October 18, 2026 – Trinity 20 – Matthew 22:1-14 (NKJV)
1 And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is
like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, 3 and sent out his servants to call those who
were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. 4 Again, he sent out other servants,
saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are
killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”’ 5 But they made light of it and went their
ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. 6 And the rest seized his servants, treated them
spitefully, and killed them. 7 But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his
armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The
wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 Therefore go into the highways, and
as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ 10 So those servants went out into the highways and
gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with
guests. 11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a
wedding garment. 12 So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding
garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot,
take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14
“For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Why do so many people not go to church? For the same reason why they should go to
church. The LORD God says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways
my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9) People don’t go to church,
because they think they don’t need it. They think differently than God thinks. People should
go to church, in order to forsake their own thoughts and listen to God’s thoughts, which are
higher and better than their own.
Parents don’t want their children to hang around kids who are troublemakers, because they
might have a bad influence on their children. If their kids spend time with kids who cuss,
talk back to their parents, steal, and commit other crimes, then they fear that their kids might
do these same things. Husbands don’t want their wives hanging out with women who
badmouth their husbands, because they fear their wives might learn to badmouth them.
Wives don’t want their husbands to hang out with guys who get drunk and chase after
women for the same reason. Yet, everyone seems quite comfortable with their own thoughts.
Their thoughts are safe. They won’t lead them astray. Others’ thoughts and opinions may be
bad, but everyone thinks that his own thoughts are right.
But what does Scripture say? God says through Isaiah that the unrighteous should forsake
his thoughts (Isaiah 55:7). Who are the unrighteous? Scripture says that we are all
unrighteous! (Romans 3:10-23) And Jesus says that out of your heart come evil thoughts
(Matthew 15:19). So, if you are unrighteous, then your thoughts are unrighteous. And if your
thoughts are unrighteous, then you aren’t going to make yourself righteous by means of your
own thoughts! You must forsake your thoughts and listen to and believe God’s thoughts.
That’s why everyone should come to church. The Proverb says, “Whoever isolates himself
seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.” (18:1) Spending your time
with your own thoughts is spending time with your most foolish advisor. We must forsake
our own thoughts, and run to God for his.
Some of what God teaches, you can figure out on your own. Even unbelievers agree that you
should do unto others as you would have them do unto you (Luke 6:31). Although, it is
certainly advantageous to have Christian rulers, even non-Christian governments pass laws
against theft, murder, and slander. Yet, you cannot figure out the Gospel on your own. It
would have never entered your thoughts that the eternal Son of God would become a man,
born of woman, born under the law for your sake, unless God had revealed it to you through
his word (Galatians 4:4-5). The thought would have never crossed your mind that Christ
Jesus, God’s own Son, after having fulfilled the Law in your place, who had no sin of his
own, would take all your sin and die for it on the cross, unless God had told you (2 Cor.
5:21). No amount of pondering and meditating your thoughts could have revealed to you
that God desires to save you by grace as a gift apart from your own works, and
that your eternal life has been bought and paid for, unless God spoke by his holy prophets
and apostles (Romans 3:23-30; Ephesians 3:8-9). As St. Paul declares, “How can they
believe in him whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone
preaching? … So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
(Romans 10). Our thoughts are not God’s thoughts. Only God’s thoughts reveal the saving
faith.
When Jesus first told this parable, it would have been understood that he was preaching
against Israel. For hundreds of years, God had sent his prophets to Israel, to invite them to be
his people that he might be their God. But they ignored him. They went off to their own
business, worrying about earthly things. What’s more, they persecuted and killed God’s
prophets, from Zechariah to John the Baptist. And yet, God would not let this rejection leave
his banquet empty. He sent his Apostles to all nations to baptize and proclaim the Gospel, so
that his wedding hall might be filled (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 18:6).
The message of this parable endures even today. God continues to invite people to his
banquet, and people continue to reject his invitation. Although God offers the most priceless
meal, a delicacy the earth cannot produce: free pardon of all sins, eternal life and friendship
with God; and although he charges nothing for this precious gift, but gives it away for free to
be received by faith, people continue to refuse his offer. This is true of sharing the Gospel
with someone for the first time. Instead, they seek the transient things of this life. While
others grow hostile, persecute and utter all kinds of evil against those who proclaim the
Gospel, even kill the messengers who bring good news. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts,
nor are our ways his ways.
This reveals to us God’s thoughts. God desires to save all people. He offers salvation to
those who reject it. He sends his prophets, apostles, and pastors to those who will malign
and harm them for offering the words of eternal life. But this parable makes clear, no one
goes to hell because God refuses to invite them. They go to hell because they reject God’s
earnest call.
