Today, we often hear about “dress codes” to observe and “outfits” to pay attention to in everyday life. For better or worse, we all know what they are: terms related to clothing, how we dress in certain situations in order not to clash with the environment or the situation we are in. Put simply, no one would show up to a wedding in work overalls, perhaps well “adorned” with oil stains…, just as I don’t think anyone would go to the beach in August in a suit and tie. Let us admit that today we pay a lot of attention to the right clothing for the right moment, perhaps even too much.
Exaggerations
Some, in the need to find the right dress for every occasion, have built a profession: that is what the vast majority of influencers do, often with lots of exaggerations that, nevertheless, resonate with their “followers.” For some: there’s an outfit for walking the dog; there’s a suitable outfit for going grocery shopping; a dress code for going out to dinner with friends and one for inviting friends over for dinner (clearly distinguishing whether it’s a barbecue in the garden or a fish dinner at home…). Surfing the net, you sometimes come across instructions on how to be “cute” (in terms of dressing) even while gardening, et cetera. What exaggerations! Today it seems that if you are not elegant, chic, and in harmony every day, you are out of this world!
Interior Wedding Garment
Jesus also knows this, and that is why he builds the conclusion of his parable around the wedding garment, and with a rather “dramatic” outcome: someone shows up at a wedding feast inadequately dressed, that is, without the proper dress code for a wedding, and is kicked out…. Commenting on this passage, St. Augustine notes that this is not an exterior garment; rather, it must be an invisible and interior garment, because only the King notices it. If it had been an exterior garment, the servants would have noticed it earlier and prevented the young man from entering. That interior garment, says St. Augustine, is the garment of love, the sincerity of the heart. One can be invited to the feast of someone’s life and not have the openness of heart needed. Indeed, it happens to us; sometimes we invite someone to be part of the feast of our life (say in friendship, business partnership or even marriage) and then discover that their intentions were not honest. They enter our life without the proper dress code, that is, without the right intention. Certainly, discovering this brings disappointment, but also a necessary moment of truth.
Relationship with God
The whole passage is a metaphor for our relationship with God, the King, and the wedding feast is the one between Him and each of us. Not accepting the invitation means rejecting His Love. Insulting and killing the king’s servants expresses the anger we feel when we distance ourselves from God, when we put ourselves, our sick ego, at the center. The wedding garment: not having it is a non-verbal language that says, “I don’t care about being here….” This is indifference. That man without a wedding garment: the Gospel does not tell us whether he was good or bad, because that is not the problem. God invites everyone, absolutely everyone. All He needs is our “ok, I’m in” with the proper disposition. So here is today’s great message: “Love is repaid with love.” Let us not respond with indifference; let us not respond with anger, but with a simple “yes” and the proper disposition of the heart, which is the “dress code” for God’s feast.
[Readings: Isaiah 25:6-10a; Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20; Matthew 22:1-14]
