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St. Jerome explains that even in the 4th century A.D., in the regions of Syria and Palestine, wise men used parables to communicate their message. One understands better then that the Lord Jesus who lived in this culture would often use parables to communicate the content of the Gospels; the parable was his preferred instrument for teaching. Today’s Gospel parable wants to underline that salvation does not depend of belonging to a certain people or race, but rather on faith.
First of all, let’s look at the literal meaning of this parable of the wedding—or better yet, the wedding attire—and what it meant to the Jesus’ listeners. Then, afterwards, let us reflect on the meaning for us today.
Meaning of the parable for Jesus’ listeners
“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son” (Mt 22:2). Who is this king, if not God the Father? The marriage feast is an eschatological banquet of which the prophet Isaiah speaks: “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast…” (Is 25:6). The servants commanded to call the guests are the prophets, who continually get sent to the people of Israel, and who undergo insults, persecutions, and in the end, death. The punishment about which the parable speaks is probably the first destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC; it could even be a prophecy for the second destruction of the city by the Romans in 70 A.D.
In any case, after the punishment there follows a new invitation: “Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find” (Mt 22:9). Now, the invitation gets extended to the Gentiles. This does not mean that salvation has simply been taken from one people and given to another. It’s not the case that those who have newly arrived at the feast will automatically find a place at the table. Many are called certainly but not all will respond. There is a new criterion: the wedding attire, which is a symbol of faith. Those who wear the proper wedding attire— those who have faith—will remain at the wedding feast. The others will be bound “hand and foot, and cast […] into the outer darkness” (Mt 22:13).
A great part of Jesus’ listeners were convinced that salvation was a proper right, because the Lord had formed a covenant with Israel, and therefore, belonging to the elected nation would guarantee salvation. Listening to Jesus’ parables, one understands that he contradicted their presumptions, and therefore, “the Pharisees went and took counsel how to entangle him in his talk” (Mt 22:15).
Meaning of the parable for us today
God’s parables have the power to go beyond the limits of time, and therefore the parables are addressed not only to the crowds physically present but even to us today. What does this parable mean for us?
The king is God the Father, who hosts a wedding feast for his son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The banquet is the Eucharist, the wedding feast of the Lamb: Behold, the Lamb of God: blessed are those who are called to the Wedding Feast of the Lord! The servants commanded to call the guests are the apostles and the saints of all time. The invited guests are all of humanity: good and bad. But it’s not sufficient just to be present at the wedding feast; it’s necessary to have the wedding attire. This is the theme of the discourse for us, it’s essential point. We will be admitted to the wedding feast of the Lamb only if we put on the proper wedding attire, and if this is clean. What else does the wedding attire mean, if not the baptismal gown, which we have put on at the moment when we became sons of God.
St. Paul exhorts us: “Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts” (Eph 4:22). This passage corresponds to removing your garments before baptism. Then, St. Paul proceeds saying: “Be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4:23). This verse refers to the covering of the white garment after the baptism. In other words: “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old nature with its practices and have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator” (Col 3:9-10).
Here is the wedding garment of the Christians! And for monks, the call must resonate even stronger, because this language of spiritual renovation is used in the rite of monastic profession, when the monk in his second baptism receives his new wedding garment; the cuccula or “cowl”. The question which we need to ask ourselves is this: what does my wedding garment look like? Holy, purified through the washing of the water accompanied by the word; glorious without stain nor wrinkle or anything similar, but holy and immaculate? Or maybe slightly dirty, stained, and wrinkled? Maybe we need to go to the spiritual laundry room, which is confession, to be able to stand in front of our Lord with purity of heart. After that, our joy will be complete, and we will be able to sing with the assembly of the saints:
Let us rejoice and exult
And give him glory,
For the marriage of the Lamb has come;
And his Bride has made herself ready;
It was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure.
For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints (Rev 19:7-8).