Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 22:11

"But when the king came in to behold the guests, he saw there a man who had not on a wedding-garment:" — Matthew 22:11 (ASV)

The success of the servants in filling the banqueting hall was not entirely as great as it first appeared; at least, it was not so perfect as to be without mixture. The guests continued to pour into the palace, putting on the robes provided by the King and sitting down with genuine delight to enjoy the good things prepared for them.

However, there was one among them who hated the King and His Son. This man resolved to enter the festive assembly without wearing the robe of gladness, intending to show his contempt for the entire proceedings, even in the royal presence. He came because he was invited, but he came only in appearance. The banquet was intended to honor the King’s Son, but this man had no such intention. He was willing to eat the good things set before him, but in his heart, there was no love for either the King or His well-beloved Son.

His presence was tolerated until a certain solemn moment when the King came in to see the guests. Then the eye, which observes all things but overlooks nothing, detected the daring intruder. The King saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. The wedding garment represents anything indispensable to a Christian but which the unrenewed heart is unwilling to accept.

The man who did not have on the wedding garment was out of sympathy with the assembly, out of harmony with its purpose, and devoid of loyalty to the King; yet he brazened it out and thrust himself in among the wedding guests. It was an act of defiant insolence that could not be allowed to pass unnoticed and unpunished.

In some respects, he was worse than those who refused the invitation, for while he professed to accept it, he came only so that he might insult the King to His face. He would not put on the garment that was freely provided because, by doing so, he would have been honoring the Prince, whose marriage was an object of contempt and scorn to him.

It is well to remember that there are enemies of the heavenly King, not only outside the professing Church of Christ but also within its borders. Some completely refuse to come to His Son’s wedding, but others help to fill the banqueting hall, yet all the while they are enemies of the great Founder of the feast. This man without the wedding garment is the type of those who, in these times, pretend to be Christians but do not honor the Lord Jesus, nor His atoning sacrifice, nor His holy Word.

They are not in accord with the purpose of the Gospel feast, namely, the glory of the Lord Jesus in His saints. They come into the Church for gain, for honor, for fashion, or to undermine the loyal faith of others. The godly can often see them. This man must have been conspicuous among the wedding guests. The traitors within the Church, however, have most to fear from the coming of the King. He will detect them in a moment, just as the royal Host in the parable, as soon as He came in to see the guests, saw there the man who did not have on a wedding garment.

And when the king came in to see the guests,

For whom he had provided sumptuous garments suitable for the wedding—for, just as we provide what is considered appropriate attire for mourners at a funeral, so in the East, they provide, on a much larger scale, suitable apparel for wedding guests.

He saw there a man, which had not on a wedding garment:

He might have had one, for it was provided. The fact that he did not have one was as great an insult to the king as a refusal of his invitation would have been.

He was not bound to provide himself with a wedding garment; indeed, he could not have done so, for he was probably one of those swept up from the highways. But there it hung, and he was requested to put it on.

Yet he refused, and he had the impertinence to sit there without the indispensable wedding garment. If he could not show his contempt for the king in one way, he would do so in another. He dared, in the midst of the wedding feasters, to defy the authority of the king and to refuse to honor the newly-married prince.