Rev. Fr. (Dr.) Osmond Anike

Readings:

First Reading: Isaiah 25:6-10 – The Lord will prepare a banquet for every nation.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 22(23) – In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell for ever and ever.

Second Reading:Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20 – With the help of One who gives me strength, there is nothing I cannot master.

Gospel:Matthew 22:1-14 – Invite everyone you can to the wedding.

Have you ever prepared a feast for expected guests who finally failed to show up for the feast? If you have ever done that, you might recall that the feeling you had was not a very pleasant one. In my native culture – the Igbo culture of Nigerian – food is much more than just the nutrients with which to nourish the body. One’s food is metaphysically linked with that person in such a way that to accept a person’s food is to accept that person and to reject a person’s food is to reject that person entirely. It is no coincidence that, in the traditional culture, when a wife offends her husband, the harshest punishment the husband can give to her is to reject her prepared food (I am talking about a culture where, in the not too distant past, cooking of food was generally regarded as the duty of wife, while the husband has the duty of providing that food). A woman would generally prefer to be given other punishments than her food being rejected. A rejection of her food would mean a total rejection of her. This is why, in conflict resolution, the last stage of reconciliation is the exchange of food between two warring parties. This often comes in the form of each party bringing food and, either they are mixed together for all to eat, or, each eats from the plate of the other party. With this ritual eating, the reconciliation is sealed.

In villages and towns, the greatest measure of acceptability lies in the number of people that responds to one’s invitation for a feast or a celebration. If one is accepted in the society, people will flock to that person’s compound for the feast. It does not matter whether the person is poor. Those honouring the invitation are not going because they are hungry; they are going because this person is considered a good person in the society. If the person is not accepted in the society as a good person, people will not turn up for the person’s feast no matter how tantalizing the dishes are.

From this perspective, one can appreciate the king’s desperation in the Gospel to fill up the wedding hall with people whether they were initially invited or not. However, the parable is not about the desperate king; it is rather about the murderous invitees who, not content with rejecting the invitation, vented their anger on the messengers and consequently killed them. This was a clear case of misplaced aggression. Even in war situations, war emissaries (messengers) are not killed. Their duty is to deliver a message and go. Nevertheless, to a person who is determined to be unhappy, a simple smile is interpreted as a scorn; a cheerful waving of hand is interpreted as a threatening gesture.

Brothers and sisters, in the parable of today’s Gospel, God is the king who invites us to a feast. But we always have excuses to dodge God’s invitation to partake of his banquet. We have seen, from our little analysis of Igbo culture, that to reject one’s food is to reject that person entirely. How then do we claim that we are God’s people when we have constantly rejected God’s food? The reasons we are giving are not cogent enough. In the real Igbo tradition, if a person goes to another’s house and meets the person at table, even if the visitor is not hungry, to show the host that you have not rejected him/her, that visitor must at least have a little taste of the food and thereafter explain to his host that he/she is not hungry. That little gesture says: I am part of you. I totally accept you by accepting your food. It is not the quantity I have eaten that matters, but the fact that I have partaken of your food.

Isaiah pointed out in the first reading that God has prepared for all peoples a banquet of rich food “on this mountain” and calls on us to come and eat. The Holy Communion is that food. Not to answer the call means a rejection of God. Curiously, there are “innocent” ways by which we reject the call; and the Gospel pointed out two of those ways: The first is represented by the group that neglected the invitation and went to the market place. This group can be likened to those who prefer the so-called “fellowship” where people gather to “shout” the word of God. As Catholics, they have been caught up in the tendency of skipping masses where they can receive the body and blood of Christ in favour of going to fellowship. Such people easily tell you (and rightly too) that God’s word is life. But they totally forget that “his body is real food and his blood is real drink”; and that “unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you shall not have life within you”. The second group are those who went to their farms. These are the people who exclusively focus on works of charity as a substitute for the Sunday obligation. We should, and must, do works of charity. This is our sacred obligation as Christians. However, it should not hoodwink us into believing that as long as we do such work, it excuses us from having a personal and intimate relationship with Christ through the sacrament of the Eucharist. We must strike a balance between fellowship, works of charity and our Sunday obligation.

The other thing worth pointing out from the Gospel narrative is that it is not just enough to answer the call for God’s feast; we must wear our “wedding garments”. In other words, we must prepare ourselves adequately to receive the Holy Eucharist. The one who failed to wear his wedding garment in the Gospel episode was thrown into the dark, “where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth”. The invitation is given to us free of charge. But it is expected that we be prepared at all times for the feast.

Finally, St. Paul emphasized in the second reading the importance of “knowing how to be rich and knowing how to be poor”. In other words, our present affluence should not becloud the possibility that one day, our situation might reverse. Some have never learnt how to be poor; and that is why they cannot withstand the slightest of suffering and hardship. We started with an analysis of the significance of food in Igbo culture. Perhaps it is good to end by citing an Igbo adage about the guinea fowl who counsels its chicks that when they are out foraging for food, if they eat yam tubers (the favourite food of the guinea fowl), they should also eat ordinary roots so that by the time the owner of the yam harvests his yam, they would have accustomed themselves to eating ordinary roots, and therefore would not totally go hungry.