The Wedding Banquet

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, maltreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

(Matthew 22:2-14)

Many are called, but few are chosen… Called are the ones that have inside certain capabilities. Chosen are the called that effectively transformed in deeds their capabilities.

The narration of this parable is almost identical to the other of the great supper in the Luke gospel (Luke 14:16-24), where those invited gave several excuses for not accepting the invitation to the supper. Therefore, we will only go through this one because the core teaching is the same.

The Kingdom of Heaven is waiting for the human spirits who are coming. All of them where invited by the Lord but the majority did not want to. “… but they would not come” They used their capacity to make resolution, the free will, and decided not to ascend to Paradise…

Despite the immense efforts undertaken by the Light, through dedication and the love of the envoys, which urged them to seek the spiritual kingdom where they could benefit from the eternal happiness (the wedding banquet), they decided not to go, moved by feeble motives, merely terrestrial. They where obsessively attached to terrestrial interests, impairing the spiritual. The prophets, king envoys, attempted to show human spirits once more the path leading to the desired destination i.e. the celestial banquet.

For this happening all was prepared in the spiritual kingdom – “I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready” – all ready but the guests where missing. Human beings declined the invitation, “But they made light of it and went away” and each one preferred his own interests “one to his farm, and another to his business.” This behavior shows that they where more interested in the terrestrial-material aspects of their existence than in the spiritual life. Due to the domination of the intellect over the spirit they considered it more reasonable taking care of these worldly matters than spiritual issues, seeking firstly to gather treasures on earth.

This wrong behavior is contrary to the Creator's Will and would just lead to disastrous consequences through the Law of Reciprocal Action. The amplitude of this guilt shows complete disregard to the Will of the Lord and can be properly measured by the tragedy which engulfed them after they turned themselves into murderers: “The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.” In other words all have fallen together with their false deeds and terrestrial treasures. Nobody can refuse the invitation otherwise a definitive exclusion to participate on the banquet will be imposed. Whoever acts against the Will of the Creator and gives in to the false construction made by man's hand has not any possibility to subsist eternally.

It lasts a certain time as per the universal gears motion that seems long under human chronology but in a sequence tumbles and buries the ones that helped edify that construction and others that, with confidence, found shelter inside it. This last sentence is difficult to understand and is not good English. I suggest you substitute the following: Man-made systems and constructions can only last for a certain time, which may seem long according to human reckoning; but they would eventually tumble and collapse and bury those who built them as well as those who shelter within them. This is true for wrong ways of life, economic doctrines, religious systems, political philosophies or regimes.

The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy“, said the King. This means that human beings, by their own guilt, could not become dignified enough to participate in the feast, showing themselves unworthy. All those who are indolent or indifferent shall be excluded from the Lord's Supper.

The King made clear that the invitation is for all human beings and a great majority did not show up to participate. Moreover, all who came without nuptial vests i.e. those without adequate wedding clothes where thrown away to the darkness. This passage shows that the admission to the feast is only for those that took care and maintained their spiritual garment, their souls, impeccable. Only these will some day be able to enter in the heavenly kingdom, where their names will be recorded in the Book of Life. The Lord says in Apocalypse: “the victor will be dressed in white clothes, and I will never erase his name from the book of life“. (Revelation 3:5). The indifferent persons, whose garments are not appropriate, will be spewed out as happens literally through the work of the Light: “They are thrust from light into darkness, and driven out of the world” (Job 18:18). These ones, who bear heavy and filthy vests, will be automatically separated from the others by the working of the Law of Spiritual Gravity which make them sink into the depths of darkness where they belong and “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

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