Podcast: 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Hi and welcome to the Modern Psalmist Podcast for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A. I’m Rebecca De La Torre.

In today’s readings, from the Entrance Antiphon to the Communion Antiphon, there’s a consistent acknowledgment of God’s mercy demonstrated in His willingness to forgive iniquities, provide for all peoples, and ensure that those who seek Him lack no blessing.

We begin our sacred mass calling on that Divine mercy in the Entrance antiphon, taken from Psalm chapter 130, verses 3 & 4:

“If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?
But with you is found forgiveness,
O God of Israel.”

The psalm for this Sunday is from chapter 23, one of the most quoted and remembered of all the psalms. The response for this particular Sunday is:

“I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.”

While there are more versions of this particular psalm that we can even count, the ones that resonate with me the most are those that help instill a sense of peace. That’s what I’m trying to accomplish here – a peaceful, contemplative sound that helps you meditate on the scripture and further reinforce the themes for today, especially that God will provide for all our needs.

As you could tell, the response for this Sunday focuses on the House of the Lord and how the Lord provides for us just like a Shepherd cares for his sheep.

Similarly, the first reading from Isaiah chapter 25 describes the banquet of the Lord, saying:

“On this mountain the LORD of hosts
will provide for all peoples
a feast of rich food and choice wines,
juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.”

The imagery of a feast, the role of God as a Shepherd, and the assurance of God’s supply even in times of need all speak to the merciful nature of God who cares for His people.

The Communion Antiphon for today encapsulates the same theme of divine provision for those who seek the Lord. Taken from Psalm 34:11, we read

“The rich suffer want and go hungry,
but those who seek the Lord lack no blessing.”

I want to take a moment now to reflect on the gospel reading for this Sunday from Matthew chapter 22.

Jesus tells the parable of the King who gave the wedding feast. In essence, the King prepares a huge feast for his people and invites them, but they ignore the invitation and even abuse and kill the kings servants. So the King decides to invite everyone to the feast, saying to his servants in verse 9:

“Go out, therefore, into the main roads
and invite to the feast whomever you find.”

So at this point I interpret this to mean that when God’s chosen people rejected him, all the gentiles were invited in their place.

The gospel continues, saying:

“The servants went out into the streets
and gathered all they found, bad and good alike,
and the hall was filled with guests.”

I find it interesting that the “bad and good alike” were all invited and that the “bad” were even allowed into the hall in the first place.
But this is how the parable goes. And so the king comes out to meet his guests and finds a man:

“not dressed in a wedding garment” (“que no iba vestido con traje de fiesta”)

And when the King questions him, he is

“reduced to silence” (“se quedó callado”)

So the king has him bound and thrown out.

Ok, first of all, I’ve always had a hard time with this parable because the king *did* invite everyone. Why would he invite someone just to have him thrown out?

Ultimately, what is Jesus trying to tell us in this parable?

I’ve had to think a lot about it, and I wonder if the banquet is supposed to represent judgement day.
But if so, what does the lack of a wedding garment signify? And how could this apply to us?

Obviously the man who was thrown out was “reduced to silence” – this is significant, like he *knew* that he wasn’t prepared to be there.
He knew he was out of place and had nothing to say to defend himself.

But who is that man today – in *our* day and age? Is that me? Will *I* be reduced to silence when I am finally face to face with the Lord?

The best interpretation I can come up with is that the man who had the audacity to come to the wedding feast without even getting dressed appropriately must be likened to the people who just go to church on Sunday and go through the motions without *really* preparing their hearts and souls to receive the word of God.

I’m definitely guilty at times of just “going through the motions” without really putting my heart into it.

So I’m led to believe that this is part of the message of the parable: that we need to do our best to prepare ourselves – to prepare our souls – to one day face the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and therefore *not* be reduced to silence in his awesome presence.

That’s part of why I wrote this simple meditative song, “We Are Yours” – that I’ve shared on this podcast before – to help center my heart and further prepare my soul for the banquet of the Lord.

“Open our eyes to see you. Open our hearts to your truth. We are yours.”

I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of The Modern Psalmist podcast for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary time, year A. Until next time, have a wonderful week, and may God bless you!