God invites all to be part of his life, the great banquet. We like the sound of that. It’s all inclusive and we don’t have to do much. But then the parable takes a strange turn. People don’t want to go to the banquet and others who actually go, are thrown out for lack of being properly dressed.
Hearing God’s call and invitation, we fill our lives with other things that don’t really produce life – just like in the parable: work, business, the imposition of our will on others, or our violence. We decide to half-listen, and we become “half-Christian”. Other times we just decide to completely ignore God’s will. Yet we realize we are not in a good place, and we try to insert ourselves into the kingdom of God or the Church because it makes us feel good. But we still want to maintain our attachments to work, business, willfulness, pleasure, and violence. We willfully become half-Christians: not completely pagan, not completely Christians, not hot, not cold.
Now we see the importance of the new garment or new tunic. With the help of the Holy Spirit the process of conversion leads us to abandon our attachments to those things that lead us away from the great banquet or lead to being improperly prepared while we try to insert ourselves into the banquet. In today’s first reading Ezekiel announces that God will cleanse us from all our impurities, and from all our idols, give us a new heart and place a new spirit within us, by recreating our hearts and putting his spirit within each of us. So, it is not enough just to show up at the banquet or to insert ourselves into the Church. There must be a deep internal conversion. This is the new garment or tunic.
St. Paul describes this process in his letter to the Colossians:
You are God’s chosen race, his saints; he loves you, and you should be clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness and patience.
Bear with one another; forgive each other as soon as a quarrel begins. The Lord has forgiven you; now you must do the same.
Over all these clothes, to keep them together and complete them, put on love. (Col 3:12-14)
True openness to the Word of God produces a change in us. The joy of being invited to be part of God’s feast is what pushes us towards a new life. The reorientation of our lives to God’s will and the service of others, a willingness for the process of conversion, is the new tunic for the feast.
Many are invited, but few are chosen.
Image: https://jamesjackson.blog/2023/11/03/day-308-feast-a-poem-based-on-matthew-221-14/