Matthew 22:12

“Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?  The man was speechless.” v. 12

It seems as thought Jesus had finished his story with the happy but unexpected scene of grateful guests who had no right to be in there. The feast was prepared for honored invited guests all of whom spurned the king’s offer.  Now, by a miracle of grace, these “strangers” are eating of the royal food!

But Jesus’ story is not finished. Unaccustomed to wedding rituals of that time, I did not understand this part. Evidently those who were invited to the wedding feast, in this case, completely undeserved, were provided with a special wedding garment of some kind.

In other words, just because those who were invited brought nothing to pay for this privilege of eating the royal wedding banquet, they were generously provided with wedding outfits.

Now, when the king appeared he found a fellow who had no wedding garment. Was he invited in?  Probably not. Or was he invited but did not get a wedding garment, maybe did not want one?  That question Jesus left dangling.

I may be wrong but I believe the person heard that the door was open so you could just walk in uninvited. No. You had to be invited. The story raises unanswerable questions. Jesus leaves us with a difficult truth, “For many are invited but few chosen.” Maybe the person was invited but saw no need to accept a wedding garment, a second token of God’s grace, the first bring the oral invitation.