28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 22:1-14
My friend, how is it that you came in
here without a wedding garment?
The Savior
invites all people to the wedding feast of the Lamb, the eternal banquet of
heaven. Yet, though salvation is offered to each, yet only few accept the gift
and come to the wedding. However, what is most striking about this Sunday’s
parable isn’t only that many who are called refuse to be saved, but that even
this one who had come was cast out into the darkness.
What is the
symbolic meaning of the wedding garment which the man lacked? What is our
Savior teaching us about the judgment?
Overview of the parable
In this Sunday’s
Gospel, our Lord gives us a parable about the kingdom: The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast
for his son.
The first
portion of the parable is divided into two parts: The ingratitude of the Jews, He dispatched his servants to summon the
invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come; and the opening of
salvation to the gentiles, The feast is
ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore,
into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.
After the hall
has been filled with the newly invited guests, the king came in to meet the guests. However, one guest was not dressed in a wedding garment, who was reduced to silence and then bound
hand and foot and cast into the darkness
outside.
We consider who
this man is who is cast out from the wedding feast.
A parable of the final judgment
But when the king came in to meet the
guests…
While the first
portion of the parable emphasizes that fact that salvation is indeed offered to
all people bad and good alike, the
latter scene describes the day of judgment when each will receive the proper
reward of his labors.
When the king
comes into the wedding feast to greet the guests, we are meant to recognize our
Savior coming on the day of his judgment. Fr. Cornelius a’ Lapide speaks well, “When the king came in, that he might
survey and examine them. This shall take place when God shall come to the
general judgment at the end of the world, to judge, and reward or punish all mankind.”
This follows the interpretation of Origen and many others.
Recognizing that
this scene is a representation of the judgment, we can quickly discern what
this man is lacking who had no wedding garment.
Who will be judged on the last day
In his
Commentary on the Letter of St. Paul to the Hebrews, St. Thomas (on the
authority of St. Gregory the Great) states the following concerning the last
judgment: “There are four orders in the judgment: some will not be judged, but
will judge and be saved, namely, the Apostles and apostolic men; others will be
judged and be saved, as the moderately good; still others will be judged and be
damned, as wicked believers; finally, some will not be judged, but will be
damned, as all unbelievers.” [On Hebrews 10:31, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.]
There are four
classes of men on the day of judgment:
1. Those who will not be judged and
will be saved.
2. Those who will be judged and will
be saved.
3. Those who will be judged and will
not be saved.
4. Those who will not be judged and
will not be saved.
When we consider
this parable carefully, we will see each of these classes of men.
Preliminary note about the final judgment
and the particular judgment
We admit that
those who die before the final judgment will have already receive the
pronouncement of their eternity in the particular judgment at the moment of
their death. The damned in hell and the blessed in heaven will nevertheless
also undergo a general judgment in which the particular judgment is made
manifest to all.
The judgment
given by God at the moment of death certainly cannot change or be altered, yet
the general judgment is necessary as extending the authority of God throughout
all history. If in the particular judgment God reveals his sovereignty over each
individual, in the general judgment this power is revealed as triumphing over
all the injustices which occurred throughout the course of human history.
Not judged, and saved
Those who will
not be judged but will be saved are represented by the servants in the parable of the wedding feast. They go out and call
all men to salvation, they are the apostles and other great saints who are so
clearly united to the king that there is no need to discuss their merits or
demerits.
So excellent and
holy, these greatest saints will simply be saved without any judgment of their
actions, for there is no need to weigh merit and demerit with such as these.
Judged, and saved
Those who will
be judged and will be saved are the guests
who have come to the wedding feast. Upon the king’s arrival, they are found to
be properly clothed and are welcome to remain at the feast.
These men and
women have died in the state of grace and, upon the inspection of the king, are
found worthy.
Not judged, and not saved
There are also
those of the fourth class, who are not judged but are simply damned straight
away. These are those who have no meritorious works as never having possessed
the gift of faith. Without faith, man cannot please God – without sanctifying grace, no work can be of any value for eternal salvation.
These are those
who refused to believe but, hardened in their perfidity, refused to come to the wedding feast. These ones are not judged by
the king, but rather the king was enraged
and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
These ones are simply damned without any judgment, and this is made manifest on
the last day.
Judged, and not saved –
without a wedding garment
And now we can
see whom this man without a wedding garment represents: Those who are judged,
but who are damned. These are those who
do have faith and who therefore are united to the Church (either visibly or, at
least, invisibly), but who lack charity which gives life to the soul.
The man without
a wedding garment is the believer who is in the state of mortal sin, lacking
charity and good works – this is the teaching of Sts Jerome, Hilary, Gregory, and
Augustine, as well as Tertullian. Such is the man who has faith, but no works;
present at the wedding feast, he is yet found wanting and will be rejected by
the king.
