The Invitation Has Been Offered

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

Friends, welcome to Word on Fire Catholic Ministries. Word on Fire is an apostolate dedicated to the mission of evangelization, using media both old and new to share the faith on every continent, and to facilitate an encounter with Christ and His Church. The efforts of Word on Fire engage the culture and bring the transformative power of God's Word where it is most needed.

Today, we invite you to join Bishop Robert Barron as he preaches the Gospel and shares the warmth and light of Christ with each one of us.

Robert Barron (0:40)

Peace be with you. Friends, we have another parable today in our Gospel.

Like all the parables, it's kind of unsettling. It's a little strange. It's meant to disconcert us. Once you understand that, I think you can approach the parables better. If we think of them as just straightforward, you know, moralizing allegories, we're going to miss it. They're meant to shake things up. They're meant to throw us off balance. So we're told here that Jesus is speaking to the chief priests and elders. So he's kind of going after the leadership of his people. And he tells this kind of crazy story, honestly, about the king inviting people to the banquet, you know, for his son. People make excuses. They don't show up. He sends more messengers out, people still ignore them. And then they kill the messengers. And then he finally sends, you know, go out to the hills and the dales and bring in everyone you can find. And then to make it even weirder, so these, you know, kind of the rabble all come into the party. But he knows someone, well, you're not wearing a wedding garment, and he throws him out.

In the meantime, at one point in the story, he destroyed their entire city. So you think, what are we dealing with here? God, if the king in the story is supposed to be God, he seems to be a kind of psychotic maniac. What do we make of this? Well, first of all, think about this, everybody. Go back to my friend, Flannery O'Connor, I think the greatest Catholic fiction writer of the last century. She said famously, because her stories were a bit like this. They were macabre, and they were violent, and they were over the top and shocking. And when people asked her, this kind of demure southern lady, you know, why do you write such stories? Her answer was, in the land of the deaf, you have to shout. It's very good insight. What are people deaf to? Boy, she thought it was true, you know, that's back in the 1950s. How much more today?

People are deaf to spiritual realities. If you're whispering a little spiritual story, they're not going to hear it. You got to shout in the land of the deaf to be heard. And so her stories and all their kind of macabre quality did that. Well, that's what these parables are doing. This is a good example. It is, of course, over the top and exaggerated to make the point. Okay, so how can we parse this now? How can we bring out a spiritual power? Well, let's take it from the beginning.

Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. Now, this is not just any old party, right? Not just any old person inviting people to a gathering. No, the king. So it's the highest figure in the society.

Inviting people to a banquet for his son, a wedding banquet.

It's like the highest invitation you could possibly receive. That's the point. To make our comparison, and I know whenever you mention presidents, you get people's political hangups. But if you receive an invitation, a formally engraved invitation from the president of the United States to come to the White House for a special banquet, you'd say, yes, people say, yes, I'll clear my calendar. Or how about for Catholics? The Pope, the Pope has invited you personally to come to the Vatican for a special banquet. Or let's say the Pope is visiting America. Make it easier. And he says, I want you to come to this banquet that's being held in your hometown, but I, the Pope, am inviting you. What would you say?

SPEAKER_1 (4:25)

You know what?

Robert Barron (4:26)

I'm busy that night.

You know, I've already got plans, Holy Father. I'm sorry. I'm going out with my buddies bowling. I'm sorry, Mr. President. It's a very fine invitation, but I'm, you know, rearranging my sock drawer that night. See, what you're meant to see right away is this greatest of invitations possible. Now, not just the President, not just the Pope, the Lord God Almighty is inviting you personally to come to a banquet, a wedding banquet for His Son. Now, see, Christians, what are we hearing? God the Father sent His Son as groom to His Bride the Church. This invitation, everybody, is the most important thing ever that you could ever imagine coming your way. Come to a banquet, wedding banquet, for My Son, and I'm going to provide for you the best of everything.