Sunday 11th October – Right Clothes – Pastor Adrian Kitson

11-10-2026, Matthew 22:1-4, pastor adrian kitson, Right Clothes made by the tailor

Matthew 22: 1-14

Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: ²‘The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. ³He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

⁴‘Then he sent some more servants and said, “Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.”

⁵‘But they paid no attention and went off – one to his field, another to his business. ⁶The rest seized his servants, ill-treated them and killed them. ⁷The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

⁸‘Then he said to his servants, “The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. ⁹So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.” ¹⁰So 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.

¹¹‘But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹²He asked, “How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?” The man was speechless.

¹³‘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.”

¹⁴‘For many are invited, but few are chosen.’

This story about the wedding reception really upsets those who are very sure that they are already in their rightful place in God’s blessing and belonging without the King or the Son.

The King sends out his messengers to the people of his kingdom. There is to be a great national banquet in honour of the King’s son – the Prince of the kingdom. All citizens of the Kingdom are invited …

“Welcome my friends to the banquet table

All of my friends, please gather ‘round”, calls the King to his people.

(Banquet Table Pt 1,2 & 3, Paul Colemen Trio, Serious Fun)

But the people of this King’s kingdom do not listen to his messengers. They choose not to come to the banquet. They have other more important things on their agenda.

⁵‘But they paid no attention and went off – one to his field, another to his business. ⁶The rest seized his servants, ill-treated them and killed them.

When preaching on this parable before 1523 Luther astutely identified three great barriers to coming to this wedding feast in these two sentences:

The first, or the farm, signifies our honour; it is a great hindrance that we do not think of Christ and believe in him; we fear we must suffer shame and become dishonoured, and we do not believe that God can protect us from shame and preserve us in honour.
The second is in the spheres of business. We easily fall with all our hearts into everyday affairs of the world, into greed, instead of clinging on to the Word. We “worry lest we perish and our stomachs fail us: not trusting God to sustain us”.
The third barrier is the worst, according to Luther. It is the problem of ‘exalted spirits’. We can be “high, wise and prudent, that we not only despise but martyr and destroy people God sends to call us in. We do this to retain our own honour and praise, “in order to be something”. (Church Postil, Twentieth Sunday after Trinity. Second Sermon. The Kingdom of Christ, the King’s Son’s Marriage and the Wedding Garment).

Despite our protecting our honour, our efforts to do more than just survive, and our sometimes ‘exalted’ spirit’, the King is determined to honour his son on the occasion of his wedding.

So, he sends messenger after messenger until his own people show absolute disdain for him and his gracious invitation. Not only do his people make light of it they get violent and kill the messengers out of greed for what they believe they can get for themselves without the King or his son!

The King responds by dealing with this injustice by the sternest possible means. He is gracious but he is also just. Injustice must be dealt with. He destroys the capital city of his own nation. (This would actually happen to the very city in which Jesus is speaking these parables under the Roman general, Titus, at the command of the Caesar at the time, Vespasian, in AD70).

The King changes tack. He wants to celebrate the wedding of his loved Son. He does the unthinkable. He sends out his messengers beyond his own people to country roads, towns and other city streets saying;

“Welcome my friends to the banquet table

All of my friends, please gather ‘round”.

So look around.

No one’s righteous. No one’s better. Take a look inside.

(Banquet Table Pt 1,2 & 3, Paul Colemen Trio, Serious Fun)

This wedding reception is a very mixed crowd.

We hear of a particular person … He has responded to the King’s gracious invitation for some reason.

So I took a look around to see who he invited here tonight

And I noticed she was one of those who sold her body to the night

and I saw the banquet host rise and hold this woman close

and I felt my anger burn; “How is she invited here tonight!”.

Notice me. I am at the banquet table.

This is my rightful place …

And I saw a little man climbing on his chair so he was heard

and I know that he was one that would rob you blind for all that you were worth

and I saw the banquet host rise and fill his empty cup

is there a single thread of justice at this table tonight?

(Banquet Table Pt 1,2 & 3, Paul Colemen Trio, Serious Fun)

This fellow doesn’t seem to appreciate where he is, who allowed him to even be here and in whose presence he now dines. All he can see is people who by their very presence in this rarefied space challenge his honour, his ‘rightness, his blessed life and his exalted spirit.

He can only cast his high-achieving judgemental eye over the gathering.

The King is on to him. “Hey buster, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?”

Now that is a surprise. What ‘robe’ is the King talking about?

The King directs that man to see where he is and who he is with….

Look around

No one’s righteous, no one’s better

So take a look inside

Take a look inside

Yes, ‘take a look inside’. This guy has not done that. This guy won’t do that. This guy is just here to get what he believes he has earned – what is his rightful reward. He is here to be affirmed in his own exalted view of himself. He wants something from the King for his own life project, but he doesn’t want the King or the life of his Son.

Grateful, humble, open trust, or, faith, is that robe he is not wearing. Luther makes the simple point (as do others). Faith is the only robe that can be worn in the banquet of the Son’s wedding.

Now to you and me: It is possible for us to be like this robeless person. We may have been clothed with the robe of righteousness – the clothes of forgiveness and grace of Jesus the Son when we were baptised (Galatians 3:27), but it is possible to let that robe of sonship fall from your life. Many have. Many do.

You can leave his clothes of adoption behind. You might be here at the banquet for some reason, but not in humility, repentance, close affection and thanks to Jesus the Son.

But faith in this Son is what the King loves to see and celebrate – faith in the grace and goodness of the Son who loves these people like a husband and wife love each other.

People who love each other don’t need perfect behaviour, perfect body, big bank balance, flash gifts, perfect house, lots of shiny new things or anything more than that love for each other. With that love they can see through wrinkles and weaknesses as they just love.

