14 October 2023 – 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) (Sunset Mass)

by Fr Joachim Robert

Dear friends,

Today’s Readings gives us the imagery of a banquet, and that wedding banquet is expressed in the story. And I am sure, dear friends, all of us like to listen to stories but one thing is true that all stories may be true but only some of them really happen.

And as we look at stories, stories evoke in us a deeper sense of things. Stories touch our hearts, moves us and sometimes in unexpected ways make us realise deeper realities that is around us. And sometimes some stories brings us to tears, some stories brings laughter.

And in today’s Gospel, we see this whole story is being told by this master storyteller who is Jesus. Jesus was expressing this story to his audience. So in order to understand this story well, you need to put yourself in the context of what Jesus was going through, in the context and the situations of that time.

We see that Jesus was confronting all the Jewish leaders and elders. And there, people were not so comfortable with what He was preaching. There were people who were rejecting Him and they did not like what they were hearing because Jesus was expressing some form of teaching which makes them realise of that relationship of God with Man. A deeper intimacy that the Jewish leaders were not able to comprehend. What they felt was all the laws was filled with rules and regulations and if you follow those rules and regulations, then you will attain eternal life.

But Jesus comes and expresses this whole teaching of that intimacy of God in our lives. And that shows God’s hospitality, of how God welcomes each and every one of us to be part of His own heart, to be part of His own family, to be entered into that life of the Trinity.

And we see, dear friends, the openness of heart and mind that Jesus express must also be reflected in our church. If you look at the Synod of the Bishops in Rome, we see that the whole Synod comprises of a variety of people who perhaps come with different experiences of life, comes from different ideologies per se, different theological views but they come to encounter God in a special way, the same way Jesus was expressing Himself. As He was preaching the Gospel, He was allowing people to experience the depth of God’s love in their lives. He was inviting them to go deeper and deeper into that relationship that they need to develop with God.

And Jesus, as He addresses them in the Gospel, He says:
Every one is invited. Every one is welcome into this banquet the Lord, the Father, has lavishly thrown for everyone.

But we see the generosity of God’s love, the openness of God’s love, the inclusivity of God’s love sometimes are not taken as He expresses Himself. And as we see, the invitation was given to everyone but some were not interested. Some went off to his farm, another to his business and some maltreated those who were sent, to be called into the wedding feast.

So as we look at today’s Gospel, dear friends, it is heartwarming to see that the love of God reaches out to everybody. No one is ever excluded from the love of God in our lives. And Jesus was not telling them but inviting them. He is giving them a sense of belonging, a sense of purposes, a sense of direction in their life. And everyone of us, dear friends, when we belong to a particular family, when we belong to a particular community, that sense of belonging makes us who we are. And as we come to know who we are, we come to a deeper realisation of where we need to orientate our lives.

We also need to see what is the purpose of our lives. And that deep sense of belonging, dear friends, gives us that confidence to move forward in faith. If you know that you are in a place where you are loved, you are in a place where you feel not being judged, then you have that confidence, that sense of belonging in your heart that you are able to move forward, whatever circumstances that comes along the way.

So we need to ask ourselves:
Are we people who are open to welcome people and have that deep sense of belonging to be together with God and with one another?

And as church, we need to ask those questions. And I am sure this whole aspect of this Synod in Rome is bringing about that kind of awareness. That friendship, respect, harmony, peace, is important.

As we move forward, as well this Gospel Reading very often is taken to see who belongs or who is welcome into the wedding banquet and who is not, who is worthy to be called to the wedding banquet and who is not, but that is not the point.

The invitation that God gives us is that we belong to Him. And because we belong to God, we have God with us, to move forward in our lives’ journey. In whatever circumstances and situations of life come by, we know we can face the world with God on our side.

And again the king sends out his invitation to everybody because those who were called choose to be following their own interest rather than respecting the invitation that was given. And the king sends out the invitation to everybody in the streets. But what is important, dear friends, when we look at this Gospel Reading is that Jesus comes to meet us where we are. He does not expect us or no one should tell us where we should be.

When Jesus comes into that situation and be present in the moments of our own obstacles and challenges, and leads us into a deeper relationship, deeper sense of belonging, deeper sense of awareness of who He is, then we come to a deeper realisation of who God is in our lives. And Jesus gradually leads us to that realisation.

And today, as you and I are invited to come into that wedding banquet, we must remember that we must offer that same generosity and that hospitality of love that God has for us to the people around us. And in doing so, we must have a heart as big as God’s. It is a tall order though but that is what the yardstick Jesus sets for us, that we need to reflect His mercy and His love because we are made in His image and His likeness.

So let us, as we come to this table of the Eucharist, dear friends, as we celebrate the Eucharist celebration later, you and I, all of us, are invited to come into that wedding banquet even though we have chosen different paths sometimes. We have chosen to go to our farms, we have chosen to go ahead with our own businesses and perhaps have treated others differently. But the offering that Jesus gives to us is:
You are invited into that wedding banquet.

So can I ask you to do one thing for me? Can you tell each other that: You are invited for the wedding banquet.

So praise God that you are invited to the wedding banquet. And as you are invited to the wedding banquet, dear friends, we know as the Responsorial Psalm says today:
In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell forever and ever

And because we dwell in God’s house, we must come to this realisation because the Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want. If we are able to lay that life of love with God, to have the assurance of faith that God is with us, let us face these challenges, whatever that may come by, trusting that we too are called into that wedding banquet, to have a life in Jesus.

Let us pray for that grace that we may continue to have that openness of heart and mind, to follow His command every days of our lives.

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