Dressed for the wedding?

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time – October 9, 2011 – St. John’s

The parable we have just heard, like the one read last week, serves as an allegory of the history of Israel. Jesus draws on a biblical tradition, illustrated by today’s first reading, which compares the messianic era to “a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy rich food, and pure, choice wines.” This, Jesus says, is what God has been preparing for ages. He sent out servants after servants to tell those invited to come, the feast was ready. But the invitation offered by these prophets was ignored; indeed the prophets themselves were beaten and killed. In punishment of them, the king has destroyed those murderers and burnt their city. Now, in place of those originally invited, the call has gone out to the streets and alleys, and people have come in, and the banquet hall is full.
The meaning of the parable in Matthew’s Gospel is plain enough:

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“Consider these things”

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – October 2, 2011 – St. John’s

The passage we heard as our second reading today comes from near the end of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians. My seminary biblical professor once said that he thought that this letter displays a greater affection between St. Paul and the community at Philippi than is visible in any of the letters he wrote to other communities. Perhaps it is because Paul was writing this letter from prison, where the possibility of his death was, as we learned two weeks ago, very real, and he found himself torn between wishing to be with the Lord and staying in order to be of service to his people.