Another undeserving guest of the King speaks: maybe a Zacchaeus or a Mary Magdalene or a Peter….

I took a look inside

Suddenly I felt my eyes pouring tears on me of liberty

and I realised I was one who needed love and setting free

my brother here, my sister there, and the banquet host, his empty chair,

forgiveness came, and sweet release, and then I saw why he invited me tonight

Please forgive me,

Please forgive me.

(Banquet Table Pt 1,2 & 3, Paul Colemen Trio, Serious Fun)

Friend, you have been granted entrance to a whole new way to live your life and even rise when it ends. You have been gifted the heart; the eyes; the ears of faith in the goodness, power and grace of this Crucified and Ruling King Jesus.

That ‘robe of righteousness’ was placed on you the day you died to self and rose to him at the font. He renews the robe again today at this wedding banquet of the Lamb.

And that Son loves like a husband, like a wife loves.

Luther gets it …

Now, as the bride loves her betrothed, so also does Christ love us; and we on the other hand will love him, if we believe and are the true bride. And although he gave us even heaven, the wisdom of all the Prophets, the glory of all the saints and angels, yet we would not esteem them unless he gave us himself. The bride can be satisfied by nothing, is insatiable, the only one thing she wants is the bridegroom himself…. She cannot rest until she has her beloved himself.

So is Christ …. disposed toward me: he will have me only, and besides nothing. And if I gave him even all I could, it would be of no use to him; he would have no regard for it, even if I wore all the hoods of all the monks. He wants my whole heart; for the outward things, as the outward virtues, are only maid servants, he wants the wife herself…. The union and the marriage are accomplished by faith, so that I rely fully and freely upon him, that he is mine. If I only have him, what can I desire more? (Church Postil, Twentieth Sunday after Trinity. Second Sermon. The Kingdom of Christ, the King’s Son’s Marriage and the Wedding Garment).

If I only have him, what can I desire more?

That question will help you see if you have the robe on today.

He sees you anyway. Today he looks through your efforts to keep your honour intact or get ahead by getting what you think you need apart from him, and more than occasionally having quite an over-exalted view of yourself.

He looks at you with eyes of love. Then faith in that love is born.

You know he loves. You know you belong. You know you are only here because he invited you an called you and gave you everything. You know this is your rightful place not because you were right, but because he is righteous in every way and shares that with you.

No wonder Paul says to those of us at the great banquet, “Rejoice now in the Lord always and again I say, Rejoice!

⁸Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. ^{9 …} And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9

PERSONAL REFLECTION

Summary

This is a sermon on Matthew 22:1–14, the parable of the wedding banquet.

The story. A king prepares a wedding feast for his son. The invited guests ignore the invitation, and some kill the messengers. The king answers with justice, then widens the invitation to everyone in the streets, “the bad as well as the good.” One guest turns up without wedding clothes and is cast out.

Main points of the sermon

Three barriers to the feast (Luther). The “farm” is protecting our honour and reputation. The “business” is anxious, greedy absorption in everyday life. The third and worst is “exalted spirits,” where pride makes us resist those God sends to call us.
A mixed crowd. Using the Paul Coleman Trio song “Banquet Table,” the sermon pictures a banquet of the undeserving: the broken, the dishonest, the outcast. The robeless man resembles those who were sure of their place from the start.
The robe is faith. The man is not missing good behaviour. He is missing humble, grateful trust in the Son. He wants the king’s rewards but not the king or the Son. He never “takes a look inside.”
The robe can be dropped. Baptism clothes us in Christ (Gal 3:27), but we can let that robe fall away through pride or self-reliance.
Christ loves like a bridegroom. Luther says the bride is satisfied only by the bridegroom himself, not his gifts. The sermon’s test question is: “If I only have him, what can I desire more?”
Belonging is grace. We are here because he invited us and is righteous, not because we are right. The sermon closes with Paul’s call to rejoice and Philippians 4:8–9.

Personal Bible Study Reflection

Where do I sit at the table?
The song’s voice says, “This is my rightful place,” and then gets angry at who else was invited. It’s uncomfortable how easily I can feel that too: quietly measuring who deserves grace, who has “earned” a seat. The parable asks me to look at the people near me at the table, not as threats to my standing, but as fellow guests of the same host.
Which barrier is mine right now?
Luther’s three are a useful examination of conscience:

Honour: Where am I protecting my image, afraid of looking foolish for trusting Christ?
Business: Where do worry and busyness crowd out time with God’s Word?
Exalted spirit: Where do I resist correction or the people God sends to challenge me?

Am I wearing the robe today?
Faith as the garment is both a comfort and a challenge. The robe isn’t earned by effort; it’s received in baptism. But it can be neglected. The question “If I only have him, what can I desire more?” is a gentle diagnostic. When I’m restless, chasing achievement or approval, it often means I’ve been reaching for the gifts rather than the Giver.
Hard edges of the text.
The king’s judgment on the city and on the robeless guest is sobering. The sermon reads it not as God being arbitrary, but as the seriousness of rejecting love: the man wanted the benefits without the relationship. I can hold both: the invitation is genuinely free and wide, and it is meant to be received with trust, not treated casually.
Gratitude and response.
The final note is joy. The guest who “took a look inside” finds tears, forgiveness, and release. I’m invited to rest in being loved before being useful, and to extend that same welcome to others.

Prayer prompt:
Lord, thank you for inviting me when I had nothing to bring. Clothe me again in your grace. Loosen my grip on my pride and worries, and teach me to want you above your gifts. Help me welcome others to your table as freely as you welcomed me. Amen.

Questions to ponder further

Who would I be surprised or uncomfortable to find sitting at this banquet, and why?
What “field” or “business” is currently competing for my attention?
What would it look like this week to live as someone who simply belongs, rather than someone proving they do?