Before the Rev. James Martin, S.J., set off for the Synod on Synodality currently underway at the Vatican, he shared some of his insights for preaching the message of the synod in parishes. “This idea of Jesus calling people from the outside in is very much something that the synod is doing,” he said. “I think it’s reminding people that these groups, whoever it is—refugees, migrants, the poor, disabled, divorced or remarried Catholics, women that might be disenchanted with the church, L.G.B.T.Q. people—that these are part of the body of Christ. And that these are people in whom the Holy Spirit is also active and alive.”
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Jim is a Jesuit priest and editor-at-large at America, and the author of multiple New York Times bestsellers. His latest book, Come Forth, just released by HarperOne, explores the miracle of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. This month he is taking part in the ongoing Synod on Synodality in Rome; we’re thrilled to welcome him on “Preach” as we focus on “Preaching for a more synodal church.”
Listen to Jim’s homily for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, on this week’s episode of “Preach.” After the break, Jim and host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., engage in a conversation about the synod, Jim’s new book, and his go-to homily resources.
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Jesus calling people from the outside is very much something that the synod is doing. If you look at some of the participants, they’re literally from all over the world.
Scripture Readings for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
First Reading: Is 25:6-10a
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6
Second Reading:Phil 4:12-14, 19-20
Gospel: Mt 22:1-14
You can find the full text of the readings here.
Homily for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, by James Martin, S.J.
Today’s Gospel is an example of what is often called a “difficult reading.” The first part of the Gospel seems to make sense: a king gives a banquet and invites people who end up being unwilling to come. In fact, some of the invited guests kill the king’s servants who invited them, which prompts the king to kill the prospective guests, and, for good measure, he burns down their houses. Not surprisingly, he invites other people, right off the street. Now, it’s all a bit bloodthirsty and you wonder who is going to go to a party given by a murderer, but it at least makes sense as a parable. It’s all about invitation.
Now, in Jesus’ time people might have thought of the Book of Proverbs, where readers are invited to the banquet of Lady Wisdom. A few decades later, the early Christians might have thought of the parable as representing the mixed reception that Jesus received during his public ministry or even the hostility faced by the early church. They might have seen the violence done to the king’s servants as paralleling the violence done to Jesus. (By the way, one way not to interpret this part of the parable is to somehow indict the Jewish people, then or today, for a non-reception of the message of Jesus.)
But it’s the second part of the parable that often leaves people scratching their heads. One of the guests, who was brought in from the street, is thrown out of the party for not wearing a wedding garment. Which raises the obvious question: How can you expect a guy who has been pulled off of the streets to be dressed for a wedding?
How can you expect a guy who has been pulled off of the streets to be dressed for a wedding?
This is where it helps to know a little biblical scholarship. Sometimes when people hear about using Bible commentaries or mention the historical-critical method, which looks at how the Gospels were edited, what kind of historical facts lie behind the stories and places where the different Gospel writers present the story in different ways, people fear that it means trying to water down the Gospels. But that’s not true. Good scholarship helps us understand the stories better and therefore understand Jesus better. In this case, many New Testament scholars believe that the two parts of this Gospel were originally two parables: one about the rejection of Jesus’ message and the other about preparedness. Or you could say that the second part is also about the fact that, as Dan Harrington, a New Testament scholar said, “mere invitation is not enough; an appropriate response is needed.”
When I think about the current Synod on Synodality I think about this reading. In the first part of the story, you have people invited to a wonderful event, who don’t bother to go, and even oppose it. How could you not want to go to something as joyful as a wedding feast? Likewise, the opposition to the Synod, small but loud, always surprises me. How could you not be in favor of a church gathering where voices from all over the world would be heard? How could you not want to support something so joyful, so welcoming, so much, as I see it, a work of the Spirit? The Synod is all about welcome, just like the wedding feast is. No wonder that the king is so angry.
The opposition to the Synod, small but loud, always surprises me. How could you not be in favor of a church gathering where voices from all over the world would be heard?
Likewise, when I think about the second part of the parable I’m reminded of the Synod as well. The church has been invited to participate in this gathering, by the Holy Father, but really by the Spirit. But it’s not enough to simply assent to it; rather it’s up to us to take it seriously, to help support it as we can, to pray for it, to do whatever work needs to be done, even if that work is the work of trust and patience.
I agree with the New Testament scholars that these two parables may not really fit together. But even if they were originally separate, Jesus’ message is clear and it relates not just to the Synod but life itself: Don’t take for granted a gift from the Holy Spirit, and once you’ve accepted that gift, treat it like the gift it is.
