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

 

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 own 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 in 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 

 

In yesterday's reading, Jesus said to the religious authorities in the temple in Jerusalem:   "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 in 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."  In today's reading, Jesus gives yet another parable to the religious authorities.  My study Bible notes that this parable also (like the preceding one in yesterday's reading, above) also proclaims the transfer of the Kingdom from the faithless Jews to the Gentiles (note that operative word "faithless" -- we should remember that all of Christ's followers and disciples are also Jews, as is Jesus).  It is set as a joyful wedding banquet (see Matthew 25:1-13), as Christ is often called the "Bridegroom" (Matthew 9:15; John 3:29).  St. Paul also uses a marriage analogy for the Kingdom (Ephesians 5:21-33).  The repeated sending out of servants, my study Bible says, shows the Father's great desire to have His people with Him in the Kingdom.  This first group invited here in these verses is interpreted to be Moses and those with him. 

"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 own ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.  And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them."    This second group of other servants is interpreted to be the prophets.  They also call those initially invited, the Jews.  The oxen represent the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, while the fatted cattle represents the eucharistic bread of the New Covenant, my study Bible says.  The word for "fatted" is better translated as "wheat-fed" or more literally "formed from wheat."   In the tradition of the sacrifice, male calves were raised on wheat in preparation for religious offering, but here we understand the symbolism alluding to the sacrifice of Christ.   Therefore we understand that both the Old and New Covenants are fulfilled at the wedding of Christ and His Church.  

"But when the king heard about it, he was furious.  And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city."  According to St. John Chrysostom, Christ is here prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70, and therefore attributes this destruction to an act of God rather than simply to that of human beings.   Jesus will do the same more specifically when He mentions the "righteous blood shed on the earth," particularly the prophets killed before Him, and attributes the same murderous spirit to these religious leaders in chapter 23, especially verse 35.  See also Christ's lament over Jerusalem at the end of that chapter.  Nonetheless, my study Bible notes, God showed His patience by waiting some forty years from the time of Christ, giving the entire generation a chance to repent.

"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."  This third group of servants who go out into the highways to invite all they find to the wedding, gathering together both bad and good, represents the apostles sent out to the Gentiles.  That is, those who were not initially invited, but now are called.

"And the wedding hall was filled with guests.  But when the king came in 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 there was no excuse for this man for not wearing one.  Therefore the man 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.  Specifically, my study Bible notes, the garment refers to our baptismal garment, and by 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 is an Aramaic expression which means "for all."

In this parable of the wedding feast, Jesus teaches that the third group of servants who called people to the wedding went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good.   This is a kind of parallel to Christ's parable of the Wheat and the Tares (Matthew 13:24-30).  In both we're given an image of a world in which all are called toward God's salvation, the light of the word of Christ.  There are those who will accept it, and those who will not.  In Christ's beginning parable, that of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23), He symbolizes Himself as one who sows seed, and then depending on the kind of ground the seed falls on (within human beings), spiritual fruits are either produced or not.  So this sense, of all being called and gathered together, "both bad and good," is an image of the world during this period which began with the Incarnation of Christ and His ministry.  All are called through the word of God, which continues today through every means of communication available.  Christian ministries proliferate across the globe through mass media and all other forms of reaching out to people and places on all the "highways" of the world, include virtual ones.  Regardless of denomination, we should see this parable as one that continues to unfold its truths and its reality in the world.  There are many who speak of a "post-Christian" reality, but it seems that all of this -- both evangelization and rejection of Christ's gospel -- is foreseen in the parables of Christ.  This is the condition of the world in which we presently live both from the perspective of the Church (note the capital C) and the Gospels:  the invitation continually goes out to call all to the wedding feast.  The outcome (the judgment of who wears the proper wedding garment and who does not) is not known to us, and we are neither the Judge nor the king in the parable.  But we should not be dismayed by whatever we think we see, for it's all included here (including the heresies symbolized in the Tares, as one traditional interpretation teaches).  Christ's Incarnation began the present period in which we live, and all of it is considered to be the period of "the End" -- the time in which we live in preparation for Resurrection and Judgment.  This is the time in which we are all called, and we will all be seen at the wedding feast either as having accepted and worn our wedding garment or not.  Do not be dismayed by rejection and hatred of Christ or the Gospel, but know that we live in this period of both the bad and the good.  We are not the judges, but we're each given a calling and a command to endure in our faith and the duties to which we're called to love God and neighbor, to be faithful servants of Christ, and to love one another as Christ loved us.