The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to meditate on our call to put on Christ as we relate to people we encounter on our journey.
The Banquet for Full Life
The reading from the Book of Judges describes the consequence of Jephthah’s rash vow.
* [11:30–40] Jephthah’s rash vow and its tragic consequences reflect a widespread folklore motif, most familiar in the Greek story of Iphigenia and her father, Agamemnon. The sacrifice of children was strictly forbidden by Mosaic law (Lv 18:21; 20:2–5), and when the biblical writers report its occurrence, they usually condemn it in strong terms (2 Kgs 16:3; 21:6; Jer 7:31; 19:5). In this case, however, the narrator simply records the old story, offering no comment on the acceptability of Jephthah’s extreme gesture. The story may have been preserved because it provided an explanation of the custom described in vv. 39–40 according to which Israelite women mourned Jephthah’s daughter annually in a four-day ceremony1
Psalm 40 is thanksgiving for deliverance and a prayer for help.
* [Psalm 40] A thanksgiving (Ps 40:2–13) has been combined with a lament (Ps 40:14–17) that appears also in Ps 70. The psalmist describes the rescue in spatial terms—being raised up from the swampy underworld to firm earth where one can praise God (Ps 40:2–4). All who trust God will experience like protection (Ps 40:5–6)! The Psalm stipulates the precise mode of thanksgiving: not animal sacrifice but open and enthusiastic proclamation of the salvation just experienced (Ps 40:7–11). A prayer for protection concludes (Ps 40:12–17).2
In the Gospel of Matthew, The Parable of the Wedding Banquet challenges us to assess how we reflect the Love of our King.
* [22:1–14] This parable is from Q; see Lk 14:15–24. It has been given many allegorical traits by Matthew, e.g., the burning of the city of the guests who refused the invitation (Mt 22:7), which corresponds to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70. It has similarities with the preceding parable of the tenants: the sending of two groups of servants (Mt 22:3, 4), the murder of the servants (Mt 22:6), the punishment of the murderers (Mt 22:7), and the entrance of a new group into a privileged situation of which the others had proved themselves unworthy (Mt 22:8–10). The parable ends with a section that is peculiar to Matthew (Mt 22:11–14), which some take as a distinct parable. Matthew presents the kingdom in its double aspect, already present and something that can be entered here and now (Mt 22:1–10), and something that will be possessed only by those present members who can stand the scrutiny of the final judgment (Mt 22:11–14). The parable is not only a statement of God’s judgment on Israel but a warning to Matthew’s church.3
Suzanne Braddock imagines receiving a beautiful, personal invitation from our generous and loving God to attend a fabulous feast.
Can I drop everything-my worldly cares and distractions-and rummage quickly through my closet for a suitably festive garment and attend the feast? I try to consider each day, no matter what my mailbox holds, to be a personal invitation to hear the word of God and keep it. This is the daily feast we all share. To go about our days remembering we are truly at a wonderful celebration, sharing the joy of being a child of God with every person we meet, no matter what our mailboxes hold. To clothe ourselves in faith, hope and love. This garment surely will allow us entrance to God’s feast prepared just for us.4
Don Schwager quotes “A guest with no wedding garment,” by John Chrysostom (347-407 AD).
"But since you have already come into the house of the marriage feast, our holy church, as a result of God's generosity, be careful, my friends, lest when the King enters he find fault with some aspect of your heart's clothing. We must consider what comes next with great fear in our hearts. But the king came in to look at the guests and saw there a person not clothed in a wedding garment. What do we think is meant by the wedding garment, dearly beloved? For if we say it is baptism or faith, is there anyone who has entered this marriage feast without them? A person is outside because he has not yet come to believe. What then must we understand by the wedding garment but love? That person enters the marriage feast, but without wearing a wedding garment, who is present in the holy church. He may have faith, but he does not have love. We are correct when we say that love is the wedding garment because this is what our Creator himself possessed when he came to the marriage feast to join the church to himself. Only God's love brought it about that his only begotten Son united the hearts of his chosen to himself. John says that 'God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son for us' (John 3:16)." (excerpt from FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 38.9)5
Don Schwager also quotes Dieterich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and theologian in Germany who died for his faith under Hitler's Nazi rule, contrasted "cheap grace" and "costly grace".
"Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves... the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance... grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate... Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life."5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 22:1-14 comments that Jesus is warning us about the sad consequences people will face if they arrive at heaven’s gate without the mysterious “wedding garment” (Matthew 22:11).
It is tempting to become so consumed with the demands of life in this world—as the people in today’s parable were—that we lose sight of the magnificent feast that awaits us in heaven. That’s why Jesus gives us a glimpse of that feast every time we celebrate Mass. There, gathered as royal wedding guests, we nourish ourselves with the words of Scripture and we receive Jesus’ own Body and Blood. This beautiful assembly, coupled with the grace of Confession, gives us all we will ever need to keep our wedding garments clean and spotless as we await the final banquet call. Jesus tells us, “Many are invited, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). God is inviting you today. Accept his invitation! Heed his warning! A glorious life awaits all who keep their wedding garments clean. “Thank you, Jesus, for clothing me in your grace. Help me to be pleasing to you today.”6
Friar Jude Winkler outlines the story of Jephthah’s Vow as an etiology to explain the practice of mourning virginity in Israel. We see the behaviour of the people of Israel, the Prophets, Gentiles, and pagans in the parable today. Friar Jude suggests the custom was to have wedding garments at the door for guests so our will must be open to put them on.
James Crampsey SJ helps us to make sense of the sequence of events in Matthew’s version (which differs from Luke’s).
Although Paul and Matthew are unlikely bedfellows, Paul develops the language of putting on Christ and is always urging us to do so. Different pieces of the suit of armour are images for virtues, like faith, hope, love, compassion, endurance. This is what the king is looking for and does not see. We don’t go to our wardrobes to find these things to wear. They have to become part of us organically, and the way that we can make them our own is because other people give them to us. We learn to endure from the model of other people who have taught us, we learn to love because other people have loved us, we learn to trust because others have trusted us, we learn to forgive because others have forgiven us as God forgave them. There is an absolute connectedness which makes a space for God’s gifts in our lives. A wedding is the perfect metaphor for connectedness. The man without the wedding garment is not connected, he has not allowed himself to receive, he has excluded himself. Perhaps it is fair after all.7
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that Artist and author Christine Valters Paintner explores how we might reconsider traditional approaches to photography. Instead of “taking” pictures, she asks us to “receive” images similar to how we might welcome the presence of God in contemplation.
The poet Rainer Maria Rilke [1875–1926] writes in one of his poems of “no forcing [and no] holding back.” [1] When we are receptive we let go of our agendas and expectations. We allow ourselves to see beneath preconceived ideas. Rather than going after what we want in life, or “forcing,” we cultivate a contentment with what actually is. Similarly, instead of “holding back” and merely observing life or falling asleep to it, we stay awake and alert, participating fully in its messiness and we keep our eyes open for the holy presence in its midst. Photographing in this way can become an act of revelation. One of the gifts of art in general, and photography in particular, is that the artist can offer others this vision of the graced ordinary moment.8
Putting on Christ prepares us to be faithful to our mission to bring the Good News of full life to all people gathered to our encounter.
References
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