Does today's Gospel bother you a bit? It has always seemed a little odd to me that God, who welcomes everyone, suddenly doesn't like the way someone is dressed and tosses them out of the party. 

The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to meet the guests, he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. The king said to him, 'My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?' But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, 'Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.' Many are invited, but few are chosen." (Mt 22:10-14)

This idea doesn't fit well with my idea of the divine banquet, where all are welcome, and something as superficial as how we're dressed is inconsequential to our belonging. But a recent commentary I happened across by Fr. John Kavanaugh, SJ helped me put this into perspective, because I realized that I've been reading and hearing this Gospel message backward. 

God's generosity, here embodied by the King's invitation to one and all to attend the feast, is exactly that: a generous invitation to everyone to participate in the lavish eternal banquet, the kind that we hear about in the 25th chapter of Isaiah this weekend. "On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples," Isaiah writes, and God will fill us with a banquet beyond any expectations. This is the image of God that brings us comfort, that drives us to see everyone as a treasure of God. 

And this is the God of the Gospel as well. That part of the message is easy to relate to, that regardless of our status in society, regardless of whether we're classified as "good" or "bad", we will be welcomed into the Kingdom.

So what about the guy that got tossed out? Fr. Kavanaugh points out that our faith has always taught us that salvation is a choice. God gave us free will, and in that freedom we trust our own council to choose between good and evil. So while I've been looking at this passage as an example of a capricious God whose demands are inscrutable, that's backwards. It is really demonstrating that we are the ones with the freedom to choose; even when we've been invited to the eternal banquet, we can choose not to trust in God's incredible goodness.

Rather than an image of a fickle God who cares about what we wear, this Gospel gives us a challenge to make our faith something more than lip service. We can't just show up at the banquet, without preparation, and hope for the best. Instead, we must trust that God has our best interest at heart as we work to put aside the things that keep us from growing closer. God is deep, abiding, and eternal love. I know that. We all know that. Today we are reminded that it isn't our clothing, but our trust in that love that makes us free to attend the feast.

What do we cling to that is actually a barrier between our lives and the freedom of God's love? Are we willing to take off and discard the old ways, the hard shell that gets in the way of God's love, and instead clothe ourselves in faith, hope, and love? 

Please join us in our gym for the Book and Bake sale on Sunday, October 15 from 8am -1pm.  Find a gently used book with a story to tell or a delicious baked good to satisfy your sweet tooth! 

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