Many are called but few are chosen
Thus, we are
encouraged to preserver in virtue and to accomplish good works. Ultimately, it
is most necessary that we should die in the state of grace with charity in our
soul. Indeed, even if a man were to have worn his wedding garment for most of
his life, if he were to throw it away for some cheap momentary pleasure and to
be found naked when the king should return!
O how sad a thought!
To be found without charity’s garment and cast into the darkness of hell! To
have traded heaven away so lightly!
And yet, the one
act which will assure us of being among the few
who are chosen is open to all! It
is to pray! Prayer assures us of salvation! If only we pray daily for the grace
to persevere to the end, and if we pray also during moments of temptation, we
shall surely be saved.
7 comments:
There is no invisible union to the Church. Only those who enter Her through gate of Baptism, and thus are washed in the laver of regeneration are united to Her, in Her and members of Her/Christ's mystical Body.
Marko, so you are rejecting the ancient tradition of baptism by desire then? That comment smacks of heresy.
If what i've said smacks of heresy then this smacks of heresy too: "Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed." Mystici Corporis Christi #22. Accusest thou Pope Pius XII of heresy?
Church has never taught BOD. She has always said that all those who die as pagans, jews or non-catholics will go to Hell(Florence), and She has always interpreted John 3,5 to be of literal meaning(Florence and Trent) and even anathematizes anyone who says that the sacrament of baptism is optional(Trent) which is very definition of BOD. Also She has always taught that nobody can be saved unless believing the Catholic faith(Florence). Church could never teach that one who doesn't even believe in Jesus can be saved. That is absurd and contrary to the Gospel and the Mission of the Church. Not even the Fathers taught BOD. Only two anybody can quote are st. Augustine and st. Ambrose, but even those two weren't consistent in themselves on the matter because in many places they speak that there is no mystery of regeneration or remission of sins without water, or that uninitiated aren't crowned. St. Gregory Nazianzen rejects BOD explicitly.
But let just go by syllogisms of dogmatic facts.
I. Submission to Pope.
1.it is necessary for salvation to submit to a Roman Pontiff (if it is not then Boniface VIII who said this is a heretic)
2.into submission to roman pontiff/Church one enters by gate of sacrament of baptism(Trent, Leo XIII in Nobilissima Gallorum Gens and even canon law)
3.Therefore, it is necessary for salvation to be baptized
II.Grace of Baptism
1.Grace of baptism is defined as remission of guilt of sins and temporal punishment due to sin(Florence and Trent) - this is being reborn in Christ, the grace of spiritual rebirth
2.BOD, according to all who advocate it, is not a sacrament, not equivalent to sacrament of Baptism and doesn't have the same effect and namely it confers only the remission of guilt of sin (first to say that were st. Thomas and st. Alphonsus Liguori and everybody else follows them) - therefore BOD doesn't make you reborn because it doesn't confer grace of baptism/spiritual rebirth
3.but Trent teaches that those who aren't reborn cannot be justified
4.therefore, BOD doesn't justify and consequently doesn't save anyone
III.Virtue of faith
1.Without faith it is impossible to please God
2.Theological virtue of supernatural faith which justifies is received in Baptism (along with hope and charity) and that is visible from the old rite of baptism where the catechumen says that he wants Church to give him the faith, the faith which gives him life eternal
3.therefore, it is necessary to be baptized to be saved
Marko,
You are falling into the heresy of Feeneyism. Baptism of desire is very ancient - when a catechumin dies before being baptized, he is saved through a baptism of desire.
And you're just assuming and accusing, and not answering the objections themselves.
There is no such thing as Feeneyism, and if you look at the data, fr. Feeney has never been condemned for any doctrinal reasons but because he didn't show up in Rome when summoned, i.e. disobedience, but he was disobedient to noone since nobody told him why he had to show up in Rome, which is his right. And Suprema haec sacra, i.e. protocol 122/49 isn't a document from the Holy Office since it is not published in AAS, but a document of two cardinals to archbishop Cushing of Boston (who btw. boasted about not converting anyone in his whole ministry) and thus has even lesser authority. Moreover, some saints did believe in bod, but reserved only for catechumens, but not for those in "invincible ignorance" - especially missionaries. If invincible ignorance actually saved people then it would be a disservice to them to preach the Gospel since it would make them culpable.
Marko, if you want to talk about assuming and accusing ... I will point out that you have taken one line from my article, remived it from all context, and then placed it in the midst of modern debate about "anonymous christians" etc.
Your comments truly have nothing to do with my article. You can look elswhere on my blog to find discussion of the three kinds of baptism.
I didn't accuse you of anything, nor assumed anything about you but i did tackle a line from your article. You say that people can be invisibly united to the Church, and i say that they can't and then we both expand on that - therefore my comments have to do with your article.
Post a Comment
When commenting, please leave a name or pseudonym at the end of your comment so as to facilitate communication and responses.
Comments must be approved by the moderator before being published.