Isaiah 25:6-10 / Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20 / Matthew 22:1-14
We may think that life would be so nice if we can just do whatever we want.
We like to have our freedom, and not to be restricted by duties and responsibilities.
So, we may think that being free from all obligations, we would be worry-free and trouble-free.
Yes, we like to be absolutely free to live the way we want to live. We would like to laze around and snooze in bed and get up as and when we want.
But would we be really happy with that kind of life?
What are we saying about ourselves when we don't want to care about anything and anyone other than ourselves?
What are we saying when we don't want any duties and responsibilities, and don't want to keep obligations and commitments.
In the gospel parable, it was a king who gave a feast for his son's wedding. He sent his servants to call those who had been invited.
For whatever reason, the invited guests did not want to come. It seems like they were not interested, and they even treated the king's servants with hostility and violence.
The king got furious and dispatched his troops, destroyed those murderers and burnt their town. It was such a sad and tragic end for those invited guests.
If only they had given due respect to the king. After all it was a king who invited them.
We may think that the parable is rather absurd, but absurdity often reveals a reality.
The reality is that when respect is not given, then the consequence will be tension.
For invited guests in the gospel parable, the consequence was punishment.
Even we might say that the invited guests behaved in a ridiculous and unacceptable way, and so, they deserved to be punished.
The invited guests did whatever they wanted, and they paid heavily and tragically for that.
In life, we just cannot do whatever we like and think that it is our freedom of choice.
True freedom comes with duties and responsibilities, as well as obligations and commitments.
In our freedom of choice, we ought to choose to live a respectable and disciplined life.
We need to know what we must do and what we should not do.
And God has already told us what we must do and what we should not do.
The Ten Commandments spells out clearly our obedience to God and respect for others.
So, we revere God for being our Creator and obey Him as our loving Father.
We pledge obedience and honour our parents. We respect others, for where respect is given, respect is also earned.
When we live our lives according to God's laws and Commandments, we will have true freedom in life.
And Jesus will bring us to our seats at the heavenly banquet where we will rejoice freely forever.