Matt. 22:1   And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 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.”’ 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 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.

Matt. 22:11   “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 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.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.” (English Standard Version)

Now, my initial response to the ending of this parable (the wedding guest without his tuxedo—or was it without his mask?) is, “Not fair!” After all, the poor man had been rounded up, along with many others, on short notice. He hadn’t had time to get cleaned up or try to retrieve his best suit from the cleaner’s. Maybe he was so poor that he didn’t even have a suit!

But this is where a little background knowledge is helpful. In those days, wedding guests did not provide their own fancy clothes, at least not for fancy banquets. Instead, the one inviting them provided a nice change of clothes for all his guests. Since this is, according to Jesus, the king’s wedding banquet for his son, I think that we can safely assume that the king would have provided the proper clothing. Apparently, the guest in his street clothes knew this as well, since it says that he had nothing to say.

Jesus’ parables were not nice, little, straightforward, simple sermon illustrations. Rather, they were subversive stories which often stood reality on its head. They challenge and baffle and poke and probe. Sometimes, they haunt.

However, my own take on this parable of Jesus is twofold. The first takeaway for me is the thought that God (represented in this story by the king) provides everything that his guests need. This is not a potluck, where each person brings something to the table. Apparently, God’s kingdom feast is for people who have nothing to bring, people who need to have everything provided for them.

This might seem like good news. I believe that ultimately it is. But it is also bad news. We all want to believe that we are somehow worthy of being invited into God’s kingdom. The bad news is that we are not worthy. Really. We’re not.

And now for the even worse news: If we refuse to take what God so graciously and abundantly provides, we will have nothing to say in our own defense. C.S. Lewis says that, those who wind up in hell are successful rebels to the very end. They have said, “No,” to God. The door to hell is locked from the inside.

So, I wanted to end this post with something uplifting. Here goes!

If you and I have nothing to offer God but our own sinful selves, we are invited. If we can’t bring him any worthy gifts, or even wear the right clothes, we are welcomed. If we can only humbly and gratefully accept God’s lavish love, we need to come in, sit down at the banquet table, and dig in. In the final analysis, maybe the only thing we’ll need to say (or be able to say) at the King’s banquet is “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”