Above you'll find the video of my homily for October 11 and below you'll find the text. Note: before proclaiming the gospel I spoke about how today's text from Matthew appears to be a compilation of two parables - each with a different message. As a result, there's a jarring turn at the end of the text - which you'll find in today's readings.
Good
guys and bad guys... Bad guys and good guys...
What would the news, what
would the media - what would politicians do - if we didn't so often, all think
in terms of good guys and bad guys?
I wonder.... • When I say bad
guys, what names and faces come to your mind? (You don't have to tell
anybody!) • And when I say good guys, what names and faces come to your mind? • And
how bad do you think your bad guy is? • And how good do you think you're good guy
is?
I’m asking these questions because of the parables in the gospel here.
These are parables of God's desire to call and welcome as many as possible
into the kingdom of heaven. Let me say that again. This is a parable of God's
desire to call and welcome as many as possible into the kingdom of
heaven.
The king here in this
story, frustrated with those who snubbed his invitation to the party, the king
gives his servants an order to go out into the streets and to invite whomever
they find - whomever they find out in the streets. And that's just what
they do. They go out and invite everyone they find - and the gospel
tells us they invited the good and the bad alike.
It's important for us to
recognize that that's where the first parable here ends. It ends with, “Y'all,
come!”
It's like the banquet
described in Isaiah in the first reading: “The Lord will provide a feast of
rich food and choice wines for ALL peoples. The Lord will destroy the veil of
death that veils ALL peoples. The Lord will wipe away the tears from EVERY
face. The Lord will remove from the WHOLE earth, the guilt and shame of his
people.” ALL peoples, EVER face, the
WHOLE earth.
And the king's servants
went out into the streets and gathered all they found - Good and bad alike. And
that's what the first parable ends.
So does that mean that it
doesn't matter if we're good or bad? That no matter what, we'll have a
place in heaven, that no matter what, somebody's gonna come and invite
us. “Yeah, you can come, too!”
Well, it's not quite that
easy, but quite that simple. Jesus speaks just as strongly, just as
emphatically and often, calling us: to keep the commandments; to love
one another as we love ourselves; to do what is right and just; to forgive one
another over and over and over again; to lay down our lives in service of our
neighbor; to love God above all things.
And Jesus wasn't kidding
about any of that. He wasn't joking. He meant it. But at the same time, he really
wants to bring us home to his father. He really wants to get us into
heaven. He really wants us to take a place at the feast that has
no end.
And he'll do anything to
get us there. Anything? Anything! Anything and EVERYTHING!
Just look at the Cross
that covers over our prayer. He did anything and everything for - the good and
the bad alike. And he did that - especially for the bad.
Looking around this place
this morning, that's just what I see. The servants have brought in the good and
the bad alike - they're all here! Beginning with the bad and the good in me.
And including the good and the bad in each of you. In each of us,
there is
the bad and the good;
the weak and the strong;
the doubting and the
convinced;
the soiled and the pure;
the foolish, and the wise;
the liar and the
truth teller;
the cruel and the kind;
the demanding and the patient;
the vain
and the modest;
the selfish and the generous;
the addicted and the temperate;
the wasteful
and the sparing;
the jealous and the content;
the bully and the friend;
the
proud and the humble;
the faithful and the betrayer;
the abuser and the victim;
the lustful and the chaste;
the hypocritical and the devout;
the morally
careless and the ethically precise;
the unfair and the just;
the taker and the
giver;
the prejudiced and open hearted;
the sinner and the saint
-- the bad and
the good --
in each one of us here this morning.
That's who's here today - here in this banquet
hall where the king has invited us, bad and good alike, to the feast of his
Son's table.
And that's where the first
pareble ends.
But how about the second
power - where the king throws some people out of his house, because they were
properly dressed for the wedding. Doesn't that seem to be a huge contradiction?
To go out and invite everybody in and then say, “Oh, you're not dressed up
enough. You have to leave!”
How many do you remember a
restaurant in Boston, in the seaport, Anthony's Pier Four? Okay. It was a
great, grand place, and we went there for special occasions. Well, back in the
day, but not so far back that I don't remember, back in the day, if you were a
man dining at Pier 4, you had to wear a suit coat. But if you came to Pier 4
without knowing that this was the dress code, well, at the check room, the
restaurant kept a supply of blue blazers which they were happy to offer to
gentlemen who showed up without a suit jacket!
Well, guess what? It was
the custom, in Jesus' time, for the host at large dinners to provide wedding
garments at the door for all the guests. So the folks the king refused to seat were
those who refused to put on the wedding garment he offered them…
How do Christians
interpret this second parable? The clothing our host provides for us is the garment
of salvation. The robe of God's love and mercy - in which he
wraps us - ALL of us - the good and the bad and like - to ensure that all
people can come to his table and enjoy the feast he has prepared for us.
We, the bad and the good
alike, we are invited here in spite of our sins. Invited by the Lord, who
offers to clothe us in his mercy, his pardon, his grace, his love.
Every time we celebrate
mass, we pray about this. We remember the words of Jesus at table at the
Last Supper. Just before Communion, we pray,
Lord Jesus Christ, you said to
your apostles,
"Peace I leave you, my peace I give you.
Lord, look not on your
sins
- but on the faith of your church -
and graciously grant her peace and unity
in accordance with your will...
Just before Communion, the
Lord invites us to put on the garments, the wedding garments of salvation: to
clothe ourselves - to let him clothe us - in his mercy and peace.
The Lord invites us all,
the good and bad alike, to come to his table, to come to his feast. Pray with
me that this morning that we’ll open our hearts to all that the Lord offers us.
SUBSCRIBE HERE!
