"Inappropriate Attire" Pt. 2

Matthew 22. 1-14

K. Adrian Scott

March 16, 2025

Introduction.

This is the story or parable about the “Great Supper” given by the king in honor of his son as an explanation of the ‘kingdom of heaven’ or ‘kingdom of God’ to the chief priests and elders who served in the Jewish temple.

Context.

Verse 3 says “the king sent out his servants to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come.”

Even though this would have been a tremendous honor, perhaps the greatest privilege of their lifetime, none of the invitees were willing to come. The king was a good king, but they wouldn’t come to his wedding feast. He was a humble and a generous king, but they still refused to attend his feast. And in refusing the king’s invitation, they were also refusing to acknowledge the son! What would the king do now with no guests for the wedding? He shows his persistency by inviting others to come.

So, the king sent out his servants to a different group of people he wanted to invite to the feast by telling them, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast" (v. 4). By saying, “everything is ready” the king was putting some urgency into these invitations. He even gave the invited guests a glimpse of the menu they would enjoy - a glimpse of what they could expect once they were in the kingdom. But verse 5 says, “they paid no attention (to the invitation) and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized the king’s servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.”

The king displays his patience because instead of being thankful the second group of invitees were ungrateful. Instead of the invitation increasing the love they had for the king, the invitation inflamed their hostility. And the king honored them with an extravagant invitation while the invitees received the king’s messengers with hate and violence. These dishonorable people disrespected the king, and they would have to deal with the consequence of ignoring and insulting the sovereign head of the kingdom. These invitees not only ignored the invitation, but they roughed up his messengers and then killed them. In an angry response to the murder of his servant/messengers, they king summons his army who destroys the murders and burned their city” (v.7).

With the wedding ready according to verse 8, the king changes his strategy and orders more invitations to be sent out. This time he tells his servants in verse 9, “Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.”

Go to the most populated roads, expose as many people as possible to the wedding feast and tell them they are invited! It doesn’t matter what you think of them, let those who have the disposition to accept my invitation come! I want the wedding hall filled for the glory of my son and the people’s enjoyment. Come without cost or money; just come! If you are hungry, come! If you are thirsty, come! There is food and refreshment in my house, come! The hungrier the better, because there is plenty of food! The thirstier the better, because there is drink for everyone! No one needs to think there won’t be room or food, just come because there is plenty. Here is the provision of the king. What a king! He is persistent, patient and he is a provider! What more could one ask for?

The Text – Telling the Story.

Vv. 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.

The will of the father was done. The wedding hall was filled. Friends, God has His number. God’s will cannot be stymied or stopped.

Preaching Point.

The premise for gathering guests is so that the wedding hall is filled with guests to the honor of the king’s son. The king/father is determined to have the wedding of his son filled with guests. The father has predetermined that those who accepted the great invitation would be rescued from their mundane lives and given an opportunity to participate in something they never dreamed of. They most likely never thought they could ever be counted among those in the king’s kingdom much less his wedding hall and would be waiting for the time of the great feast, that royal wedding feast prepared for not only the father’s son, but for all those invited to attend. Some of those invited may have asked what it costs to get in the wedding feast, and to their surprise the answer to their question is ‘nothing.’ To get into the feast costs nothing, just come! I

Sub Point #1.

In the estimation of the community where these recent invitees came from some of those invited were “bad” and some others were considered “good.” The ‘bad’ ones obviously had a poor reputation, thus they were labeled ‘bad.’ Had some of the bad invitees stolen what was not theirs? Did some of the ‘bad’ ones commit fraud, or lied, or took advantage of someone? Yes, probably so, and that is why they probably questioned, “why me? I don’t deserve the king’s mercy!” That is exactly right because none of us deserve the king’s mercy.

Sub Point #2.

And then what about the ‘good’ invitees? You know, the ‘goody two shoes.’ They hadn’t stolen, maybe they didn’t cheat or steal or lie, but here is the potential problem with people calling them ‘good’; they began to think they were good; didn’t need any improvement or never saw the need to confess the faults or repent of their sins. Did these ‘good’ ones look down on the ‘bad’ ones? Did the in arrogance think they better than the ‘bad’ invitees? These ‘good’ invitees could have felt victim to being self-righteous. Now, if that was the case, they didn’t deserve to be invited to the feast either. This crowd thinks they have no need to repent either! They think they are ok like they are. And how wrong they would be.

But it doesn’t matter what they had done, rather bad or goo because everyone was invited to the feast not because of what they had or had not done but are now in the king’s kingdom because of the mercy, the kindness and grace of the king! Not one person in the multitude of invitees had to perform any ‘good’ deeds or provide any special service or pay some sum of money to get in the feast, the king simply was determined at all costs to glorify his son in the royal feast!

V. 11-12; “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.”

Preaching Point.

Now, there is one thing both the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ must do before entering the great wedding hall; it is something everyone must do and that is change. Everyone must change!

But how? We’ll, the wedding garments were provided by the king! The king had wedding garments in all sizes so good, bad, tall, and short. O, this king has what you need! And no matter how beautiful the garment the king provided; this garment did not have a cost. But first, the invited guest must be willing to take off their old garment. ancient tradition required that everyone invited to the feast was required to take ‘off’ your old clothes and put ‘on’ new, clean, wedding clothes.

But one of the guests was seen without wearing the required wedding garment.

Notice this: one will enter the king’s kingdom without changing garments, but you cannot remain in the king’s kingdom without that profound change that only the king can orchestrate. You and I accept the invitation first, then the king dresses us in his fresh new garments. Church, what we are talking about is the necessity of conversion or to use a biblical term; repentance, a profound and radical change of one’s heart towards God and Christ. The doctrine of repentance is a faithful truth, and it is unique to the Christian faith.

V. 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.”

Preaching Point.

The phrase “weeping and gnashing of teeth” is described in other places in sacred Scripture such as Luke 13.28, Matthew 8.12, 13.42, 24.51, 25.30, Job 16.9, Psalm 35.16, 37.12, 112.10, Lamentations 2.16, Mark 9.18, and Acts 7.54. And in every instance this term refers to the godless or the wicked. “Weeping and gnashing of teeth” is the result of the rejection and judgment of God upon the ungodly, and here this person called a “friend” (v.12) is escorted out of the wedding hall before the feast which is the celebration of the marriage between the bride and groom. Then the “friend” is bound and banished to into the darkness outside of the wedding hall where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Even though this person is referred to as a ‘friend’, that relationship, if there was a relationship, did not qualify him to enter the wedding feast. The friend’s refusal to take off his old clothes (of sin and self-righteousness) and at the same time, a refusal to put on the fresh new garments that only the king could provide, cost him any chance of a ‘saving’ relationship with the king and from having true fellowship with the king’s invited guests who are in the hall and are dressed for the feast.

Proposition.

Currently there is a mixture of the changed and the unchanged in the world right now because we have not yet been called into the royal wedding feast, but once the time has come for that great feast to take place, there will then be no unchanged, unconverted persons in the wedding hall much less the wedding feast!

Essence of the Text.

Are you changed? Have you put on the righteous garments of the king? If not, it’s high time to change clothes before it is too late.