Isaiah 25:6–10; Psalm 23; Philippians 4:12–14, 19–20; Matthew 22:1–14
Important Things in Life
Dear friends, today is the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Our theme challenges us to ask ourselves: What are the most important things in our lives? What are our priorities? Which aspects of our lives—body, mind, and soul—do we take care of the most? What is the ultimate goal of our journey here on earth? Today’s readings can help us answer these questions.
The first reading speaks about the banquet that the Lord will prepare for all peoples. It will be a day when the righteous are rewarded and those who are heavily burdened find relief. This is the day we all look forward to. Are our priorities in life leading us towards this day?
In today’s Gospel, Jesus presents another parable about the Kingdom of Heaven: a wedding feast. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Jesus uses familiar situations to help us understand spiritual realities.
In Jesus’ time, what mattered most at a wedding feast was not what the guests brought but their presence. Attending the feast demonstrated honour and appreciation for the host. Guests were also expected to observe certain protocols, including the appropriate dress code.
In the first part of the parable, all the invited guests turn down the king’s invitation. They were special guests, and the king expected them to honour his invitation. We should note that ordinary people would not dare to reject a king’s invitation so casually. These guests might have been wealthy people or individuals holding high-ranking positions who felt they had nothing to fear from the king.
We see something similar in our society today, where wealth and money sometimes command more respect than legitimate authority. Rich and influential people may get away with crimes, including insulting legitimate leaders. The invited guests acted arrogantly by boycotting the feast at the last moment without prior notice. The king might have spent a fortune on food and drinks, only for everything to go to waste.
In the second part of the parable, the king opens the feast to everyone except those who refused his invitation. However, although he welcomes everybody, he does not relax the wedding dress code. Only one person is found without the proper wedding garment. This suggests that everyone knew the requirements of the occasion, but this particular guest chose to ignore them. Consequently, he is thrown out.
In today’s world, everyone seems to be busy with something. In the past, people had time to sit together and enjoy one another’s company. After a day’s work, people would gather with friends in the evenings and spend time talking. On Sundays, after Mass, people visited relatives and friends and spend the rest of the day together. Even during the week, we had time to attend church prayers, participate in sports, and join seminars. Today, all this seems to have vanished. The days still have 24 hours, but they no longer seem enough. Perhaps time with family, relatives, and friends is simply no longer a priority.
“Civilization” and modern technology have significantly changed how we relate to others. The COVID-19 pandemic widened the gap even further. We have become slaves to our occupations and jobs, while individual space seems more important than ever. Mobile phones have robbed us of physical closeness, making us more connected to people miles away than to those around us. With our eyes glued to screens, earphones in our ears, and hands on keyboards, our world seems to shrink to unprecedented proportions. People get knocked down by vehicles or collide with obstacles while walking because they are distracted by their phones. This phenomenon is also affecting how we think and relate to others.
Through his beloved Son, Jesus Christ, God has invited all of us to the feast of his Kingdom, here on earth and ultimately in heaven. Yet, because we are so busy, we often fail to make time to encounter our Creator, even virtually. We are turning down God’s invitation because we are occupied with what we consider more important things in life. We risk being excluded from the feast when our time on earth comes to an end. As long as we live, however, we have opportunities to respond to God’s invitation, become better people, and prepare to join his feast. A time will come when this opportunity is no longer available. At that point, we will have nobody but ourselves to blame.
People offer many excuses for not attending Sunday Mass or participating in Small Christian Communities. Gradually, the importance of worship, especially for Christians, is being eroded. Even during the era of slavery, enslaved people in some societies were allowed time to rest and worship on Sundays. Today, in some respects, we are worse off because our occupations have enslaved us more than the slave masters of old. We hardly give ourselves time to rest or worship. We are so busy that we may not even have time to prepare proper meals, opting instead for junk food. Our bodies, minds, and souls suffer because they are deprived of proper nourishment, yet we call this “civilization.”
Those who manage to find time for worship sometimes forget to dress appropriately for the occasion. When we see how some people dress for church, we may wonder whether they understand the purpose of their visit. There is all manner of dressing. While some women dress scantily, some men come to church in sports atires and slippers, with unkempt hair. We seem to have lost a sense of appropriate conduct because the world has relativized everything. The institutions that once guided our behaviour, beginning with the family, have gradually lost their influence.
Some people remember God only when things are not working out and expect him to solve their problems instantly. However, St. Paul, in his Letter to the Philippians, reminds us that Christ strengthens us to face life’s challenges. When we remain close to God and live according to his will, we find the strength to persevere through difficult circumstances.
Dear friends, today I invite all of us to take some time to evaluate whether the things we consider important in our daily lives are truly the most important things in life. What exactly are we so busy doing? As the saying goes, make hay while the sun shines.
Have a blessed Sunday!
Fr. Lawrence Muthee, SVD