We learn from Jesus’ parable that the banquet is filled with both bad and good. This shows
that within the Christian Church on earth, there will be a mix of faithful Christians and
hypocrites. People will always find false motives to openly join the church, while secretly
trusting in themselves and rejecting Christ’s word in their hearts. But, God can see even the
secret heart. The Church on earth is not charged to read peoples’ hearts but take their
outward words and actions at face value. Our thoughts are not God’s thoughts. God will
judge on the Last Day. In the meantime, we are to invite everyone to the banquet, to invite
all people to repent of their sins and believe in the Gospel. Everyone, men, women, rich,
poor, elderly and newborns, the disasters and the well-put-togethers are called to come to
church and be members of it.
If you want to be saved, it is of the utmost importance that you go to church to hear the
Gospel of Christ, but it must be said that not all who go to church will be saved. We see this
in Jesus’ parable when the man in the wedding hall is thrown out for not wearing the
wedding garment. We don’t throw people out of church if they don’t wear the proper attire.
Rather, this teaches how Christ will judge the secret hearts on the Last Day. There will be
those who outwardly belonged to the Christian Church on earth, but who didn’t really
belong, because they had no faith.
The wedding garment this man failed to wear is the garment of salvation, which Christ gives
to every believer. The Prophet Isaiah declares in chapter 61, “I will greatly rejoice in the
LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.” This robe of righteousness is won for the
Christian by nothing less than Jesus’ blood. The elder declares to the Apostle John when he
sees the heavenly vision in Revelation chapter 7, “They have washed their robes and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
The man cast out of the wedding hall into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and
gnashing of teeth, was a false Christian. He claimed to be a child of the light, but he clung to
his own righteousness instead of Christ’s. His thoughts were not God’s thoughts. When you
stand before the judgment throne, you cannot bring any of your own works as a token to
enter. You may not be clothed with your own righteousness. Your own righteousness is as
filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). You must take them all off and put on Christ. You must repent of
your whole self, your wisdom, your good deeds, your good thoughts, and be clothed in
Christ’s wisdom, deeds, and thoughts. You’re not going to get into heaven because you’re a good co-worker, a good mother or father, or because you put lots of money in the offering
plate, but only through the merits of Christ alone (Philippians 3:7-9).
And this should comfort you. Because this means that nothing you have done in your life
can bar you from the heavenly banquet. As you must renounce your own righteous works to
get into heaven, so must you renounce your sins. Repent of all of them and place them all on
Jesus. He will cloth you head to foot, so that you can enter his hall and remain his guest
forever.
“Many are called, but few are chosen.” This declaration of Jesus goes against the thoughts of
men so much, that most will deny it. They’ll either deny that the many are truly called, or
they will deny that the few are truly chosen. We have already learned irrefutably that God
desires all people to be saved. He invites everyone to his banquet. But here Jesus says that
those who are ultimately saved are chosen, that is, they are elected before the foundation of
the world (Ephesians 1:4). God chose us. We did not choose him (John 15:16). Only those
who are elected by God are saved. So, people protest: “Then he must not have desired all
people to be saved, otherwise he would have elected them too.” But, no; Scripture makes
clear that God desires all people to be saved. That is why he calls them so urgently. Then,
people protest: “Then he must not have chosen the saved by grace, but rather chose those
who chose him.” But no, Scripture makes clear that God chose us by grace apart
from our works (Romans 11:5-6).
How can this be explained? How can God desire all to be saved, yet not all are saved? And
how can he choose a few of whom he’s called without it being based on their works? God’s
thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are our ways his ways. Some of God’s thoughts he
reveals to us, and we must believe them. Other thoughts of God he keeps hidden, and we
cannot reject what he has revealed in order to explain what he has not revealed.
Election is Gospel. If God did not choose you, then you would reject him. Most reject
Christ, because they have their own thoughts. Election should not make you doubt your
salvation, but rather give you confidence. Your salvation is God’s work, not yours. How do
you know you are elect? Because Jesus died for you and God has revealed to you that he
forgives all your sins for Christ’s sake. The many who are not chosen do not believe this. All
the elect believe this. Do you believe in Christ? Take comfort that God has chosen you
before the foundation of the world. And seek to make your election sure by pursuing the
thoughts of God revealed in his word and practicing them (2 Peter 1:10). God’s thoughts are
not our thoughts, but God has revealed his thoughts to you; thoughts of mercy, love, and
salvation to all who believe. Amen