I was in attendance at yesterday’s 9:30 service as an out of town guest of my cousin. As a lifelong Catholic, I was very troubled by the sermon as it directly contradicted the accepted Catholic interpretation of this scripture passage. I can appreciate bringing one’s personal perspective, but in this case the homilist misrepresented the king, who represents God, The Father, with a false authority figure thereby completely undermining the gospel narrative.
Essentially, the unrobed guest is not an innocent victim unjustly called out by a tyrant leader; rather, he is an individual called by the grace of God to the eternal banquet and who does not respond to this grace to which he has been gifted. Below is a standard Catholic interpretation of this gospel passage.
MATT 22: 1 – 14 .meaning
Today’s Bible Verse of the Day Reflections
In this parable of the wedding feast, the banquet is the Kingdom of Heaven where there is God who is the King, the attendants are the righteous people who have prepared themselves to be in the presence of God and the man without the wedding garment symbolizes the sinners.
In the earlier verses, we see how Jesus explains how God sent his prophets to preach to the people of Israel but they were mistreated and killed. God got angry and burnt their towns and their cities.
God then decided to also invite to the Kingdom of Heaven all the other nations besides the people of Israel.
These other nations are, in this parable, the people on the main roads. These are the Christians who have heard about the Kingdom of Heaven.
Now, the main focus comes to this man without a wedding garment. What is the wedding garment? The wedding garment symbolizes the state of being prepared in our hearts to know, love, serve, praise, and glorify God all the days of our lives. It is being a repentant sinner who is ready to be in the holy presence of God.Read Bestsellers
On the last day, we will be assembled in front of God and He will pinpoint all those who are not prepared to be in His presence, those who have not repented of their sins, those who do not even know Him, or those who are just lukewarm Christians and throw them into the fiery Gehennah where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.
Let us, therefore, be always prepared for the last day when Jesus Christ the King will come to gather those of us who are worthy of His presence and join Him in the Kingdom of Heaven, while those who do not have the ‘wedding garment’ will be thrown into the fires of Hell.
_________________
The sermon furthermore took a troubling turn when the homilist drew an analogy between the King tyrant and The President of the United States by repeating a false narrative that has even been dispelled by left leaning commentators on CNN that the president was inviting an Iranian nuclear Attack on American cities. Spreading a false narrative as truth is unacceptable under any circumstances, but doing so from the pulpit preaching on the word of God is a very serious transgression.
My take away from yesterday’s homily was that the speaker was more concerned with preaching her own convictions and viewpoint that she was that of the Holy Catholic Church.
First I’d like to say thank you for visiting us this past Sunday and thank you for giving your feedback on Rev. Myra’s homily from this past Sunday.
I find it interesting you see it as “troubling” Rev. Myra chose to interpret the gospel in a new way you hadn’t heard before or different from the “accepted” Catholic interpretation. Here at Spiritus our priests and preachers are allowed to interpret the gospels as they see fit. There is no one single interpretation of the gospels and in particular the parables Jesus uses in his teachings. There are many ways and perspectives to look at all of these passages and different lessons that can be learned by looking at and interpreting them through a different lens. So I would encourage you to keep an open mind and an open heart to a new perspective on this passage.
I would ask why you are so troubled by the condemnation of statements made by the President and seemingly not troubled by the comments themselves. I believe it is the responsibility of those with a platform, especially from the pulpit, to hold those in power accountable to their words and actions. While you and others (including those commentators on CNN) may not have seen those words from Donald Trump as a threat, many others and particularly people who live in those cities did see it as an invitation by the President to attack them. I personally believe that whether he meant it as a threat or not it still is a completely inappropriate and dangerous statement for a US President to be making. So I would ask you to question why you would be troubled by a religious leader holding a political leader accountable to their words. I think this is an essential role of the church and very much in line with Jesus and many of the prophets and saints throughout history. Speaking truth to power is an integral role of the church.
Finally I would like to say here at Spiritus we are not beholden to the views and stances of the Roman Catholic Church. While we follow Catholic traditions we are not associated with Vatican and as such we are free to interpret the gospel in ways that may be different or contradict the Roman Catholic stances. I would encourage you to look at our core beliefs page here on the website to gain a better understanding of this community and what we stand for. I would also encourage you to join us again any time you are in Rochester or watch us live for any of our services.
