feast in our own wedding garment – not the right clothes, but being cleansed by the forgiveness of our sins. With a thorough examination of conscience and a forthright confession, if we are resolved to change our lives and not return to sin, the Lord’s forgiveness is abundant and generous. Lest we end up in a cycle of doubt about whether I was really sorry enough to be forgiven, He even gives us the reassurance of hearing His Son speak through the priest: “I absolve you of your sins.”
But the Lord’s invitation to us is a lot more than just being a guest. He wants us to belong to His Kingdom, not just be an occasional participant. Because He wants to make it hard? No, because He loves and desires us! Just like a father or mother who has prepared something beautiful for their children, and wants them to take part in it and appreciate that gift, God our Father desires your love, desires your friendship, desires that you belong to His Kingdom. And since desire is in the will, and His will is all-powerful, He has the power to bring this about. He has sent His Son to die for your sins so that you can come to His banquet in the wedding garment of grace. Since He desires your holiness, He has given His Church the power to share that grace of forgiveness with you through Her sacraments, and will give you the strength to maintain that wedding garment of holiness as He transforms your will to desire what He desires.
Our desires affect our choices, but our choices also reflect and form our desires. Choosing His kingdom every day, choosing to accept the King’s invitation to His Banquet, the desire for His Kingdom will grow in your heart. And because that desire comes from the One who has loved the most and given the most, that desire will not be in vain.
The Rev. Royce V. Gregerson
Parish Church of Our Lady of Good Hope, Fort Wayne
XXVIII Sunday through the Year, A.D. MMXXVI
