28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (year A)

(Isaiah 25:6–10a)

6On this mountain the Lord of hosts will prepare for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of choice wines, of sumptuous dishes and refined wines.
7On this mountain he will remove the veil that covers the face of all peoples and the shroud that lies over all nations.
8He will swallow up death for ever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face; he will remove the disgrace of his people from the whole earth, for the Lord has spoken.
9And on that day it will be said: ‘Behold, this is our God; we have hoped that he would save us. This is the Lord in whom we have hoped; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation,
10for the hand of the Lord will rest upon this mountain.’ 

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Isaiah describes the messianic banquet. It is universal in scope, ‘for all nations’. The banquet is not for the children of Israel alone. The mountain referred to is Mount Zion. The scene is echoed by Our Lord Jesus Christ: ‘I tell you now that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, whilst the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’ (Mt 8:11–12).

Jesus broadens the horizons of his people’s limited faith. He invites them to look far, very far ahead. He asks them to see the peoples who, from the east and the west, from every direction, would come to the faith. Through this faith, many pagans would become part of the Kingdom of Heaven for all eternity. 

It was believed, in the Jewish mindset, that the coming of the Messiah would entail the subjugation of all peoples to the nation of Israel. All peoples would be subjugated by the Messiah, and Israel would be recognised in all its glory, in all its splendour… and this is still believed today. Jesus distances himself from this nationalistic mechanism of domination. Jesus has nothing to do with this idea; he will never ask the nations to submit to the religion of Israel. He will always say: you are invited to the banquet with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to sit at table with them.

There is a clear contrast between the peoples from every part of the earth (East and West)—that is, the peoples of the world—and the children of the kingdom, Israel; their fates will be diametrically opposed: the eschatological banquet in the Kingdom of Heaven for the former; expulsion from the Kingdom for the latter. Anyone who has faith is with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Anyone who lacks faith, even if they are a child of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is left out.

Furthermore, for a Jew, sitting at table with a Gentile meant becoming ritually defiled, but here Jesus imagines the patriarchs themselves sitting at table with the Gentiles as guests invited to the banquet. Worse still, by describing them as coming from the east and the west, he uses words which in the Old Testament refer to the gathering of Israel from all parts of the world. Believing Gentiles take the place of unbelieving Jews.

If Jesus’ listeners would have been horrified at the thought that a pagan was being presented as a model of faith, they received the second blow—the coup de grâce—with these words: the children of the kingdom will be cast out into the darkness. This was unthinkable. They used to say: ‘The kingdom is ours; it belongs to us by right because we are the heirs by birth.’ No descendant of Abraham could be lost. This is the mindset of a kingdom reserved for an exclusive and particular group of people.

The children of the kingdom will be cast out into the darkness because their faith is founded on the flesh. Their faith is not a faith that saves humanity; it is a faith that excludes humanity from salvation. Their faith is too meagre to be open to the great mystery of Christ. Their faith is more a mathematical calculation than an understanding of the mystery that God is about to reveal to his children. Their faith consists more of a tradition founded on human desires than on the will of God. Their faith is incapable of seeing God at work through the person of Jesus Christ.

When I consider myself superior to others, or deem myself more worthy than others of certain honours and privileges, I am no longer in harmony with God. Since I consider myself superior, I do not resemble God, who extends his love to all.

Banquets amongst the Jews were held in the evening in brightly lit halls; hence the messianic banquet is symbolised as taking place in the midst of the brightest light. Those who are excluded from it therefore find themselves in outer darkness. Darkness represents eternal perdition. The children of the kingdom who consider themselves superior are cast out into this place of darkness and punishment, and to indicate their anger, remorse, and sense of frustration and despair at having been cast out, Jesus adds ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth’.

To sit at the table of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the patriarchs of Israel, means to share in the election that God had reserved for his people at the foot of Mount Sinai. The happiness of the righteous is compared in Scripture to the delights of a feast, as our passage from Isaiah makes clear. There is no longer any distinction between Jews and non-Jews, between the chosen people and the Gentiles, but all form a single reality in Christ. Those who accept Jesus Christ are invited to share in the fullness of life that God offers to all who wish to accept the invitation, without any kind of prejudice or racial bias.

The way to belong to the kingdom is through faith. One does not belong to the kingdom by birth, by descent, by race, by tribe, by nation, or for any other earthly reason. One belongs to the kingdom through faith. This truth holds true always, until the end of time. 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation – an exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, in the mystery of the Trinity

Jesus’ prophetic discourse (Matthew 24–25)

All Generations Will Call Me Blessed

Catholics and Protestants Compared – In Defence of the Faith

The Church and Israel According to St Paul – Romans 9–11

(Available on Amazon)