2 Comments
Brian Fink
Good morning,
I was in attendance at yesterday’s 9:30 service as an out of town guest of my cousin. As a lifelong Catholic, I was very troubled by the sermon as it directly contradicted the accepted Catholic interpretation of this scripture passage. I can appreciate bringing one’s personal perspective, but in this case the homilist misrepresented the king, who represents God, The Father, with a false authority figure thereby completely undermining the gospel narrative.
Essentially, the unrobed guest is not an innocent victim unjustly called out by a tyrant leader; rather, he is an individual called by the grace of God to the eternal banquet and who does not respond to this grace to which he has been gifted. Below is a standard Catholic interpretation of this gospel passage.
MATT 22: 1 – 14 .meaning
Today’s Bible Verse of the Day Reflections
In this parable of the wedding feast, the banquet is the Kingdom of Heaven where there is God who is the King, the attendants are the righteous people who have prepared themselves to be in the presence of God and the man without the wedding garment symbolizes the sinners.
In the earlier verses, we see how Jesus explains how God sent his prophets to preach to the people of Israel but they were mistreated and killed. God got angry and burnt their towns and their cities.
God then decided to also invite to the Kingdom of Heaven all the other nations besides the people of Israel.
These other nations are, in this parable, the people on the main roads. These are the Christians who have heard about the Kingdom of Heaven.
Now, the main focus comes to this man without a wedding garment. What is the wedding garment? The wedding garment symbolizes the state of being prepared in our hearts to know, love, serve, praise, and glorify God all the days of our lives. It is being a repentant sinner who is ready to be in the holy presence of God.Read Bestsellers
On the last day, we will be assembled in front of God and He will pinpoint all those who are not prepared to be in His presence, those who have not repented of their sins, those who do not even know Him, or those who are just lukewarm Christians and throw them into the fiery Gehennah where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.
Let us, therefore, be always prepared for the last day when Jesus Christ the King will come to gather those of us who are worthy of His presence and join Him in the Kingdom of Heaven, while those who do not have the ‘wedding garment’ will be thrown into the fires of Hell.
_________________
The sermon furthermore took a troubling turn when the homilist drew an analogy between the King tyrant and The President of the United States by repeating a false narrative that has even been dispelled by left leaning commentators on CNN that the president was inviting an Iranian nuclear Attack on American cities. Spreading a false narrative as truth is unacceptable under any circumstances, but doing so from the pulpit preaching on the word of God is a very serious transgression.
My take away from yesterday’s homily was that the speaker was more concerned with preaching her own convictions and viewpoint that she was that of the Holy Catholic Church.
Aaron Lynch
Hey Brian,
First I’d like to say thank you for visiting us this past Sunday and thank you for giving your feedback on Rev. Myra’s homily from this past Sunday.
I find it interesting you see it as “troubling” Rev. Myra chose to interpret the gospel in a new way you hadn’t heard before or different from the “accepted” Catholic interpretation. Here at Spiritus our priests and preachers are allowed to interpret the gospels as they see fit. There is no one single interpretation of the gospels and in particular the parables Jesus uses in his teachings. There are many ways and perspectives to look at all of these passages and different lessons that can be learned by looking at and interpreting them through a different lens. So I would encourage you to keep an open mind and an open heart to a new perspective on this passage.
I would ask why you are so troubled by the condemnation of statements made by the President and seemingly not troubled by the comments themselves. I believe it is the responsibility of those with a platform, especially from the pulpit, to hold those in power accountable to their words and actions. While you and others (including those commentators on CNN) may not have seen those words from Donald Trump as a threat, many others and particularly people who live in those cities did see it as an invitation by the President to attack them. I personally believe that whether he meant it as a threat or not it still is a completely inappropriate and dangerous statement for a US President to be making. So I would ask you to question why you would be troubled by a religious leader holding a political leader accountable to their words. I think this is an essential role of the church and very much in line with Jesus and many of the prophets and saints throughout history. Speaking truth to power is an integral role of the church.
Finally I would like to say here at Spiritus we are not beholden to the views and stances of the Roman Catholic Church. While we follow Catholic traditions we are not associated with Vatican and as such we are free to interpret the gospel in ways that may be different or contradict the Roman Catholic stances. I would encourage you to look at our core beliefs page here on the website to gain a better understanding of this community and what we stand for. I would also encourage you to join us again any time you are in Rochester or watch us live for any of our services.