DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
Saint Matthew 22:1-14
(9/18-10/1)
The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
The Wedding Garment: Saint Matthew 22:1-14, especially
vs.12: “So he said to him,
‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.” Attendance at
the wedding feast of the Son of the King is crucial. Can Christ our God, the Son of the King
of all, be more forthright?
Attendance is a matter of life and death. The Lord Jesus, as the King’s Son,
underscores the importance of acceding to the invitation, warning us not to
‘make light’ of accepting God the Father’s invitation (vs.
5), nor to ‘go our ways’ to property or business or other
activities (vs. 5), and especially never to risk being outrageous and treating
the servants of our Father the Heavenly King ‘spitefully and [killing] them’(vs. 6).
The history of mankind - of people like ourselves - is
strewn with woeful examples of those who chose to disdain God’s
invitation. The most tragic
instance of such scorn was made by the ancient People of God to whom the Lord
“...sent out His servants to call those who were invited to the wedding;
and they were not willing to come” (vs. 3): Moses and the Prophets were sent
repeatedly over centuries and were ignored. And when the wedding date actually came,
“...being ignorant of God’s righteousness and seeking to establish
their own righteousness” they did not submit “...to the
righteousness of God” (Rom. 10:3).
May we not follow in their steps!
Blessed Theophylact of Ochrid appeals to us forcefully, in the manner of Jesus our
Lord, using vivid images so that we not forget the heavenly wedding feast in
our present existence; for if “we live as wild beasts, then He, too,
becomes for us a panther, and a bear, and lion. He makes a wedding feast for His Son,
joining Him to every soul that is beautiful. For the bridegroom is Christ and the
bride is the Church and the soul....This parable shows that those who fail to
attend the wedding feast and the fellowship and feasting with Christ do so
primarily on account of...the pleasures of the flesh, or the passion of
greed.” God help us who
understand these truths!
Since the Church invites men and women of every race and
nation, both those who have lived modestly and decently as well as those who
been profligate and dissolute, the Lord Jesus carefully reassures us about
entering the great hall of the wedding feast in the age to come. He is careful to state that God the King
is determined to bring as many to the feast as possible and so instructs His
servants to “‘...go into the highways, and as many as you find,
invite to the wedding’” (Mt. 22:9), without discrimination
concerning their past lives, “...both bad and good” so that
“...the wedding hall [may be] filled with guests” (vs. 10).
Still, there is danger in actually accepting the invitation
of the King – illustrated by the case of the guest with no wedding
garment illustrates. Note: mere
presence was not enough when ‘...the King came in to see the
guests’ (vs. 11). Do not be
so foolish as to object and ask: if the servants filled the wedding hall with
guests ‘both bad and good’ (vs. 10), why
was one singled out to be bound ‘hand and foot,’ taken away, and
cast ‘into outer darkness’ where “there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth”? (vs. 13). The answer is: one’s wedding
garment may be missing!
Here, then, we need to listen to Saint Gregory the Great
carefully: “What do we think is meant by the wedding garment, dearly
beloved. For if we say it is
baptism or faith, is there anyone who has entered this marriage feast without
them? What then must we understand
by the wedding garment but love....we are correct when we say that love is the
wedding garment.”
Christ the Bridegroom calls to the Bride in love,
“...and gave Himself for her” in love (Eph. 5:25). Yes, we are both bad and good! Christ overcame our sin; but we are to “...preserve our Baptismal garment” by means
of love, so that the King will not cast us out. Let us cry:
Make radiant the garment of my soul, O Giver of Light, and
save me!
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