“Come to the feast.” (Mt 22,4) The Christian life is a fulfillment of all of God’s promises of life that are realized in the kingdom of heaven, inaugurated by Jesus through his life and ministry on earth. God has called us to eternal life and to a share in his divine life and nature that begins here on earth with our baptism and is fully realized when we finally enter into the Father’s house in heaven. The Father is inviting us in our life here on earth to a “newness of life” (Rom 6,4) in Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, that is characterized by an abundance of joy. The Father has meticulously planned and prepared a new life of joy and celebration for all of his beloved children that far exceeds anything we could ever imagine or hope for. “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him,” this God has revealed to us through the Spirit.” (1Cor 2,9)

God has promised, through the prophet Isaiah, that he will provide for all peoples a beautiful feast of rich foods and choice wines and that he will: destroy death forever; wipe away the tears from every face; and remove the reproach of his people. (Is 25,6-10) God transforms life from the sorrows of suffering and death to a celebration of eternal joy and fulfillment. St. Paul assures us in his letter to the Philippians: “My God will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4,19) This is not just a promise for some future hoped for life in another world to come but it is an invitation now to come and eat, come and drink, come and have life in abundance. Jesus promises us: “For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him…so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.” (Jn 6,55f) God is calling us to life. The invitation has been written in the Incarnate Word, Jesus, who calls us to a life of joy and peace. Jesus is our peace; he is our joy, he is life in abundance. The invitation of the Father is to the wedding feast of his Son, wedded in sacrament to his Bride, the Church. Surprisingly, we are not only the invited guests but we are also the Bride of Christ. The love of the Spirit has been poured into our hearts and we are eternally bound to Christ in that love. “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.” (Jn 15,9) If we remain in Christ Jesus and find our rest in him, he will remain in us and we will have everything we need for life. Who would not leap for joy at an invitation so alluring?

The shocking turn in the Parable of the Wedding Feast is that those who are invited refuse the invitation of the Father King. “Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business.” (Mt 22,5) Those who were invited were too caught up in their own affairs to come to the feast that the Father had prepared. Each person invited preferred their own way to the way of the Father. “Two evils have my people done: they have forsaken me, the source of living waters; they have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water.” (Jer 2,13) We hold fast to our own lives that we have planned and fashioned and that are like broken cisterns that will not sustain life. We refuse God’s grace in preference to our own feeble efforts at self-righteousness. “You search the scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do not want to come to me to have life.” (Jn 5,38-40) Jesus warns us, “without me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15,5) We sadly prefer our own nothingness to the eternal fulfillment of joy in Christ Jesus. Pope Benedict at his inauguration counseled us, “If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us? Are we not perhaps afraid to give up something significant, something unique, something that makes life so beautiful? Do we not then risk ending up diminished and deprived of our freedom? . . . No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed…Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything.” We are invited to put on Christ, our wedding garment, and take our place at the banquet table of love. “You have taken off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator.” (Col 3,10)

Every week we are invited to “Come to the feast!” and yet, so many refuse the Father-King’s invitation and go about their own affairs on the Lord’s Day. Why are our churches becoming increasingly empty? Only a small percentage of those who are called and invited in baptism actually come to the banquet table of the Lord to take their rest in him and receive the joyful gift of eternal life offered. What more are you waiting for? Junk your broken cisterns and put on a new life in Christ Jesus.