CCC Cross Reference:
Ez 36 64, 2811; Ez 36:25-28 715; Ez 36:25-27 1287; Ez 36:26-27 1432; Ez 36:26 368
Ps 51:12 298, 431; Ps 51:19 1428, 2100
Mt 22:1-14 546, 796
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Reading 1
Ez 36:23-28
Thus says the Lord:
I will prove the holiness of my great name,
profaned among the nations,
in whose midst you have profaned it.
Thus the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God,
when in their sight I prove my holiness through you.
For I will take you away from among the nations,
gather you from all the foreign lands,
and bring you back to your own land.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you
to cleanse you from all your impurities,
and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you,
taking from your bodies your stony hearts
and giving you natural hearts.
I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes,
careful to observe my decrees.
You shall live in the land I gave your ancestors;
you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19
R. (Ezekiel 36:25) I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners shall return to you.
R. I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R. I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.
Gospel
Mt 22:1-14
Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and the elders of the people in parables saying,
“The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who gave a wedding feast for his son.
He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast,
but they refused to come.
A second time he sent other servants, saying,
‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet,
my calves and fattened cattle are killed,
and everything is ready; come to the feast.”’
Some ignored the invitation and went away,
one to his farm, another to his business.
The rest laid hold of his servants,
mistreated them, and killed them.
The king was enraged and sent his troops,
destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
Then the king said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready,
but those who were invited were not worthy to come.
Go out, therefore, into the main roads
and invite to the feast whomever you find.’
The servants went out into the streets
and gathered all they found, bad and good alike,
and the hall was filled with guests.
But when the king came in to meet the guests
he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment.
He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it
that you came in here without a wedding garment?’
But he was reduced to silence.
Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet,
and cast him into the darkness outside,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’
Many are invited, but few are chosen.”
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
First reading Ezekiel 36:23-28
The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows: ‘I mean to display the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. And the nations will learn that I am the Lord–it is the Lord who speaks– when I display my holiness for your sake before their eyes. Then I am going to take you from among the nations and gather you together from all the foreign countries, and bring you home to your own land. I shall pour clean water over you and you will be cleansed; I shall cleanse you of all your defilement and all your idols. I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you; I shall remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh instead. I shall put my spirit in you, and make you keep my laws and sincerely respect my observances. You will live in the land which I gave your ancestors. You shall be my people and I will be your God.’
Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 50(51):12-15,18-19
I shall pour clean water over you and all your sins will be washed away.
A pure heart create for me, O God,
put a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
nor deprive me of your holy spirit.
I shall pour clean water over you and all your sins will be washed away.
Give me again the joy of your help;
with a spirit of fervour sustain me,
that I may teach transgressors your ways
and sinners may return to you.
I shall pour clean water over you and all your sins will be washed away.
For in sacrifice you take no delight,
burnt offering from me you would refuse,
my sacrifice, a contrite spirit.
A humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.
I shall pour clean water over you and all your sins will be washed away.
Gospel Matthew 22:1-14
Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people, ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a feast for his son’s wedding. He sent his servants to call those who had been invited, but they would not come. Next he sent some more servants. “Tell those who have been invited” he said “that I have my banquet all prepared, my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, everything is ready. Come to the wedding.” But they were not interested: one went off to his farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his servants, maltreated them and killed them. The king was furious. He despatched his troops, destroyed those murderers and burnt their town. Then he said to his servants, “The wedding is ready; but as those who were invited proved to be unworthy, go to the crossroads in the town and invite everyone you can find to the wedding.” So these servants went out on to the roads and collected together everyone they could find, bad and good alike; and the wedding hall was filled with guests. When the king came in to look at the guests he noticed one man who was not wearing a wedding garment, and said to him, “How did you get in here, my friend, without a wedding garment?” And the man was silent. Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.” For many are called, but few are chosen.’
Readings and Commentary from the Navarre Bible
20th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Ezekiel 36:23-28
Restoration; return from exile
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[23] And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them; and the nations will know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. [24] For I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land.
Inner renewal
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[25] I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. [26] A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. [27] And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. [28] You shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
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Commentary:
36:16-39:29. In this second last section of the book, the prophet uses a series of metaphors to paint the scene of a restored Israel. The oracles have an eschatological dimension to them, particularly the latter ones (38:1-39:29).
Overall, what we are given here is a song celebrating hope; nothing is impossible to the Lord: he is able to renew Israel (36:16-38), by giving her a new heart and a new spirit (v. 25); he can make the people come back to life (37:1-14); and the unity between this new people and their Lord will he almost like the way things were in Eden (37:15-28) -- so wonderful that it will astonish the nations (37:28). The final oracles (38:1-39:29) are a dramatic climax that convey an idea of the vicissitudes of the chosen people up to when their fortunes will be permanently restored. The empires seem to be those determining the course of events, but that is not the case: the Lord is always in control and, when the end comes, his victory will be so amazing that not only Israel but all other nations, too, will know that he truly is the Lord.
36:16-38. In these oracles, which continue the proclamation of Israel's restoration -purification, we can see the core of Ezekiel's teaching, namely, that the Lord, who is above all things, is the one who determines the election, punishment and restoration of his people. People have an obligation to accept the gifts that God offers; they must acknowledge that the Lord is sovereign and free, and render him due worship. This teaching can be seen in the announcement about restoration and a return to the promised land (vv. 16-24) and in the Lord's promise of inner renewal (vv. 25-38).
