Homilie
- Homily: Sunday, October 11, 2026 Fr. Scott
This parable has various levels of meaning, like all of the parables Jesus told.
So, a King holds a wedding Feast for his son. When those invited don't show up, the King replaces them with others. What did Jesus intend the wedding feast to stand for? Who did He intend the King to stand for? Who are the invited guests who didn't show up? Who are the substitute guests who replaced them?
According to scholars, the King stands for God. The wedding Feast stands for the Kingdom of God. The invited guests stand for the Chosen People, who made a covenant with God. The substitute guests stand for the sinners or those outside the Law and the Gentiles. They are the people who accepted Jesus and His invitation to follow Him.
After most of the invited guests rejected Him, Jesus proclaims loudly and clearly that the Kingdom of God is now open to all people, not just the Jewish Community, but to all peoples and nations. No one will be excluded, not even the Gentiles and the Samaritans. This is one of those parables that definitely rocked the boat and began to get Jesus in very big trouble.
What does it say to us two thousand years later?
According to scholars, for an answer to that question, we must turn to the surprise ending of the parable which describes a substitute guest who is expelled from the feast by the King because he came in without a Wedding Garment. According to the Jesuit spiritual writer, Fr. Mark Link, if we may exaggerate slightly, he showed up at the banquet in the same filthy clothes that he wore to clean out his stables, where he kept his donkeys. He comes into the banquet on his own terms, not on the King's. He refuses to conform to the etiquette that was normal in ancient times when people entered the King's presence.
We are the substitute guests invited by God to the wedding feast of the Kingdom of Heaven. We have been invited by God to sit at the Banquet of Eternal Life with His Son. But Jesus makes it clear that if we accept His invitation, we are called to do so on God's terms, not our own.
Using the imagery of Christ's parable, we are called to wear a Wedding Garment. And what is the Wedding Garment? What did Jesus intend the wedding garment to stand for? We find the answer to that question spelled out in the parable of the Last Judgment. That parable describes the fulfillment of human history. All the people who ever lived stand in two groups before the great King of heaven and earth. One group stands on His right, the other on His left.
What does He say to those on His right? "Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink." And to those on His left, he says the opposite. "Depart from me, for you didn't give me food or drink."
So, the Wedding Garment Jesus refers to in today's parable stands for living out our Baptismal Promises faithfully. It stands for our loving concern for others, especially the needy in our midst. The Wedding Garment stands for our service to our brothers and sisters, especially those in need. The Wedding Garment stands for our faithfulness in living out all that Jesus taught, modeled, and commanded. In the words of spiritual writer Jay Comier, the Wedding Garment of good deeds we make for ourselves for the Lord's Banquet is a garment consisting of conversion and willing service to others.
We can all rejoice and give thanks, for we've all been invited to the Wedding Feast of Heaven. While it won't be easy, being faithful to our Baptismal Promises can be difficult, and service to others doesn't always bring immediate rewards, and it isn't always appreciated. But we can take great consolation from the Letter of St. Paul to the Philippians. "I can do all things in Him who strengthens me," and from the Prophet Isaiah, who assures us, "The Lord of Hosts will provide for all peoples, a feast of rich food and choice wines."
God will especially provide His Grace. He will fill us with all we need to follow His Son and to keep our Wedding Garments clean.
