Invitation and Readiness

    The Wedding Feast

    The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 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.' But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, 'The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.' 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. But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?' And he was speechless. 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.' For many are called, but few are chosen.

    Matthew 22:2-14

    Told in the temple during the final week, to leaders already plotting against him. Kings customarily provided wedding garments to guests, which makes the man's refusal to wear one a deliberate insult.

    The invitation is scandalously wide, bad and good alike gathered in. But entering on your own terms is not entering. The garment stands for what the King himself provides, and refusing it while enjoying his feast is the one thing that leaves a person speechless.

    Accept both the invitation and the clothing. Come as you are, but do not insist on staying as you came. Let him dress you in something new.