“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. 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.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:11-14)
Jesus spoke the parable of the wedding feast to the Pharisees, the rulers of the Jewish people in His day. With this parable, He told them that, because they have rejected Him, they will not enter the Kingdom of God. From now on, the Lord will open His Kingdom to all those the Jews tried to exclude from worship: pagans, the Gentiles, and those whom the Jews considered sinners and unclean. The Lord now will offer all these His grace and mercy.
This parable speaks to our own times as well. The Lord is inviting all to come to His wedding feast, but this is not an offer of cheap grace. That is, we cannot enter God’s Kingdom on our merits, fame, or talents. We must sacrifice all that we have to enter that Kingdom for we must be properly clothed as the example of the treatment of the man who was not properly clothed shows us. No one can come into the Kingdom of heaven as they are, with all their sins or their own righteousness or their own religious beliefs and practices. Many in our world today claim that God accepts you as you are with all your beliefs, philosophies, lifestyle choices, and behaviors.
Not so, says Jesus. What Jesus tells us is that, although the Lord desires to call all unto Himself, only those who are properly clothed, that is, clothed with the righteousness of Christ, can enter His Kingdom, no matter how good, noble or popular they are. This is very difficult for many people to accept in our present day considering the popular view that most people go to heaven (or its equivalent) regardless of their religious beliefs or moral character. In the world, moral character is not determined these days by Biblical standards or even the 10 commandments. These days what is good is often evil and sinful. What is good is determined by a consensus or poll, or how many likes or views some person or opinion gets on social media. What is popular is a person who is talented, opinionated, generous or friendly no matter the state of their spiritual and moral life. But as Jesus says here, to enter the wedding feast, the Kingdom of Heaven, we must be clothed in His righteousness, not our own. This is granted only by faith which reveals to us our utter sinfulness and our need for a Savior who is Jesus alone.