A Reflection on Matthew 22:1-10 by McLean Casey

Throughout the gospels we see Jesus deliver his greater lessons in a variety of parables, Matthew 22:1-10 is no different. In the parable of the wedding banquet, Jesus tells his disciples that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who had prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He had invited many rich and powerful people to celebrate with this family and enjoy the banquet but they refused. The King even went so far as to entice his guests by telling them about the fatten cattle and oxen that would be served at the banquet, and still, they refused to come. The invited guests even kidnapped and brutalized the servants who came to invite them personally. Obviously, this angered the King so much that he sent his army to burn down their cities. He then told the servants that he had invited people that didn’t deserve to come to the banquet. The king told them to go out and invite anyone they find, the good and the bad. And the wedding banquet was full of guests.

I believe this gospel story relates to my life in many ways. The biggest reason being on my lifelong faith journey, I often feel unworthy and undeserving of God’s love for me. If I were to put myself in this story, I don’t think I would have been invited to the banquet initially. If you know my story then you that until I was 17 I was not active in my faith life. I tried every tactic to get out of going to Mass on Sundays and on many occasions I said no to God. Luckily, I had a conversion while I was in High School where I found myself saying yes to God more and more. At this point in my life, I believe that I am among the guests that were invited to the banquet from the street. The king told his servants to invite everyone, the good and the bad, even if you don’t feel good or worthy you are still invited and welcomed into the kingdom of Heaven.

No matter where you are in your faith journey this gospel is calling us to be the loyal servant to the king that goes out and invites all people to the kingdom of heaven no matter how difficult and scary that is.