Matthew
22:1-14
1 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables,
saying: 2 "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a
wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his slaves to call those who had been
invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other
slaves, saying, "Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared
my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is
ready; come to the wedding banquet.' 5 But they made light of it and went away,
one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his slaves,
mistreated them, and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his troops,
destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his slaves,
"The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore
into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.' 10
Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both
good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 "But when the
king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a
wedding robe, 12 and he said to him, "Friend, how did you get in here
without a wedding robe?' And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the
attendants, "Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer
darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 14 For many are
called, but few are chosen."
"Friend, how did you get in here
without a wedding robe?' And he was speechless
· How are we to dress for a wedding? I imagine our best clothes for
a formal setting or maybe somewhat-less-than-best for a wedding in a barnyard.
(I’ve seen both.) It really does depend on the setting. One classic wedding I
was involved in saw the groom’s male family members - who had travelled from
Scotland – attended the service in full kilt, hose, and doublet. One
less-than-classic one consisted of the groomsmen decked out in the jerseys of
their favourite NFL teams. (I remember saying to myself “It’s not my wedding.”)
· So much for wedding clothing… except that it is important in
understanding the Gospel chosen for today. The wedding robes, the garment that
one guest missed or refused and so got thrown out, were provided by the host.
Each guest did not necessarily bring their own. To refuse to wear the robe
provided would be a grave insult to the host, who in this case is a king.
· So commentators find this parable almost unacceptable. The
violence involved in punishing those who do not answer the invitation, the
violence done to the slaves of the king who go out to remind the invited to
come to the wedding banquet, even the violence done to the man without the
wedding robe are all rejected as being against an understanding of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ.
· Even taking this into account, I, for one, have to say “It’s a
parable; it’s a story.”
· The basic teaching in the parable shows that the kingdom is open
to those who were found unacceptable and rejected in the mind of the hearers.
Those invited could come to the wedding, but chose not to, and in the story,
backed their choice with violence. All their excuses were options, not
requirements. They laugh it off and go about their business or they abuse the
messengers. In return for their stubbornness, they received violence.
· The crowds “from the streets” – both good and bad - take the place
of those invited first. (Maybe some had shown up; who knows?) They receive
their robes and take their new-assigned places at the banquet. The one hapless
fellow has no robe; nor does he have an excuse: "Friend, how did you get
in here without a wedding robe?' And he was speechless. The man
finds himself blackjacked, trussed up like a Christmas turkey, and tossed into
the dumpster in the alley out back. (I’m taking liberties here, but this sounds
about right.)
· The parable implies that he refused or avoided the robe, not that
he missed it. His action was deliberate and insulting. Could we say that he
refused to be clothed in grace?
· Maybe. To support this, we could cite Romans 12:14: Instead,
put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify
its desires. Or Colossians 3:12 As God’s chosen ones, holy and
beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and
patience.
· It comes down to a simple question: If we think we are among the
unworthy who were gathered into the banquet at the king’s invitation, what do
we do after the invitation?
· Are we to come to the banquet as we are? Yes, just as the hymn
says “Just as I am- without one plea,/
but that Thy blood was shed for me” There is a catch to this: Putting on
the wedding robe changes the one wearing it. The man who refused to take the
wedding robe stood outside grace and could be seen as depending on his own
righteousness, to use Christian terms here. To take the wedding robe, he would
become someone else, since in the ancient world, you were what you wore. A
person’s status, place, nation, religion, and even political allegiance could
be seen in what they wore.
· The clothing I wear to celebrate this worship of God is an example.
The basic garment, the white one, reminds us of the baptismal robe of the
ancient Church that finds it modern echo in the white garment on the child or
the one given to the child at baptism. It is not a priestly vestment, but a
simple robe that is a reminder of our baptism.
· This parable not only proclaims grace to all those who need to
hear it – which is everybody, it declares that we should be what we are called
to be. In putting on the Lord Jesus, we cannot remain the same; we will become
filled with the same compassion, love, and dedication to the kingdom that he
has and that he showed in his life on earth. We are to become “little Christs”
to one another and to the entire world. In that the entire world can see who we
are and what we are about. The very life of Christ, within all of us, will not
leave anything the way it was… not even us.
· And thanks be to God for that.
"Friend, how did you get in here
without a wedding robe?' And he was speechless
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