Abbot Christopher Dillon: Jesus, we are told, frequently used parables to communicate his teaching, a parable being a story with a moral message. The gospel passage which we have just heard contains two parables, the second being almost an after- thought tacked on at the end; although it is just as important as the first one.
The wedding feast in the main parable sets the scene of the whole story, recalling the notion of Heaven as an unending wedding banquet which God has laid on for us all for all eternity. A wedding banquet may not be everyone’s idea of heaven, even for an hour, let alone for all eternity; but the point is that Heaven is the goal of our existence which God has planned for us all, beginning with God’s Chosen People. These people, the people of Israel and their leaders, have been visited repeatedly throughout history by messengers from God, the prophets, to prepare them for this great future, only for each approach to be ignored or brushed off and rejected sometimes with murderous violence. Jesus, himself, the very Son of God, is being rejected in his turn, even as he is speaking to them, and he knows that he will be killed, in due course, symbolising the definitive rejection of God’s plan by his Chosen People. This story of the general rejection by the Jewish people of God’s plan is as tragic as it is remarkable, remarkable because it seems to present God as a failure. But the seeming failure turns out to be the occasion for a much larger and wider success in that the wedding party is consequently opened to all humankind. Somehow, we all become chosen, every single human being.
But then the second parable comes into play: the seemingly small matter of the man who is not wearing the proper gear for the wedding and so finds himself thrown outside. This is to tell us that the fact that we have been included in the general invitation does not give us an absolutely free pass; in one sense at least, terms and conditions apply. Being appropriately dressed means being clothed with the right way of thinking and behaving, that is being a good Christian, or at least being a good human being.
So, what have we got here? We have the news that the exclusivity of the Chosen People has been finessed in favour of the whole human race; all of us, after all, sharing the grace of having been made in the image of God. But secondly, we are reminded that this splendid dignity and its glorious future require a wedding garment of good living, ideally Christian living, to guarantee our reception at the heavenly banquet. And this is best achieved in our responding joyfully and gratefully to the realisation that we are cherished and loved, collectively and individually, by the God who extended his choice of people to include us, as he has demonstrated in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.