28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A) Scott Hahn

Twenty-eighth Sunday
of Ordinary Time A


October 15, 2017

Reading I: Isaiah 25:6-10   He will destroy death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face

Responsorial Psalm: 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6  I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

Reading II: Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20    I can do all things in him who strengthens me. 

Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14   Many are invited, but few are chosen.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Our Lord’s parable in this Sunday’s Gospel is a fairly straightforward outline of salvation

history.

---> God is the king (Matthew 5:35) 

---> Jesus is the bridegroom (Matthew 9:15)

--->  The feast is the salvation & eternal life that Isaiah prophesies in the First Reading (Isaiah 25:6-10. 

---> The Israelites are those first invited to the feast by God’s servants, the prophets (Isaiah 7:25). For refusing repeated invitations and even killing His prophets, Israel has been punished, its city conquered by foreign armies.

Now Jesus makes it clear that God is sending new servants, His apostles, to call not only Israelites, but all people—good and bad alike—to the feast of His kingdom. 

---> This an image of the Church, which Jesus elsewhere compares to a field sown with both wheat and weeds, and a fishing net that catches good fish and bad (Matthew 13:24-43, 47-50).

We have all been called to this great feast of love in the Church, where, as Isaiah foretold, the veil that once separated the nations from the covenants of Israel has been destroyed, where the dividing wall of enmity has been torn down by the Blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:11-14).

As we sing in Sunday’s Psalm, the Lord has led us to this feast, refreshing our souls in the waters of Baptism, spreading the table before us in the Eucharist. As Paul tells us in this Sunday’s Epistle, in the glorious riches of Christ, we will find supplied whatever we need.

And in the rich food of His Body, and the choice wine of His Blood, we have a foretaste of the eternal banquet in the heavenly Jerusalem, when God will destroy death forever (Hebrews 12:22-24).

But are we dressed for the feast, clothed in the garment of righteousness (Revelation 19:8)? Not all who have been called will be chosen for eternal life, Jesus warns. Let us be sure that we’re living in a manner worthy of the invitation we’ve received (Ephesians 4:1). Many are invited but few are chosen.

The Story of Nastagio deli Onesti  - One of four paintings by Botticelli