There’s nothing I cannot master with the help of the one who gives me strength
Isaiah 25:6-10a
Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20
Matthew 22:1-14
“I can do all things in him who strengthens me.” If you forget everything else in today’s readings and take home at least this statement, you would still go away enriched. We gain the mastery of life if we come to a stage when we can say like Paul, that I can do everything with the help of the one who gives me strength. But then we need to know how to tap into the inexhaustible source of strength which is God. For this, we need to turn to Paul again. His statement comes as a conclusion to what Paul had stated earlier: “I know how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need.”
It is wisdom to learn how to be poor. People who have not learnt how to be poor grumble in their poverty. They look with jealousy and envy at those with plenty. They may be driven to stealing. But there are many people who are not very rich but who nonetheless live a contented and happy life. They are satisfied with little. They are grateful for small favors. These are people who have learnt the truth that the best things in life are free; that the greatest values are not material possessions but are often simple everyday experiences and relationships. They have learnt how to be poor.
It is equally great wisdom to learn how to live with abundance. One who knows how to be rich is not prey to the insatiable desire to get more and more. Such a person is sensitive to the needs of others. People who do not know how to be rich develop a sense of self-sufficiency and of not needing God. The people who rejected the invitation to the wedding feast in today’s gospel reading had not learnt how to be rich. Their wealth deprived them of a much greater gift than that which God was offering them.
That infinitely greater gift than all earthly gifts which God has to offer is eternal life. It is portrayed in a parable of a banquet in both the first reading and the gospel. Isaiah says in the first reading that: “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines.” In the gospel reading, we hear God almost pleading, sending his messengers to say: “Tell those invited: "Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast."
Of course, it is not to food and drinks that God is inviting us. Scripture uses images that we can readily understand in order to express reality outside of our experience. The parables in the first and gospel reading are trying to describe in material terms what the Psalmist in Psalm 84:10 says: “One day in your presence is better than a thousand elsewhere.” In conclusion, let us pray with the words of the gospel acclamation (Ephesians 1:17,18). “May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our mind, so that we can see what hope his call holds for us.” Amen.
