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Two-Minute Reflection by Elizabeth Harrington for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023.
“We too are invited to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We just need to accept the invitation as well as show our gratitude by doing our bit and putting on a wedding garment.”

• Two-Minute Reflection Transcript

  Two-Minute Reflection Transcript

  Author: Archdiocese of Brisbane

  
  The Gospel reading for this Sunday is the story of the King who put on a feast to celebrate his son’s wedding, but when the time came none of the guests put in an appearance. So the king sent his servants to remind them and encourage them to attend by talking about all the fine food that was on offer. But the invitees were not interested or had more important things to do. Some even went as far as killing the servants. Can you imagine anyone doing that? I guess many of us would sympathise to some extent with the King’s response of sending troops to kill the murderers and set fire to their town. Matthew wrote his Gospel after the Romans had destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, something which he understood as one of the consequences of Israel’s rejection of Jesus.

  Anyway, the king is determined to hold this celebration, so he sends his servants out again. This time to round up anyone and everyone on the highways and byways and invite them to his son’s wedding banquet. Jesus is telling this tale to the chief priests and elders and he begins by saying that it has something to do with “the kingdom of heaven”. In what way? Well, the chief priests and elders knew very well about God’s promise of a Messiah. The prophet whom Moses spoke of was standing right there in the midst of these leaders of Israel but they rejected him. And, ultimately, they murdered him. Israel’s rejection is what opened the door for the Gentiles to be invited to participate at the banquet of God’s kingdom. And we too, bad and good alike, are invited to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We just need to accept the invitation as well as show our gratitude by doing our bit and putting on a wedding garment.