Difficult Divine Decrees: The Wrong Clothes
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Difficult Divine Decrees: The Wrong Clothes
Difficult Divine Decrees: The Wrong Clothes
This question came in from someone in our congregation.
It was concerning the following passage:
“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.”
The question is, “What is my take on this passage?”
I don’t know the reason they asked. I can surmise based on how the greater passage is taught today.
The Jews forfeited their place
Jerusalem is burned
The salvation of the Gentiles is foretold
Of which, I disagree.
Now, I will do my best to set you up to follow me.
Matthew 22:1-14 has a parallel episode in Luke 14.
The whole scene of this day in Jesus’ life does not kick off until Matthew 21.
I am going to read the Luke and Matthew passages in harmony…
The timeline and unfolding of events…
Matthew has Jesus entering the temple, and while there the Chief Priests, Elders, and Pharisees start a conversation.
Where does your authority come from? Jesus refuses to answer.
When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why, then, did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for all regard John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
From these we can clearly identify the audience:
Chief Priests
Elders
Pharisees
Jesus continues teaching
Jesus tells them a parable about two sons.
“What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not,’ but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same, and he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him, and even after you saw it you did not change your minds and believe him.
Jesus continues teaching
Jesus tells them a parable about a landowner and a vineyard.
“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went away. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them in the same way. Then he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?
“Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces its fruits. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.
They leave the temple to have a meal together.
On the way, Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath
On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely. Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had edema. And Jesus asked the experts in the law and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to cure people on the Sabbath or not?” But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed him and sent him away. Then he said to them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a Sabbath day?” And they could not reply to this.
Why do they watch him closely?
Because they know he is talking about them in all these teachings.
They want to arrest him, but they are afraid of the crowds.
To look good in the eyes of the crowd…
They invite him to a meal at the Pharisee’s house.
When they arrive at the Pharisee’s house, Jesus notices where they sit
When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host, and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Jesus pulls the host Pharisee aside to have a chat with him…
He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers and sisters or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
This part is important: Notice who Jesus says should be invited. Keep that in mind.
TURNING POINT…
Presently, we are just having a meal, but someone speaks up.
One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
To which Jesus likely says, “Thank you very much, I will take it from here!”
Matthew skips all the traveling from the Temple to the Pharisee’s house part and Luke skips all the teaching at the Temple part.
But they both have the Parable of the Great Dinner
Jesus springs from this comment to teach them about Kingdom principles.
Why?
Because the man talks about the Day of the LORD. That Day. When this present age concludes and the Age to Come arrives.
Matthew 22:1–2 “Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.” Luke 14:16 “Then Jesus said to him, “Someone gave a great dinner and invited many.”
You see, when the King throws a party, do you just sidle up the chair right next to the King? No. You wait until you are told where to sit. The King invites people to sit at the table.
This is no ordinary supper. It is a wedding feast, for the King’s son.
Luke is not ignoring this, he is trying to say it should be this way everywhere.
Think of the pomp and circumstance of British Royal Weddings.
Also, I want to give you something to think about.
In this parable, the Bride of the Son is NEVER identified. She is not part of the story.
So, if the Bride of the Son are the faithful, as the NT teaches, then
Who are the invited guests?
Dinner is ready…time to call the invited guests to come.
At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is ready now.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my regrets.’ Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my regrets.’ Another said, ‘I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.’
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.
Heck of a way to treat the King, His Son, and the Bride to be.
The King proclaims…
Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy.
Dinner is ready.
Food is growing cold.
The band is wearing out.
No one is there.
It is an empty hall
And the Bride might think, should I marry this Prince?
Can you imagine?
So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ And the slave said, ‘Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’ Then the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled.
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.
Interesting. It is the same group of people that Jesus told the Pharisee to invite to his dinner.
So, the house of the King, the Owner, is full. We are ready.
For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.’ ”
The King decides to greet the guests…
(And here is our passage in question)
“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.
It would be common for a Royal wedding party to have garments made for the guests. They identify the guests: Families, Status, Importance, etc.
Which, none of the poor, good or bad, would have!
Unless we are not talking about actual garments.
