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In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today in the fourteenth week after Pentecost,
we have heard the famous parable of
those called to the wedding feast for the King's son.
In this parable, the Lord tells how a certain King
arranged a wedding feast on the occasion
of the marriage of his son and invited many guests
who were already previously called to the feast.
But they all began to refuse, under various pretexts.
Someone said, "I have to go to trade."
Someone said, " I have to go to my field."
And despite the fact that the King called several times,
they refused and, in the end, they were so angry
with these insistent invitations
that they insulted and killed the servants
whom the King sent to summon them to the marriage.
For this, the King, of course, severely punished
these guests who refused to come, those called,
and instead told his servants:
"Go and call everyone you can find
on the crossroads, on the roads."
They went, did it, and the entire feast
was filled with guests .
And the King came to see the guests,
and he saw a man who was not dressed in wedding clothes,
because in the ancient East
to the guests who came to the wedding,
a special, bright wedding garment was given.
And the King asked the man:
"Friend, how did you get here?"
This man replied nothing, and the King said to his servants,
"Take him and throw him into the outer darkness."
And the Lord ends this parable with the words:
"For many are called but few are chosen."
Of course, we know that the Lord spoke to the Jews.
And the Jews believed that they for sure
would sit down with the Messiah at a feast in His kingdom.
And the Lord said to them in this parable,
that they deceive themselves.
There will be many called,
that is, the Jews were many,
but those who accepted the Messiah,
and came in with Him to His feast,
those were few.
Because to many of the Jews, such a Messiah,
as our Lord Jesus Christ,
simply appeared not to be needed.
They were expecting something different,
that was why both Him and His messengers
they insulted and killed, like in this parable.
But we certainly understand that these days,
two thousand years later,
the Lord addresses with this parable,
when we hear it in the temple,
certainly not to the ancient Jews,
but to us, Christians, modern Christians
And unfortunately, the lessons of this parable
after two thousand years are not out of date.
The Lord in our lives constantly is calling us -
through our conscience, through circumstances,
through the Church.
The Lord is calling us - do we respond?
And if we respond, do we respond immediately
or do we need to be called many times?
And when we do respond, what exactly do we want?
On that do we agree? What do we wish?
These are all those questions we have to ask ourselves,
when we hear this parable.
Indeed, several recent Sunday Gospel readings
have been telling us that
one cannot be a Christian just formally.
That it is impossible to carry out some actions
in respect to God and become relaxed
because all is done,
and go back to one's old way of thinking.
One can, standing next to the Cross,
as the Apostle Peter, still be sinking .
One can, being at the Imperial feast of the Son of God
then appear anyway in the outer darkness.
He is very important to us,
the image of a guest who was not wearing wedding clothes.
Who is this man?
Well, so to speak, he is the man who came to eat.
Here the King invited him and all the guests --
"Come, get dressed in the wedding garment.
You can sit down with everybody
and eat with everybody my treats.
Don't be a stranger on the feast, be a righteous participant.
Taste the fullness of joy of the marriage of my son."
And this man, he was even too lazy
to get dressed in the wedding clothes.
And such an interesting point --
when the King approaches him and asks him:
"How did you get here?"- he replies nothing.
What does this mean?
Well, it means that in the front of God who is the Truth,
the man, who breaches His will,
has nothing to defend himself,
he can only remain silent.
And on the other hand,
it often happens that a person simply persists in his sin,
does not feel guilty.
That is, this man has realised, so to speak, that he was caught,
but felt none of his guilt.
This is a very important image for us,
because, unfortunately, this often happens,
even to modern Christians,
that a person comes to a temple,
It happens frequently that a person, for example,
the man, seemingly, responds to the call of God,
but comes not quite with the proper goal.
wants to get baptised,
but at the same time he is absolutely not interested
to know what faith is,
to find out find out what's going on in the Church.
A person can even get baptised,
but would not come to the Communion
That is, unfortunately, often the case that
people believe very sincerely
that the Church, Christianity - it is something
from which they can take a little bit
of what they like and then go back to their habitual life.
It could be though, if the person does it
out of ignorance and inexperience.
The man repeats, for example,
the words, he had heard somewhere, that
"God is in my soul, and I don't need the rest."
But also, this often happens with people
who do understand on some level at least
the truth of Christianity.
And these people refuse to hear the call of God.
They refuse to put on this wedding garment,
because they understand that
if one accepts an invitation from God,
he will have to part with much.
And life will be the not the same as it was before.
It will be difficult to sin.
It will be difficult, for example, to use foul language,
condemn or to do other obscene things.
Being a Christian does not just mean
to come to the Church and take something,
use something that the Church possesses.
Being a Christian means
to be willing to be united with God.
Christianity is the union with God, communion with God.
Christianity is this qualitative change in us.
It is a new quality of life,
a new quality of our view onto the world,
a new quality of our thinking,
it is a complete rebirth.
Christianity is the faith of total
spiritual, moral, and ethical rebirth.
And the wedding feast in question in this parable --
it is the Kingdom of God.
Wedding feast is the Holy Eucharist,
which we have just served.
These are, perhaps, the key lessons for us
in today's parable.
The Lord is calling us.
Calling us to the feast of His Son,
for the Holy Eucharist.
Do we respond?
Or, have we decided long ago
that we would partake once a year, or, for example,
at each fasting period, but not more often?
The Lord is calling us.
Are we refusing under various pretexts?
And if the Lord is calling us and we are responding --
again - what we are interested in at the Church?
Do we want the connection with God?
Are we willing to partake of His Kingdom
already in this life, and then, in the eternal life?
Do we come to the Church for the deification,
for the transfiguration of the soul?
Or do we come for some other things, even if pious?
Let the Lord help us to be always called and chosen.
That is to connect with Him
through all our life in the Church,
through the fulfilment of His commandments,
through the Mystery of the Holy Communion,
and to be with Him always,
and this indeed is the salvation.
Again, remember the words of the Holy Scripture:
Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."
Amen