(Luke 14:16-24) (30th Sunday after Pentecost)
Right now, we’re in sort of an Orthodox “time warp.” Yesterday was western Christmas; and, for us, today is the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers of Christ, who are always commemorated on the Sunday before the Sunday before the Nativity. Well, if nothing else, it means that the Feast of the Nativity is that much closer!
In the first reading today from the Gospel of St. Luke, we hear the parable of the Great Supper. This is St. Luke’s account of the Parable of the Marriage Feast, which is found in the Gospel according to St. Matthew; and which is read on the 14th Sunday after Pentecost, which was back on the fifth of September (new style). Why read the story again, sixteen weeks later?
The Fathers tell us that the marriage feast mentioned in St. Matthew’s account, and hinted at here, is the celebration of the union – the “marriage” – of the divinity of the Son of God with our human nature. That is, the Feast that has been prepared, to which all are invited, is the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ; which we celebrate on the Nativity, when God joined Himself to us. St. Athanasios wrote of this, “He became like us, in order that we might become like Him.” The Son of God took on our fallen human nature, restoring it to its former glory, and returning to it the potential for growing into the likeness of God, in Whose image we are all created. The Feast is to celebrate what God has done; and everyone is welcome to attend!
However, the feast is not “come as you are”; it is, in a way, a formal affair, and suitable attire is required. We don’t, we can’t, simply “drop in”; some advance preparation is required. Now, everything that is needed is provided for us by God; but until we choose to accept what He has given, and “put on” the garments provided, we cannot come to the Feast in the House of the Lord.
God does not expect us to come on our own merit, for we have none. He brings us into His house by His grace and mercy, and gives us opportunities for purifying ourselves, and to have communion with Him. There is, first of all, the purification of Holy Baptism, in which we are washed clean, and clothed in the wedding garment of the righteousness of Christ; as we sing at that service: “As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Alleluia!” Few of us, however, keep that garment clean; it becomes stained, and shabby, because we continue in our sinful ways. But we can be made clean once more through the Mystery of Repentance, confessing our sins, and committing ourselves to being transformed through the Orthodox way of life; and we can reach towards being worthy by prayer, and fasting, and giving, and struggling to practice the virtues, instead of yielding ourselves to the passions that beset us. This is how we “put on Christ” once more: by living the Orthodox way of life. And God meets us, above all in the Mystery of Holy Communion, which feeds us with a foretaste of the heavenly banquet of that great Feast, to strengthen and encourage us to seek, not earthly rewards, but to be admitted to the Feast.
Brothers and sisters: Let us not be like those who, invited to the feast, turned aside to earthly concerns, and lost their place at the banquet table thereby. Let us prepare ourselves for the great Feast to come, remembering as we do so the great act of God’s love for us in joining Himself to us. Let us honor the holy ancestors of Christ by seeking to follow the example of their righteous lives; praying, and fasting, giving alms, and struggling to be virtuous; to the glory of God, and the salvation of souls.
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