Is 61:10 speaks of a garment of salvation and a robe of righteousness
Zech 3:3-4 explain that filthy clothes, like those of the poor, are replace by fine garments given to loyal believers
Rev 19:8 speaks of fine linen as good works of the loyal believer
Eph 4:24 speaks of putting on the ‘new self’, the new life of holiness
So it is likely we are talking about a form of believing loyalty.
Notice too the ratio: Everyone the servants could find were made to come in.
But only ONE…is not dressed.
***Friend…
How did he get in here?
Like when a serpent sneaks into your garden
What to do with this improperly clothed one?
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.’
Notice what is does not say:
Not Gehenna (Hell)
Not Hades
Not Sheol
Not Tartarus
What is it like outside the house:
Dark: No light there.
Weeping: They are outside, while the UNINVITED, the UNCALLED, the lame, poor, blind, and sick are inside.
Gnashing of Teeth: Anger. Why? All the wrong people are inside. The unclean, unordained, unhealthy.
For many are called, but few are chosen.”
You see, the many are the ones who get into the dinner.
Turns out, THEY are the invited, the called, that the King is seeking (Just like Jesus told the Pharisee)
Its the ones who are the ‘choicest’ (yes, chosen in the verse is an adjective) among the poorest who will be shocked and dismayed when they are drug from the party with their hands and feet bound.
It is the leadership, not the people in general.
The religious leadership who sees themselves as the greatest who will be surprised.
Why bind their hands a feet?
So their hands cannot be raised against another
So their feet do not run to evil, returning to the party
Now, let’s return to the primary question.
Who is the audience? The chief priests, elders, and Pharisees are the audience. Jesus springs from the man’s statement, ‘Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!’ to tell them a parable about the Day of the LORD, the Age to Come.
The man’s attitude reveals his belief that the kingdom of God is like the dinner the host (Pharisee) has prepared for the chief priests, elders, Pharisees, and Jesus. The good, the smart, the religious, the faithful, or, in a word, the ‘chosen, best, choicest’ have gathered at this Pharisee's house to eat.
The man thinks to himself, ‘What a wonderful time it will be when the poor, the lame, the sick, the blind, and all the surfs, farmers, shepherds, IRS agents, prostitutes, and the like are on the outside looking in!’ ‘Boy,’ the man might think, ‘will those people, those sinners, be weeping and angry when they cannot get into the kingdom of God to eat dinner.’
‘And you know what,’ that man thinks, ‘God won’t let them in either. He will bind those sinners, so they are stuck outside in darkness, forever.’
The man’s attitude is that of everyone at the table. Except for one. Jesus.
Who advises the host Pharisee to invite the lame, blind, sick, and poor so he will be rewarded. But no. Instead, they jockey for the best seat at the table nearest the host, just like Jesus’ disciples, who wanted to know who would be the greatest in the kingdom.
Because, according to Jesus, only a few of them, the ones at the table with Jesus, the self-identified chosen, will make it to the King’s wedding feast.
After all that, we are still never told who the bride is.
The sad part of this parable, is how the church teaches it.
The church, out of its ignorant teaching, puts itself in the place of the man who says, ‘Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!’ while simultaneously putting Israel, the Jews, and all the non-chosen in the category of the one without a wedding robe.
When it is specifically the non-chose who fill the house!
And why does the church do this? Because they believe everything they are taught and never read it for themselves to understand what Jesus said.
Even sadder is how the church’s belief and use of scripture, including this parable, led to the persecution of our Jewish brothers and sisters in the name of God.
You know there are only a few characters in scripture that are bound:
Samson
Peter (imprisoned)
Paul and Silas (imprisoned)
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (fiery furnace)
Others include:
Satan: Rev 20:1-3.
Fallen Angels: Jude 6.
Abyss creatures: Rev 9:1-3.
And one other…
Jesus: He is bound during his arrest (John 18:12)
This is a parable. It is a made up story to teach you something.
What if he is the guest that is not dressed the way the Pharisee expects, and the Pharisee throws him out of his dinner?
Difficult Divine Decrees: The Wrong Clothes
Difficult Divine Decrees: The Wrong Clothes
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