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Matthew 22:8-14
Then said [the king] 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. 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.”
December 3, 2021
This parable of the kingdom of God ends with some bad news - at least for the poorly dressed wedding guest. He accepted the invitation, but evidently, he was either ignorant or uncaring of the dress code. So, was he politely asked to leave and find more suitable attire? No, he was bound “hand and foot and cast into the outer darkness.” The point seems to be that there is a great difference between accepting an invitation and personally taking responsibility for preparing to attend. When the invitation was first sent out, it was ignored, then spurned. So, the king invites everyone within earshot. “Come, both good and bad, rich and poor, men and women, Jew and Gentile, black and white, people of every nation!” Fortunately for us, Jesus (the king) is not overly fastidious about those he invites. However, to accept the invitation calls for preparation. How do we prepare to enter the King’s wedding feast? That seems to be the crux of the issue. Looking elsewhere in the New Testament, Christians are called to clothe themselves in Christ (Romans 13:14) and “with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience…and over all these virtues put on love” (Colossians 3:12, 14). Preparation means transformation. We are called and invited into the Kingdom of God. Advent is about getting ready.