DAILY GRACE
August 20, 2020, Thursday of the 20th Week of Ordinary Time
Scripture: Matthew 22:1-14
Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again, he sent other slaves, saying, “Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.” But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, maltreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, “The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.” Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.
‘But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?” And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” For many are called, but few are chosen.’
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Meditation:
“‘. . . come to the wedding banquet. . . ”
The most obvious application of this parable is that the grace of salvation is offered to many, but few choose to accept it. The focus is on those who receive an invitation to the wedding celebration. However, as I reflected on this passage, I began to think about it from a different angle. What about the son of the king whose wedding is the center of the parable? How did he feel that the invited guests rejected or ignored the request for their presence at such a momentous occasion? How would I feel? I would feel bewildered, distressed, anguished. It’s like the feeling you had in the fifth grade when you gave a valentine to a special friend and didn’t receive one back. Or it’s like the feeling you have when you are not selected to travel with your boss to a special event but all of your colleagues are. And most difficult of all, it’s like the feeling you have when the person you love chooses someone else over you.
Rejection is one of the most devastating experiences of life. Can you imagine what Jesus must feel when we reject his invitations to new life and grace, or when we completely ignore his inspirations? He deeply desires our love, but he leaves us free to accept his invitation to intimacy with him — or not. He would never force us to his wedding banquet; yet he longs for our presence and offers us daily invitations to come to his feast. What if we chose to spend at least fifteen minutes with the Lord each day, speaking to him of our lives, our hopes, our desires, our difficulties, our pains — and listening to his invitations and inspirations?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I confess I have often ignored your invitations, or not even noticed that I was being offered the opportunity to come closer to you. Help me to not reject your invitations, but rather to pay attention to your inspirations each day. Help me also to encourage the other invited guests — all those I meet — to listen to your invitation and respond to your summons.
Contemplation
I am invited.