"They defiled it by their ways" (v. 17): the people's straying, their sins, defiled the promised land, the most precious of all the gifts God had given them. As Ezekiel explains it, their exile was a necessary punishment (v. 19), but it is also a condition for restoring to the land its lost honour.
"The holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations" (v. 22): when the pagan nations saw the Israelites being deported, they thought that the God of Israel had been defeated or, at least, that he had failed to protect his people. In this sense the exile caused the name of the Lord to be profaned among the nations. The return of the people to the promised land was a necessary part of their deliverance (v. 24), but it was also needed to vindicate the name of the Lord (v. 22). This "theology" of the Name of God carries over into the New Testament, where we find it as a petition in the Our Father (cf. Mt 6:9; Lk 11:2, and from there it becomes part of the whole Christian tradition. The Catechism of the Council of Trent has this to say about these verses of Ezekiel: "Many people judge the truth of religion and of its Author by the deeds and lives of Christians. Those who truly profess their faith and put it into practice in their lives carry out the most valuable apostolate, provoking in others the desire to glorify the name of the heavenly Father" (Roman Catechism, 4, 10, 9).
"You shall be clean[sed]" (v. 25): Ezekiel views the renewal of Israel from the perspective of divine worship -- sprinkling with water and other purification rites being a sign of inner change. This passage can be read as an announcement of the effects of Baptism: "Baptism, by the power of God, remits and pardons all sin – the original sin that we inherited from our first parents, and all our personal sins, no matter how grave and terrible they may seem to us, no matter how grave and terrible they were. This truth was foretold long ago by the prophet Ezekiel, through whom the Lord God spoke: I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses (Ezek 36:25)" (ibid., 2, 2, 42).
"A new heart" and "a new spirit" (v. 26): renewal affects a person's disposition (heart) and motivation (spirit). The Israelites will have a completely new life-force: as a result, their conduct will be perfect (v. 27), the Covenant will never again be broken (v. 28), and the land, also cleansed of defilement, will he abundant in the fruit it yields (v. 30).
God's patent initiative in repatriating and renewing Israel is a proof of his disinterested love for his people. Jesus makes this very clear, for example, in his discourse on the bread of life: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him" (Jn 6:44). "Our salvation flows from God's initiative of love for us, because 'he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins' (Jn 4:10)'' (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 620).
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From: Matthew 22:1-14
The Parable of the Marriage Feast
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[1] And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, [2] "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son, [3] and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast; but they would not come. [4] Again he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have made ready my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves are killed, and everything is ready; come to the marriage feast.' [5] But they made light of it and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, [6] while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. [7] The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. [8] Then he said to his servants, "The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. [9] Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find.' [10] And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.
[11] "But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment; [12] and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. [13] Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.' [14] For many are called, but few are chosen."
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Commentary:
1-14. In this parable Jesus reveals how intensely God the Father desires the salvation of all men--the banquet is the Kingdom of heaven --and the mysterious malice that lies in willingly rejecting the invitation to attend, a malice so vicious that it merits eternal punishment. No human arguments make any sense that go against God's call to conversion and acceptance of faith and its consequences.
The Fathers see in the first invitees the Jewish people: in salvation history God addresses himself first to the Israelites and then to all the Gentiles (Acts 13:46).
Indifference and hostility cause the Israelites to reject God's loving call and therefore to suffer condemnation. But the Gentiles also need to respond faithfully to the call they have received; otherwise they will suffer the fate of being cast "into outer darkness".
"The marriage", says St Gregory the Great ("In Evangelia Homiliae", 36) "is the wedding of Christ and his Church, and the garment is the virtue of charity: a person who goes into the feast without a wedding garment is someone who believes in the Church but does not have charity."
The wedding garment signifies the dispositions a person needs for entering the Kingdom of heaven. Even though he belongs to the Church, if he does not have these dispositions he will be condemned on the day when God judges all mankind. These dispositions essentially mean responding to grace.
13. The Second Vatican Council reminds us of the doctrine of the "last things", one aspect of which is covered in this verse. Referring to the eschatological dimension of the Church, the Council recalls our Lord's warning about being on the watch against the wiles of the devil, in order to resist in the evil day (cf. Eph 6:13). "Since we know neither the day nor the hour, we should follow the advice of the Lord and watch constantly so that, when the single course of our earthly life is completed (cf. Heb 9:27), we may merit to enter with him into the marriage feast and be numbered among the blessed (cf. Mt 25:31-46) and not, like the wicked and slothful servants (cf. Mt 25:26), be ordered to depart into the eternal fire (cf. Mt 25:41), into the outer darkness where "men will weep and gnash their teeth'" ("Lumen Gentium", 48).
14. These words in no way conflict with God's will that all should be saved (cf. 1 Tim 2:4). In his love for men, Christ patiently seeks the conversion of every single soul, going as far as to die on the cross (cf. Mt 23:37; Lk 15:4-7). St Paul teaches this when he says that Christ loved us and "gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Eph 5:2). Each of us can assert with the Apostle that Christ "loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal 2:20). However, God in his infinite wisdom respects man's freedom: man is free to reject grace (cf. Mt 7:13-14).
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
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