And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Matthew 22:1-14 (ESV)
Introduction
Our text starts in the middle of a conversation which starts in Matt. 21:23. The chief priests and the Pharisees confronted Jesus while he was teaching in the temple; they questioned the source of his authority.
We know how that worked out for the Pharisees, as their unbelief was exposed, even as their question went unanswered. Jesus, however, continued to speak to them in parables, of which there were three.
In the first, The Parable of the Two Sons (21:28-32), Jesus uses the illustration of the son who gave lip service (Isa. 29:13) to his father, but showed his disobedience by his actions, to expose the unbelief and unrepentant hearts of the Jewish leaders.
In the second, The Parable of the Tenants (21:33-43), Jesus uses the illustration of the tenants to expose the attitudes and intentions of the chief priests and Pharisees; the tenants eventually killed the Master’s son in an effort to take the inheritance for themselves – which is exactly what the chief priests and Pharisees were planning.
This parable, however, came with a warning, as Jesus told the Jewish leaders in no uncertain terms: “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.”
By the time Jesus was done with the first two parables, the chief priests and Pharisees knew that Jesus was speaking about them; the Lord’s deliberate reference to the vineyard in both parables would have hit home for them, as they knew the text from Isaiah (Isa. 5:1-7) about the vineyard of the Lord.
But the Lord was not done with them.
A Prophetic Warning
The third parable – The Parable of the Wedding Feast – is where we pick up today’s text.
Feasts in the Middle East are a big deal. They can be elaborate affairs that last for days. Unlike wedding receptions in the U.S. invitations are automatically extended to the family of the invitee; it is expected that the invitee will show up with their family.
In this case, to snub the king’s invitation would be a direct insult to the king and his authority. To mistreat and kill the servants of the king would be a treasonous act against the king, that would invite – and even require – a response from the king.
Keeping in mind the larger context of the exchange, Jesus has: 1) called out the Jewish leaders for their unbelief and disobedience, and 2) warned them that the kingdom of God would be taken away and given to others.
In this third parable, he uses the illustration of the king’s anger and the resulting destruction of “those murderers and …their city” to tell the Jewish leaders of the judgment to come.
In the very next chapter, Jesus pronounces seven woes on the Jewish leaders and laments over Jerusalem as he pronounces his judgment on Jerusalem for rejecting him [Matt. 23: 29 – 38].
Ps. 2:11–12 issues a similar warning: “Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.”
This prophetic warning would be realized in 70 A.D. as the Roman army sacked and burned Jerusalem – including the temple.
The Grafting in of the Gentiles
Not only does this parable point to the coming judgment of Jerusalem, (v7), it also points to the grafting in of the Gentiles (v9). As Paul explains in his letter to the Romans (Rom. 11:11), “through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.”
The invitation of those who were found and gathered for the wedding feast in place of the invited guests would fulfill what was recorded by Moses (Deut. 32:21b): “I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,” and by the prophet Isaiah (Isa. 65:1): “I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ to a nation that was not called by my name.”
A Warning to the Gentiles
But just as there was a warning to the invited guests, there is a warning to the new guests as well, through the illustration of the “man who had no wedding garment.” We will call him the wedding crasher.
We can find wedding crashers in every church: they come for various reasons:
- Curiosity: they might be curious about the changes in the life of someone they know who has become a Christian.
- Personal connection to a member: they may be related to, seeking a relationship with, or already in a relationship with someone who is a Christian.
- Benefits: they come for the church’s programs and social offerings.
- Social interaction: they come for the fun of it and perhaps to meet new people.
- Material gain: they come to take advantage of kindness in the form of money or gifts from the members.
- Disruption: they come for the thrill of disrupting the life of the church, through disobedience and division.
Most of these are not bad reasons for initially coming to church, but at some point, the guest has to identify with the one in whose honor we gather in the first place – that is, Christ. In other words, they have to put on a wedding garment.
The Wedding Garment
Note that as many as were found by the servants to bring to the wedding feast – both bad and good – proper attire was still required, as the text tells us (v.11): “when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless [muzzled].”
We cannot enter the kingdom without the proper attire. We may think we are dressed correctly, and we may even look good to the other guests. But we will not escape the discerning gaze of the king.
What does the wedding garment look like?
“…he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness. (Isa. 61:10)
“Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” (Zech. 3:4)
There is only one garment that will be allowed at the marriage supper of the Lamb and God must supply it.
“…the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” (Rev. 19.7-9)
The righteous deeds of the saints are the “good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” and reserved for those in Christ (Eph. 2:10). It is not our own good works that qualifies as proper attire, for “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:5-7) In fact, “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” (Isa. 64:6)
Mankind has been trying to dress himself in good works from the beginning of time: Adam and Eve tried to dress themselves after the fall, but their effort served only to highlight their sin: “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. (Gen. 3:7)
God had to cover them: And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. (Gen.3:21). This involved the shedding of blood. The shedding of blood was necessary for “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” (Heb. 9:22)
Our covering must come from the Lord. If you are counting on your own good works to get into the wedding feast, or counting on your personal connection to someone in the church, or counting on the fact that you were raised in the church, know that none of it will count before the King. You must be clothed with the righteousness of Christ or you will not survive the inspection of the King when he comes out to look at the guests.
Is Christ indeed our covering?
The parable of the wedding feast ends on a sober note as the man without the wedding garment wasn’t simply asked to leave; he was bound hand and foot and cast into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, pointing to eternal judgment.
There will be no defense on the Day of Judgment, as Jesus says, “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matt. 7:22-23).
Although those who hear the gospel can count themselves among the invited, and many may claim to be in the kingdom, only those clothed with Christ’s righteousness are actually presentable to God.
Do you have the right outfit for the wedding feast? For those who have placed our confidence in Christ, we can only humbly give thanks that we are invited at all.
If you are not dressed for the wedding feast, the invitation remains, come to Christ and let him clothe you with garments of salvation and the robe of his righteousness.
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