Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Tone 5; The Beheading of the Honourable and Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John
2 Corinthians 1:21-2:4; Acts 13:25-32; Matthew 22:1-14; Mark 6:14-30
All-night Vigil Feast
Read Matthew 22:1-14
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
“[The king] said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.”
In the culture of Jesus’ day, one was invited to a wedding by receiving a wedding garment. The wedding garment was your ticket. So basically the fellow without the wedding garment crashed that wedding.
But Jesus mentions that the wedding banquet is an allegory for the heavenly banquet. So what does the garment symbolize in the allegory? During baptism we hear these words: “All you who were baptized into Christ, you have put on Christ.” “Put on Christ” is to be understood as “clothed in Christ”. So in order to get to heaven and stay in heaven, one must “wear Christ”, one must have Christ. Without Christ, we cannot be saved.
P.S.: When Adam and Eve sinned and felt naked, God provided leather clothes. It means that an animal needed to be killed to provide these clothes. It was the first sacrifice made in the Bible. So similarly when we were naked without grace, Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice in order to clothe us with Himself.