28th Sunday, Ordinary Time A cycle

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Scripture: Lectionary 143: 28^th Sunday A. Isaiah 25:6-10. Psalm 23:1-3.3.4-5.6. Philippians 4:12-14.19-20. Matthew 22:1-14:

Salvation history unfolds in our listening to the readings of today’s liturgical celebration. Isaiah describes the Messianic Age as a rich banquet offered on the mountain of Jerusalem and centered most likely on Mount Zion, the sacred location David conquered and made the center of his kingdom. He was able to join all of the tribes through this capital city and it is he who began and prefigured the history of the Messiah. Matthew knew this full well and made sure in his first chapter about the relationship of Jesus to the royal and messianic lineage of David.

Jesus too uses the image of a wedding banquet that is almost ready and guests have been invited in two stages as we listen to the parable of the King’s wedding feast for his son. The parable is not new with Jesus but the development of it and the placing of it within the context of salvation history makes it uniquely Matthew’s.. It is also the history of the Church that Matthew is describing; both the Jewish people and the Gentiles are invited respectively. The doors are open to everyone—even those who should not have expected to be invited. Matthew is uniting two parables in this wedding which also fits in with the Messianic dimension of salvation history with Jesus the parable teller as the central person giving us the story.

Both the Kingdom of God here and now with the plates very warm in the banquet image shows us the urgency of the call. Matthew is always concerned with the ecclesial or Church dimension of what he relates to us in his Gospel where we again see a community of Jews and Christians which he wishes to unite with the same invitation from the King of the banquet.

A last image is added to one who came unprepared to the banquet. Those who were invited and in the hall of the banquet were those who had followed the message of the king and lived just lives; the one who thought he could enter without being “converted” or baptized was gravely mistaken. He is ousted from the banquet and from the Church. Matthew was a pastor who did everything he could to keep his Church of Gentile and Jew from being separated. All were called to the banquet. The one who refused to prepare for it shows that this was his own carelessness and he was not ready for the urgency of the banquet for all. We can imagine the white garment of baptism was perhaps symbolically meant by the wedding garment.

In our Eucharist we prepare for receiving the Lord of the Messianic banquet by reciting the prayer of Jesus called the Lord’s Prayer or the Our Father. This is a prayer emphasizing both the need for forgiveness and for giving forgiveness before one can truly participate in the Eucharistic banquet.

Psalm twenty-three is one of the most prayed psalms. A new insight is given to us in praying this psalm that helps us see why it is fitting with the imagery taken from Isaiah and Matthew. The response shows that the sheep really are people who are within the sacred house of the Lord—the peacefulness and security of being in Jerusalem and the Temple are meant more than people on hillsides like simple dumb sheep. No, they are participants in the joys of the heavenly Jerusalem and the Messianic presence of God through Jesus their shepherd. The Psalm Response begins and ends the story just as Isaiah and Matthew do in the readings: “I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” God has prepared the table for him and has anointed his head with oil; his cup (of life) is so full it overruns itself. The complete verse is worth our pondering over: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” A Jewish commentary tells that this goodness is the physical welfare and the provider of his needs. Divine love and guardianship are his and he is the privileged guest of the Lord God. God will extend his days of life and the enjoyment of God’s favor will be prolonged. (Soncino, Psalms p.68). Amen.