The Marriage Feast in today's Gospel is an image of that eternal Kingdom of God, to which "many are called and few are chosen," prepared for those who love Him and abide by His commandments. According to this parable, the King (God the Father) "sent forth His servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding of His Son" (our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ): and they would not come. And indeed, "they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise." That is, they were so caught up in the affairs of this world that they failed to perceive those eternal good things God has in store for those endure unto the end the trials and tribulations of this earthly life for the sake of a better hope.
They were invited to the wedding--to enter into true and eternal life in God's heavenly Kingdom--yet they thoughtlessly spurned this gift, freely choosing instead to live their lives in bondage to the false and superficial goals and desires of this world. So it is that we ourselves are responsible for our ultimate destiny. We can either chose to accept God's gracious invitation to enter into the joy of eternal life and salvation, or we can willingly and voluntarily consign ourselves to a hell of our own making.
It is sure and certain that it is not God Who created hell, nor does He "send" us there as punishment for being "bad." When the King's servants were, in the end, sent forth into the highways, they "gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good." Nowhere in the Holy Scriptures is it said that we are saved because we are "good," for indeed: "God desires not the death of the sinner, but rather that the sinner should turn from his way and live." It is, rather, through sincere repentance and a fervent desire to live our lives in accordance with God's commandments that we are made worthy to receive within ourselves the transforming grace of the Holy Spirit, that by dying to the false promises of this world, we might be made worthy to inherit our true destiny as sons and daughters of God.
So who is to blame if we find ourselves in the end cast into that place of outer darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, because we would dare to enter the wedding feast without a wedding garment--that is, those virtues we are all called to acquire--above all, that humble and contrite heart which God does not despise? (According to Jewish custom, by the way, the wedding garment was provided for all guests as they entered, so there can be no excuse for not wearing it.) God is love, and so--if we truly desire in our hearts to be made worthy of His Kingdom, we must pray above all for humility, patience, the gift of love in our hearts--and all things needful for our eternal salvation in his heavenly Kingdom.
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