A wedding celebration is usually a big party; many guests and plenty of food and drink. A royal wedding would be an even more lavish occasion. But the guests in today’s Gospel parable don’t seem interested when the king invites them to his son’s wedding. They find other things to do, and even mistreat the servants who bring the invitation. The king reacts angrily to the insult.

Once again, this parable is directed at the chief priests and elders of Israel. They have ignored God’s invitation to his feast, perhaps because they were more concerned to protect their own power and privilege than to care for God’s people. Jesus has come to found the ‘new Israel.’ Both saints and sinners are invited into the kingdom of God, just as the king ordered his servants to invite the bad and the good alike into the wedding hall.

We are all invited to the Lord’s banquet, not because we deserve the invitation but purely because of God’s love and mercy. The story of the man without a wedding garment, thrown out of the king’s feast, reminds us to prepare ourselves to accept God’s invitation. We weave our wedding garment every day, by our love of God and care for our neighbour.