What is the Wedding Garment?
Matthew 22:1-14
October 13, 2024 anno Domini
What is the wedding garment?
That is the question you should be asking after hearing this parable.
This is the wedding of a lifetime. The King is throwing the Father of all Feasts for His Son the Prince. At first, you weren’t even on the guest list, but the chosen guests refused. Then the invitation went far and wide. The King enticed people with the menu. It was all for His Son. He wanted the wedding hall filled with guests. It didn’t matter to the King who you were, good or bad. He just wanted as many people as possible to enjoy the wedding, to celebrate His Son and that included you.
But, somehow, some guy got in and he wasn’t properly dressed. The King spotted him and asked, “How did you get in without a wedding garment?” The guy had no answer, and the King had no more grace. He had reached his limit. There were no second chances for this guy, no offer of another wedding garment. He is bound hand and foot and cast into the outer darkness. That darkness is a place of eternal sadness. That is why it is filled with weeping. And eternal pain. That’s why there is gnashing of teeth. You don’t want to go there, so the question is “what is the wedding garment?” Whatever it is you don’t want to be without it.
In 14 verses the parable tells the history of the world. Oh, not the history of kingdoms that rise and fall. This isn’t about Babylon or Persia or the Greeks and Romans. It isn’t Great Britain and the United States. This is about the Kingdom of God, the only Kingdom that does not end, whose Ruler rules all things even now.
The history of the world is about the King’s Son. After Adam and Eve sinned they were promised a son who would defeat Satan by crushing that lying serpent’s head.
Abraham and Sarah were promised a son through whom the world would be blessed.
Ruth married a guy named Boaz and had a son named Obed who had a son named Jesse who had a son named David. David was promised that one of his sons would sit on his throne forever.
Before you get mad that the Bible is a manual patriarchal oppression tool because it’s all about sons, remember this. Even though a percentage of Americans don’t believe it, there are no sons without women giving birth. Sin came into the world through a woman, and God, in His grace, through a woman named Mary would bring salvation to the world. I never thought I would need to preach this, but a man cannot have a child apart from a woman.
All these sons born of women were invitations by Godto accept His invitation to believe in His Son, to come to His wedding, to join in the feast of life and joy.
The prophets of the Old Testament are the first servants. Noah pounded out invitations for 120 years as he built the ark. Come aboard the ark of life. Be saved from this wicked generation. 120 years of invitations, and only 8 people RSVPed.
The King sent out His servants with the menu. This is what we will feast upon. I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered and everything is ready. That meal is Christ. God has sacrificed His Son, shed His blood for your sins. Israel didn’t deserve to be God’s chosen people. Mary didn’t deserve to be the mother of God. You don’t deserve this feast, but this is not about you. This is about the love of the King. The King loves His subjects. He wants everyone to enjoy the royal gifts. The price He is willing to pay for you is to slaughter His best and finest. The Father sacrifices His only begotten Son. Feast on Jesus. Devour His forgiveness. Dine on the body and blood that defeated Satan and destroyed death.
God’s chosen people, the Hebrews, the Jews refused the invitation. They didn’t want Jesus. They wanted Barabbas. They didn’t want forgiveness. They wanted freedom from Rome. They didn’t want life everlasting, they wanted power now. They killed God’s final invitation – they killed the Son of God. In anger God sent His troops, Roman troops to destroy Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD.
But the King did not stop loving or inviting or giving. He sent out more servants – His Apostles and today His pastors. All we do Sunday after Sunday is invite you to feast on Jesus. Dine on the feast of forgiveness the King has spread out before you. Enjoy the King’s presence and live in His Kingdom. He wants His wedding hall filled, and He wants you in. Your sin keeps you out. Christ is the way in. That is why the Father sacrificed His Son on the cross and His servants invite you to partake of Christ’s body and blood for your forgiveness.
Some of the parables that Jesus related to everyday events. All of you can relate to tearing the house apart to find something valuable that you lost, your keys, your phone, your billfold, sometimes all three. Other parables would never happen. What commoner would refuse an invitation to a royal wedding? People wait in line for hours to hear Donald Trump when he comes to Saint Cloud. Fans pay hundreds if not thousands of dollar to listen to Taylor Swift or to watch the Vikings play in London. If you were invited to attend d of banquet in honor of someone you admired or idolized you’re not going to turn it down. But when it comes to this King and His Son and this wedding banquet – they do.
Why is that? Why did only 8 people get in the ark? Why did only 2 out of two million make it from the Egypt to the promised land? Why are only 1/3 of church members present in the pews for the weakly feast? You know the answer. Because of sin we’re childish, picky, selfish eaters. We’re hungry excitement and entertainment instead of what is good, which is what is of God.
Be warned by this parable. In the end the King has no more grace. Some guy gets in without a wedding garment and the King has had enough. He wants the wedding hall filled but this guy loses his place, gets tied hand and foot, and gets thrown into hell.
All of you are at the feast this morning. You’ve come here this morning. You’re not going about your business or gone off to the farm. You heard the servant’s call. You’ve accepted the King’s invitation. Good and bad you have come. You’ve come to celebrate the wedding feast of the Son of God to His bride the Church.
What is the wedding garment that you need to stay in?
The garment is Jesus, for clothed in Him your sins are covered. The warts and deformities of your wickedness are hidden from God’s eyes, and you are righteous, beautiful, lovely to God the Father. That only happens in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The garment is faith. Faith trusts the promises of God. Faith listens to God’s Word. Faith doesn’t let the world define what words means, but let’s God define, right and wrong, good and evil, truth and lies, beauty and ugly.
The garment is living a holy life. I think this is our weakness. Do you look any different than an unbeliever? In this season of political fear do you exude confidence and joy that your King rules the world and has already defeated all your real enemies? Do you delight in Christ? Is He your joy? If your neighbors see you driving in a blizzard to watch your niece play volleyball, do they see you driving in a blizzard to get to the feast of Christ? If you know all the characters on Survivor or the Golden Batchelor, or the latest Netflix series, do you know your family in Christ? Could you list the 12 tribes of Israel or the 12 apostles? Have you talked to that person down the pew or on the other side of the center aisle? Do you know them well enough to pray for them or to help them in their need? Do you confess that the problem isn’t out there in those people, but in here, in your own sinful heart? Are you afraid, cranky, complaining? Why? Your King rules for you. He has given His Son for you. He has set a feast of forgiveness, of life, and of the resurrection before you.
Why is this a struggle? Because your flesh is weak and the world’s invitations are legion. You need more Jesus, so that you have more faith, so that you live a more holy life. It isn’t easy. It’s not going to get easier until the last day. But the Son’s wedding feast is good. It’s the only feast of life. So don’t spurn the invite. Feast on Jesus. Take your fill of forgiveness. And rejoice in the King who has graciously invited you to the wedding of His Son. In the name of Jesus. Amen.