Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?

Parable of the Wedding Feast, Dionisy.  Fresco, 1502.  Virgin Nativity Cathedral  (former Ferapontov Monastery, UNESCO World Heritage Site), Vologda Oblast, Russia

And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said:  "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.  Again, he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, 'See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready.  Come to the wedding." '  But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.  And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.  But when the king heard about it, he was furious.   And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.  Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.  Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.'  So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good.  And the wedding hall was filled with guests.  But when the king came into to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.  So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?  And he was speechless.  Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  For many are called, but few are chosen."

- Matthew 22:1-14

Yesterday we read that Jesus replied to the leadership in the temple:  "Hear another parable:  There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower.  And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.  Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit.  And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.  Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.  Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'  But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.'  So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.  Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?"  They said to Him, "He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons."  Jesus said to them, "Have you never read the Scriptures:  'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.  This was the LORD'S doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?  Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.  And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder."  Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them.  But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.

 And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said:  "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.  Again, he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, 'See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready.  Come to the wedding." ' "  As in yesterday's reading (see above), Jesus presents yet another parable to the religious leaders, warning them and telling them of God's repeated calling, and the transfer of God's kingdom to others who will respond.  This parable is set as a joyful wedding banquet (see also 25:1-13).  Christ is often called the "Bridegroom" (9:15; John 3:29), and my study bible points out that St. Paul will also use a marriage analogy for the Kingdom (Ephesians 5:21-33).  We note the repeated sending out of the servants by the king (once again, in similarity to the previous parable, above).  My study bible says that this shows the God the Father's great desire to have God's people with Him in the Kingdom.  The first group is interpreted to refer to Moses and those with him, while the second group is composed of the prophets.  These are the groups who call those initially invited -- the Jews.  The oxen represent the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, according to my study bible.  The fatted cattle by contrast represent the eucharistic bread of the New Covenant.  (Fatted in the Greek of the text is better translated as "wheat-fed," or even more literally "formed from wheat.")  Therefore, both the Old and the New Covenants are fulfilled in this wedding of Christ and the Church, His Bride, God's people.

"But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.  And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.  But when the king heard about it, he was furious.   And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city."  My study bible cites St. John Chrysostom here, who teaches that Christ is prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70, thereby attributing this destruction to an act of God rather than simply that of human beings.  But still, the patience of God is evident, as it was approximately 40 years from the time of Christ, giving an entire generation a chance for repentance.

"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.  Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.'  So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good.  And the wedding hall was filled with guests.  But when the king came into to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.  So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?  And he was speechless.  Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."  My study bible explains that the wedding garment would have been provided by the king, and therefore the man had no excuse for not wearing one; therefore he is speechless.   His refusal to wear the garment that was provided is an illustration of those who refuse God's hospitality, or who want God's Kingdom on their own terms.  More specifically, the garment refers to the baptismal garment, and through extension, a life of faith, repentance, virtue, and charity.  Without these, a person will ultimately be cast into outer darkness. 

"For many are called, but few are chosen."  For many, as we have encountered elsewhere, is an Aramaic expression that means "for all."

Christ's warnings given through the parables of yesterday and today are given to the leadership, and so, effectively, they warn both broadly and specifically of this Kingdom that will be taken away and given to others.  Yesterday's parable of the Wicked Vinedressers was about those who repeatedly rejected, harmed, and killed those servants (meaning the prophets) who came calling people back to God, the landowner.  In today's parable, the king (God) gives a wedding feast, a banquet for the marriage of His son with the bride, who is the Church, or God's people.  Those who refuse to attend, too busy with their own concerns, will lose even what they have.  Those who appear but without the wedding garment provided by the king, will also be cast out of this kingdom.  It is a sense in which refused hospitality is not a benign act, but carries significant results.  Repeatedly in the Gospels, we are given a sense in which a refusal to accept or acknowledge grace -- particularly in the form of a spiritual truth which is revealed, given, or offered -- carries with it its own result.  In this case, one could say that the "outer darkness" into which the guest was cast was a matter of his own choosing, his own refusal or failure to wear the wedding garment.  The invitation of the king and what was on offer is not a question of a sale, of offering a good in the marketplace that one can take or leave, but rather an offer of life, of citizenship in that which gives life in the Kingdom.  And here we can start with an understanding of Christ, and how this parable applies to us all.  While it is told to the leadership as warning for what they are doing in their rejection and soon-to-follow persecution of Christ, this parable remains in effect for us and all who follow.  It is about what it means to refuse spiritual truth, a failure to come to terms with our potential as human beings for justice and mercy.   Jesus, as a person has no airs He puts on about Himself.  He has no formal title or recognized worldly authority to call upon.  But what He has instead is truth, just as John the Baptist carried within him a truth given by God, and so was considered to be a prophet (see Wednesday's reading).  Jesus has not declared to the world that He is the Messiah; instead He has lived, embodied, and fulfilled the role of Messiah, in a ministry unfolded in faith to the will of the Father.  There is no hypocrisy here on His part, there is only truth.  On the other hand, this is contrasted by the hypocrisy of the leadership, who secretly plot one way, and put a different face on for fear of the public's support of Christ (and of John the Baptist).  The outrage of the leaders in response to Christ's truth is typical of something we can observe in the world all around us; to tell the truth is a dangerous thing.   Those who cannot respond to truth by embracing it will in turn seek frequently to trample down the messenger, as Christ acknowledges when He instructed the disciples, "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces" (Matthew 7:6).    So powerful, so potent is this effect that we are taught to be discerning with our truth.  On a worldly scale of manipulation of power, we may suffer for telling the truth.  But at the levels of spiritual power which Christ speaks of in today's parable, to refuse God's truth has an effect.  In the case of the interpretation of this parable and its reference to the eventual destruction in the Siege of Jerusalem we see the lag of time as mercy; but nevertheless a refusal of something so essential to our souls and the reality of the revelation of God -- which is a cosmic event -- has its effect.  The depth to which this particular truth reaches into us confers its own reality on soul and spirit, in turn affecting body.  We simply don't see the effect and the pattern quickly in time, but nevertheless this does not indicate a lack of effect.  This parable, as told to the leadership, is a truth-telling and a prophecy regarding the effect of their refusal of His ministry and His Incarnation.  But it's really a parable that applies to us today, and to all people, in some sense, as well.  When are we confronted with truth in our lives, especially a spiritual truth we ought to acknowledge?  When do we choose to refuse it?  When do we tell ourselves it doesn't really matter?  When do mercy and justice and all the teachings of God's humility in loving us come in for sharp refusal, lack of recognition, and especially a denial to put on our wedding garment?  We can see this happening in our world all the time, in all times and places, and especially in the abuse of power, both public and private.  God calls us to live in a certain way in this world, to respect God's truth, and living in this world in a way that reflects that truth, making our choices with good judgment.  Where is that righteousness and how can we find it?  The parable is a declaration to us all that it truly matters, and that it is our respect for truth -- or the lack of it -- that will always tell, and have its consequences, whether we wish to recognize it in our own lives and as our responsibilities, or not.  The self-righteousness and hypocrisy of the religious leadership tell us a great deal about ourselves, if we will only listen.   To deeply honor truth requires great humility, while the refusal of a gesture or act of pure love and grace requires a particular blindness and hardness of heart.  Let us consider the wedding to which we are all called.