28th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2026
The Tragedy of the Refused Invitation
My friends, have you ever prepared a grand dinner party? buying the finest wine, setting the best table, spending hours in the kitchen, only to realize that your friends invited for the dinner failed to show up, offering no real reason and not even a word of apology. How would you feel? insulted? heartbroken? or rejected?
In our First Reading from the Prophet Isaiah, Almighty God paints a vision of human destiny: a mountain feast of rich food, well-aged wine, the tearing away of the veil of sorrow, and the final destruction of death itself. The Lord does not offer us a mere stoic endurance of life; He offers us a feast; a gracious answer to human hunger. Man starves himself on earth, trying to satisfy an infinite hunger with the finite things (wealth, pleasure, vanity). All these gives satisfaction that still leaves us emptier immediately we get hold of them. WHY? because the soul was not meant for them, it was meant for the bigger harvest. That is why God calls us up to the Holy mountain, where he is not just offering us a feast, but His very self. Same way, he is offering us himself today in the blessed Eucharist.
Yet, when we turn to the Gospel of Matthew, we witnessed another clarion invitation by a King, who has prepared a weeding feast for his son; and sent his servants to call those invited for the feast. And what is the response of modern man? "They paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business." That is the strange, terrifying mystery of HUMAN FREE WILL. The King is God, and the Son is Jesus Christ; God prepares the ultimate wedding feast for His Son.
Notice, my friends: those who turned down the King did not go off to commit monstrous crimes. They went to their farms! They went to their businesses! They exchanged the eternal for the ordinary, the Divine Host for the daily hustle.
How many Christians today do precisely the same thing? God offers us the divine banquet of the Holy Mass, where the veil between heaven and earth is torn open, where Christ feeds us with His very Body and Blood, and we say, "I am too busy with my ledger, my phone, my errands, my lawn." Is it not obvious that we prefer our small, fragile, temporary kingdoms to the eternal Kingdom of God.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? The king opened the doors to the crossroads, inviting both bad and good to fill the hall? Later, He enters and finds a man without a wedding garment.
What is this wedding garment? In the ancient world, a king who invited guests would provide the robes himself. The garment is sanctifying grace; the outer expression of an inner transformation. The man in the Gospel was cast out not because he was poor or unworthy when he entered, but because he was indifferent. He wanted the King’s table, but he refused the King’s robe. He wanted the privileges of salvation without the personal conversion required to wear it. He wanted God on his own terms.
Practical Application for Our Daily Lives:
It is very important for us to examine our Priorities Ask yourself today, what farm, what business, what distraction am I placing above God's call or invitation? When the bell tolls for Sunday Mass or daily prayer, do you offer God your excuses or your presence?
Secondly, put on your own Garment; the garment of Grace: You cannot enter heaven dressed in the filthy rags of unrepentant sin or lukewarm apathy. Go to Sacramental Confession. Let God wash away the stains of the world and clothe you anew in His Garment of mercy and charity.
Thirdly, Live the Power of Philippians: Stop measuring your peace by your bank account or your physical comfort. Like Paul, learn the secret of contentment in all things by relying entirely on the grace of Jesus Christ to strengthen you through every trial.
God does not force His love upon us. The banquet is spread, the divine wine is poured, and the invitation is extended. Do not let the trivialities of this passing world keep you from the glory of the next. Put on Christ, accept the invitation, and come to the feast.
May God bless you and keep you in his Love, Amen
Fr. Emmanuel Igwe, HFFBY