In this week’s Gospel reading, once again Jesus is telling the chief priest and elders of the people another parable. This time the parable is about heaven.

In the Bible, heaven is often described as a great banquet, a feast in which there is plenty of food and drink for everyone. Jesus uses a wedding banquet to describe heaven. In Jesus time, the Pharisees thought that the only ones who would go to heaven would be the religious Jews who kept all 613 laws. In the parable, these were the ones who refuse the invitation from the king. The king invited them again and again and this refers to the prophets that God had sent. But they ignored His invitation and abused his servants. The king then invited everyone else to the wedding banquet, they “gathered all they found, bad and good alike.” This refers to the Gentiles and us, to those who were not God’s first choice. God invites us all to heaven and that he give His grace to everyone to be saved. But everyone is expected to change his life. In the parable, the king threw out the guest that did not dress properly to the banquet. This is referring to the man who was willing to accept God’s invitation but was not willing to change his ways. God has invited us to be saved and to be in heaven, but we must respond to His invitation with change and to change in our heart. Those who refuse will be cast out “into the darkness outside.” “Many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Are we ready to share in the feast at our Lord’s banquet table?


Questions for reflection

1. How do I live out my Christian vocation day to day?
2. If I died this evening, would I be ready to meet God? Would I do anything different for the next few hours?
3. Am I grateful for the invitation to dine at God’s table? How do I show this thankfulness?

Prayer:

Dear God, I am eternally grateful for being invited to your banquet. I pray for your grace to help me remain faithful to You, to your call and to follow Your will. Amen.

by Hồng Ân Chúa