The Parable of (What to Wear at) the Wedding Banquet

“My man how did you get in here without a wedding robe?” The man was speechless.” Matthew 22:12.

Well might he be speechless – He had no excuse for being there without the necessary regalia.
I remember when I was a boy I used to read this story with a great deal of sympathy for the man. I felt keenly his embarrassment – it must have been bad enough to be the only one in the company not properly dressed for the occasion without having attention drawn to it. I couldn’t quite reconcile the scene with my idea of Jesus either. It didn’t seem like Him to be inconsiderate - perhaps the man was poor and didn’t own a dress suit: And in any case did the clothes matter so very much?
I know now of course that the matter of respectability doesn’t enter into it – Jesus we know too well had more sympathy for the poorly clad than the prim and proper Pharisee.
But still I gather from the story that the question of clothes does matter. After all that is the main point of the story – the man was there without the correct dress and he had no excuse, because as a matter of fact there was a robe provided for every guest who came to the feast. It was the custom of the day. Well might the Master enquire – HOW CAMEST THOU IN? The man was an impudent gate crasher
Actually he was as welcome as any other guest but to refuse the provided regalia was an insult to the host which could not be tolerated.
There is you see a significance about clothing after all. There are times when to be improperly dressed is detestable and insulting. I might grub around in my garden in an old suit and without a collar but you would hardly expect me to enter this pulpit like it, or yet would my friend feel honoured if I turned up at his wedding slovenly and unkempt.
We need only to recall the familiar pictures that Ian McClaren and Isobel Cameron has drawn for us to the Scottish Kirk men carefully dressed in their Sabbath black to recognise at once that the matter of correct dress has invaded the realm of religion. The church also has always had it’s special vestments and though the old puritan hated ritual and ceremony yet he carefully preserved his Sunday Best Clothes. Maybe we haven’t quite grown out of the habit.
‘And in so far that these gestures are in acknowledgement of values that have their proper place’ They do at least keep us reminded of the dignity of the church and the Sabbath.
But we must not forget that we are dealing with a parable – If you like a parable about correct dress, and if it has a meaning at all it does mean that it is useless expecting that we can feast on the good things of the Kingdom of God unless we are properly clad for the feast in the garments of truth and sincerity.
1. Worship – We gather for the feast of good things provided in this free gift of worship. Does it matter what clothes we wear? We remember the story of the Sunday School teacher who would tell her girls to put on their best dresses when they came to worship as a suggestion of reverence. And as far as as it goes we agree. But we mustn’t descend to the level of Samuel Pepys who boasts openly that his object of worship was often to see what clothes people wore and display his own. We know it doesn’t matter as far as real worship is concerned whether we are richly or poorly clad. But the symbol is healthy and good.
- we cannot expect to enjoy the feast of worship unless clothed in the garments of beauty and holiness. They that worship must worship in spirit and in truth.
2. Bible.  - We are very proud of our open Bible and speak of all the wealth and feast of good things to be found in it, but it’s wealth is not lavished on all and sundry. To approach the feast in the garments of a cynic, poking fun at the story of Jonah and facetiously asking where Cain got his wife from? Pouncing on this story which seems incredible and that passage which seems to have a discrepancy is merely to be thrown out of the feast. The Bible doesn’t yield it’s goodness to any common gate crasher. I know there are some folk who do have honest doubts about the bible – but so often the clothes these doubters wear are so obviously ready-made and ill-fitting. They have been picked up second-hand from somebody else.
American visitor to Royal Acadamy  - viewing pictures “Call this art?” “Sir these pictures are no longer on trial but visitors are”
“The word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and quick to discern the thought and intents of the heart”
3. So it is true of all the Graces of God’s kingdom, no man is excluded from enjoying them, the only condition of entrance to the feast is the wedding garment. The dress is all important. To refuse the conditions is to be shut out of the feast. To enjoy the graces of God in the realms of our own lives we must adhere to their conditions. Unless ye forgive men their trespasses neither will your heavenly father forgive you yours.
So obviously, the garment stands for that which fits us to share in the joys of the kingdom and unless we are clothed in the spirit of unfailing grace we stand amongst the guests without the wedding garment.
To conclude let us return to the parable. You know that it is a parable of the kingdom setting forth the principles of the realm which Jesus came to establish.
Therefore it is true on a larger scale that there are men who often seem to crash into the territory of the kingdom of God and are found to be without the wedding robe – I was told of a young man who started to preach and yet repudiated allegiance to God – when asked why claimed to be communist etc.
So men in their service to country and humanity come over the borders of the kingdom wearing the uniform of another King.
“All Jesus said “The kingdom sufferth violence and the violent take it by force”, But the kingdom knows how to be courteous to such gate crashers. It tolerates them, but will not endure their rudeness. The kingdom is hospitable enough in it’s invitation to the feast of lavish things but the invitation cards state that a wedding garment must be worn and no man is admitted to the feast in any other clothes.
That’s where men stumble  - The kingdom is open to all it’s grace is amazingly free but there is no getting in with the crush. There is a reserve placed on every seat – A man does not enter the kingdom until the conditions of the kingdom have entered him.  The kingdom of God is within you, and until it is within us we are not within it.
When the guests in this story accepted the garment he at once pledged his loyalty to the king. And do it is that when you give the principles of the kingdom a place with you, you have an abundant entrance. Our personal and social redemption lies in our identity in the kingdom.
Men who try to reform the world without God are doomed to failure. The plan for the world’s redemption is complete. The feast is already spread – when men are willing to wear the garment prescribed for the feast the truth and reality of Christ kingdom with come.