Proper Attire

“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come.  So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:8-14

Day 3 of Holy Week devotions.  Today, my reading had me hone in on verses 8-14 of Matthew 22.  Jesus, here is telling a story, a parable as it is called in the Bible.  Instead of always explaining everything he means, he tells stories to the people to help them understand what he is trying to say.  Parables have several layers of meaning.  There is of course the surface level meaning, but everytime you read it, you may actually get a deeper understanding.  Today, the phrase that kept jumping out at me was “How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?” 

There’s a lot happening in this short sentence for me.  The king couldn’t get the people he originally asked to come into the wedding feast, so he had his servants go and find random people in the street and invite them to the wedding feast.  There were good people and bad people al together in one place.  But regardless of who the people were, they must have all known how to dress for a wedding.  They would have known not to show up to a wedding in sweatpants and a tee shirt.  Even though they were not the original guests, certain things were apparently universal knowledge.  And the king had an expectation that these people, even if they were not the original invited guests, would know protocol.  So much so, that he tossed this guy out for not following protocol.  The text never says that the servants had to instruct the people on the proper protocol.  We can’t assume that they gave instructions.  They were instructed to give the invitation only and to invite the good and the bad.  It sounds to me like some things are just supposed to be known. 

The question I am asking of myself from this passage is, what is proper attire, exactly?  What should I be clothed in?  In the text, most scholars agree that Jesus was referring to the Jews as the ones who refused the invitation and the Gentiles as the ones who were invited to the banquet.  Since I am a Gentile, I say thank you for the invitation.  I know that I have been invited into the wonderful experience with God.  And I answered the invitation.  I just don’t know if I’m dressed right.  And this has me wondering about what exactly proper attire is in the presence of the king. 

I tend to be a somewhat liberal Christian these days.  I’m not hung up on a whole lot of rules and regulations the way I was as a new Christian.  With maturity comes another level of understanding.  Much like children, we need to develop discipline in our Christian walk, and we often need the rules and regulations early on, because we may have been too reckless before.  But I do know that ultimately, it is the Holy Spirit that we learn to depend on for  guidance instead of trusting in the rules.  I also know that certain things are just not appropriate.  And I trust that the Holy Spirit will guide me into these truths.  But what is it exactly that is inappropriate?  I wonder this for myself and I am guessing that over time, the Holy Spirit will show me when I need to know.  But I also am asking this question as a minister and a servant of the King.  Because I am wondering if I am spending too much time instructing people on what proper attire is, when that is not my assignment.  If we only instruct people on the rules, when do we allow space for the Holy Spirit to move and be their guide?  As I type this I am wondering if that was part of the point here (maybe another layer).  To make the invitation and keep people relying on what has already been given to them inside.  And maybe I need to look around at the other guests and make sure we are all dressed right.  Maybe we need to do more self-correction and not depend on the servants to give us instructions.  If we see that one of our fellow guests is not dressed properly, we should help them out.  Somebody had to see that this guy wasn’t dressed like the rest of the guests.  Did nobody say anything?  They just let him sit there and then get kicked out. 

Maybe this is a reminder to me to always offer a covering to my fellow brother or sister in Christ.  And a reminder, as a servant of God, to ensure that people learn to trust in the Spirit more often.  That may be more relational and loving than focusing on making people follow the inherently known rules.  I don’t know really.  I’m just asking questions. Welcome to my brain.