''"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' (Matthew 22:11-13).''
In the ancient Middle East, the host of a major feast, especially a wedding feast, would provide garments for their guests. This is likely the trend of having a color scheme for weddings. This may also have been a way for the host to know if someone had crashed his party.
In the parable of the wedding banquet, Jesus tells us about one such party crasher. The original invitations were spurned by the intended guests. The host went out and invited anyone. Those who accepted the invitation were dressed in the appropriate wedding garments. But one refused to coordinate. He refused to give into "peer pressure." He wanted to be in the party on his own terms. And he gets cast into the outer darkness.
This parable is one of the easiest judgment parables that Jesus speaks in St. Matthew's Gospel. Especially when the wedding crasher is thrown into the outer darkness where "there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." The place of weeping and gnashing of teeth is the outer darkness of Hell. Those who refuse to accept the wedding garments of the King of Kings will not be allowed in His kingdom.
You were clothed with the proper wedding garments when you were baptized. "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27). He places His wedding garments on you so that you may celebrate with Him in the marriage feast of the Lamb in Heaven in eternity (Revelation 19:6-9). This is the feast we receive a foretaste of every time we receive Jesus' body and blood in Holy Communion. The feast that we don't need to crash because Jesus invites everyone to believe and so partake. Amen.
