The third of the parables addressed to the chief priests and the elders is our Gospel today. Told in the context of a wedding feast given by a great King it’s a parable in three parts.

The first part is about God’s gracious invitation and its indifferent and sometimes violent refusal by those invited first (the religious and lay leaders).

Second part: God’s invitation having been rejected by the first to whom it was offered, is now offered to others - good and bad alike (the sinners).

Third part: the story of the guest without a wedding garment (one who accepts the invitation but does not change - a little like the son in the first parable who said, “Yes”, but didn’t go to the vineyard).

The wedding garment is a symbol of a converted life full of good deeds.

The sense of the last line of the Gospel: “Many are called but few are chosen”, is that all are called to salvation, but it is only had by those who accept the invitation and who change and yield good deeds.

There is no room for complacency.

All three Gospel parables of the last three Sundays are about conversion. Conversion is not just turning away from sin but a radical reorienting of one’s life (turning) towards God. Repentance is not so much being sorry for past sins as a total change of direction. Conversion is impossible for the self-righteous because they don’t believe they need it. Hardness of heart and the refusal to listen are two great biblical sins.

In the three parables, St Matthew is urging his community to seek after true righteousness which comes from conversion and repentance, which flows from allowing the vision of God to fill their eyes and hearts. The kingdom has been entrusted to them, they are to produce its fruit of good deeds through a life of continual turning towards God.

Hard hearts, blocked ears, blind eyes, refusing to change are the path to death.

We are those who choose Life.