Hearing The Word

A weekly newsletter delivering context and insight into the Sunday Gospels.

October 11, 2026

Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Matthew 22:1-14

Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and 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 he 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. 

The king 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."



The Invitation We Don't Want



~Rev. Thomas Whittingham MA, MDiv, MA

Pastor, Saint Laurence Church + Upper Darby, PA

“Everything is ready; come to the feast.” The king’s invitation in Matthew’s parable could hardly be more generous. And yet the response of the invited guests is startling: “They refused to come” (Mt 22:3).

The Greek text, ouk ēthelon elthein, is even more revealing. In English this translates literally as “they did not want to come.” There is no secondary issue to blame here. It’s not that they could not come, that they didn’t understand the invitation, or were left off the guest list. The guests who were graciously invited guests did not want to come.

This distinction is key for understanding the parable. The king has prepared the wedding feast of his son. The guests are not being asked to provide the banquet or make themselves worthy of it – though they must adequately dress themselves before arriving. Everything has already been prepared. They are simply being invited to receive a gift.

Nonetheless, they prefer other things. One goes to his farm, another to his business, and others simply disregard the invitation. The tragedy is not that they choose something evil. Farms and businesses are good and necessary. The tragedy is that legitimate responsibilities or ordinary concerns are placed ahead of the king’s time sensitive invitation.

The parable thus reveals something profound about the human heart. We can reject God's invitation without ever explicitly saying “no” to God. We can simply become so occupied with other things that we no longer desire what he offers. The danger is not always outright hostility toward God. Sometimes it is merely indifference.

We find the heart of the parable in the terse description they did not want to come. The Gospel makes abundantly clear that we have been invited. The challenge is our RSVP. Do we truly desire to accept the invitation?

Recieving and Responding to God's Invitation

~Dennis Mueller

Saint Albert the Great Church + Huntingdon Valley, PA



When I hear this parable, my first instinct is to distance myself from the chief priests and elders. These were His antagonists and I don’t see myself that way. Yet, if I’m honest with myself, every time I abuse my freedom and choose sin, I oppose Christ, and reject His invitation. I turn away from the identity He gave me and the promises I made as His disciple. 

Still, I know that God’s desire is always to love and to save. God loved me into existence. He created me for relationship with Him that begins now and stretches into eternity. This invitation is freely given, and it must be freely received. I can’t muscle my way into heaven, and God will never drag me there against my will. God’s love, heaven, and salvation are all gifts. 

But these gifts require a response and Jesus states in this parable that my response involves two things: accepting the invitation and putting on the wedding garment. That invitation is to love and be loved and the garment is Christ himself. 

In baptism, I was provided with that garment when I was clothed in Christ. St. Paul urges me to “put on the mind of Christ” and be “conformed to his image.” Christ alone saves and by cooperating with His grace, His own divine life within us, I am equipped to hold fast to the salvation He has won for me. Yet, there are moments when I set aside that garment for far less flattering attire. 

I need to be reminded that God’s invitation is not a one‑time moment but is offered daily. Every morning, Christ hands me the wedding garment again and asks me to step into the life He has prepared for me, and even when I set it aside, He never withdraws the invitation or tires of calling me deeper. Heaven awaits and Christ Himself is the garment that makes me worthy to enter. My hope and prayer is that I keep choosing Him, keep returning to Him, and keep allowing His love to shape me into the person He created me to become. In the end, the only thing I truly bring to the banquet is my willingness to be loved and transformed.