Outcast

Sometimes things don't go as planned, and you need to make adjustments.

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." - Matthew 22:8-9

In today's Gospel reading, we have the parable of the unattended wedding banquet. 

Imagine finding yourself in this position, having thrown a party for your son and have no one show up.  It is a parable.  It is presented to make us think, rather than to pose a real life situation, though it does make us think of the coming of Christ and his rejection by the establishment.

Rejection is something we can all relate to, I'm sure, and for most of us, it is not fun.

Sure, we can say that it doesn't matter, that we prefer to be different and being different can lead to being rejected, but who really wants to be an outcast?

Ironically, in the parable, the one who comes to the banquet and shows no respect for the son or the king is the one who is cast out, rejected by all.

So, the beauty of this story is the way it turns outcasts into the accepted and the accepted into outcasts.

If God favors the ones who are abandoned and treated poorly, where does that leave us?

Perhaps He is telling us we need to change our associations, to seek not to be included, but to include.

It is something to think about during this Advent, as we await the coming of the infant Jesus.  Are we welcoming the stranger and treating him like family, or are we being selective?

More to come...