Matthew 22:1-14

“The realm of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a banquet in honor of his son’s wedding.  He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the banquet, but they ere unwilling to come.”
~ Matthew 22:2-3
 

Ok, so I’ve started this reflection several times.  For some reason, I’m struggling in getting my thoughts down.  This is a parable that appears in two other gospels, Thomas and Luke.  They aren’t verbatim but they are similar enough to see that they are the same. 

The parable of the wedding banquet.  The king has invited people to the wedding banquet but they don’t come.  I wonder, do they think they are too important?  They have more important things to do? They seem to be caught up in themselves.

Then the king invites everyone in the crossroads to come.  They come seemingly ready and willing except one man who didn’t put on his wedding robe.  The king has him bound and thrown out into the darkness.

The metaphor here is that the king is God, the first invited are the Pharisees and religious leaders who have rejected Jesus, the people in the crossroads represents the gospel being open to everyone.  The  man without the robe represents those who have outwardly accepted but lack the inner faith to do good works.

As I look at this in today’s society, I can see the correlation to today’s leaders — religious and world— who claim the name of Jesus but don’t live like Jesus.  

In the man without the wedding robe, I see those who proclaim the name of Jesus, but who are easily lead astray as their faith is mostly surface level, outward.  The teachings of Jesus — love, compassion, community, forgiveness, sharing, caring, you get the idea — haven’t fully taken root in their hearts.  

I see this parable as a warning to us all.  To be sure that we keep our roots strong in faith, in love, in living like Jesus — loving all, sharing from what we have, caring about our neighbors and their well being, and living a life of compassion and love.

May we let Jesus fully take root in our hearts, leading us to live lives of compassion and love.

Until next time…♥️