When I was driving at the beach a few years ago, I passed by a church that had a large sign out front that said, "Service at 10:00. Come as you are." Churches at the beach have the unique challenge of ministering to the residents at the beach as well as ministering to those who pass through on their vacations.

I don’t know about you but when I go to the beach, the last thing I pack is church clothes. The beach is a place to kick back and relax. So in order to minister to the vacationing population, this church had established a service where it didn’t matter what you wore. People could show up in dresses, suits, and cut-off shorts and worship together.

Well the king in the parable that Jesus shared had been rejected by the invited guests so he instructed his servants to go out and get anyone they could find to come to the feast he had prepared. As the servants went through the streets, I wonder how many of the people they invited to the feast had a set of fancy clothes with them. They didn’t know that they were about to be invited to a wedding feast at the king’s palace. They had not made the preparations for such an event. Nevertheless, they were invited and came to the feast. They gathered around the table with their mouths watering over the feast the king had prepared.

But then there was the one guest that caught the attention of the king. He probably looked a lot like the other guests assembled there. He too had been called from out of the streets and didn’t have time to change clothes before he came to the feast. He didn’t know to pack his nicest clothes that morning when he left the house. But the king approaches him and demands to know how he was able to pass through the doors of the feast when he didn’t have on a wedding robe.

My goodness! What was the king expecting when he sent out his servants to invite anyone they found in the streets to come to the wedding feast? What attire did he expect to grace his feast? But nevertheless, the king has this guest bound and thrown out of the feast all because h was not clothed in the correct manner. In this parable is Jesus giving his own fashion advice? Is Jesus trying to talk about robes or is the wedding robe perhaps pointing toward something more fundamental than mere clothing?

In the musical "My Fair Lady," Henry Higgins, a speech professor, makes a bet with his friend that he could take any woman he chose and train her to speak and act properly. He then boasts that he could pass her off as a member of the upper class, perhaps even royalty. As Henry and his friend walk along the streets on London they see Eliza Dolittle.

Eliza Dolittle is a poor woman who makes a pittance selling flowers on the streets of London. Her face is covered in dirt and her clothes are in tatters. But one of the most noticeable traits that Eliza has is her way of speaking. Henry calls her accent "dreadful." She speaks with an accent associated with the lower class. Here is the subject of Henry’s experiment. Henry makes a deal with Eliza and whisks her off to his home for training.

The professor works tirelessly with Eliza and eventually takes her to the horse races to see if anyone can tell that she is not a "lady." Well the experiment seems to be going very well. Eliza is introduced to the professor’s mother and friends and makes the proper kind of conversation. With perfect diction she says, "How kind of you to let me come." She even speaks of the "rain in Spain."

Then it is time for the races to start and the crowd gathers around the fence circling the track to watch the race. The women wear outlandish and fashionable hats and the men are dressed up in their finery. They all watch with expressionless faces as the horses race around the track. The song they sing is slow and monotone as they watch the race.

Then from the middle of the crowd we hear Eliza loudly cheering in her native accent for one of the horses. Well her cover is blown and it is immediately known by all around her that she is not the lady she appears to be. Even though she can speak in the accent of the upper class and is dressed in fancy clothes, it is obvious that she is not versed in proper race etiquette. She is quickly whisked from the racetrack and taken back to the professor’s study for more work on her manners.

I wonder if what happened at the wedding feast in the parable is similar to this situation. At the wedding feast there must have been people in various types of clothing. Some had come from working in their shops, perhaps others from working in the fields. This feast was not attended by the upper crust of society but by whomever the servants could find out on the streets of the town.

But when the other guests entered the banquet hall they must have put on their wedding robes. The wedding robe in this case does not refer to an article of clothing but to one’s way of behaving. Though this one guest may have been wearing the same type of clothing the other guests were wearing, he had not put on the correct way of behaving at the wedding feast. Though the other guests had not changed their clothes when they entered the banquet hall, they themselves had been changed by attending the feast.

The non-wedding robed guest is the Eliza Dolittle of the party. Though he looks like all the other people who had gathered for the feast, it is obvious that he is different and does not belong there. He has not been sufficiently changed to join in with the party.

If we look at the feast the king in the parable gives as a metaphor for the great banquet we will join in the kingdom of God, then we can see that the doors are thrown open wide to admit all who would come. However, this feast is not a "come as you are" party. You may come to the door as you are, but in order to enter into the feast, you must be changed.

Because the table has been prepared for us in God’s kingdom, we are to prepare ourselves for the banquet. We are to put on our own wedding robe - a life lived in Christ. This is what Paul speaks about as "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable." This is our wedding robe. The clothing of a Christian life is what we are to wear.

Now there are those who can sure put on a garment that looks a lot like a wedding robe. They can say the right words, quote the right scriptures, and pray eloquent prayers. However, only those who truly put on Christ are welcomed at this feast. Those who just say the words and don’t follow through will be exposed as the ones who have entered the feast without the proper attire.

We have all been extended an invitation full of grace to attend the wedding feast in the kingdom of God. However, acceptance of the invitation – such as we do when we confess our belief in Christ – is to agree to be changed. God extends an invitation to us where we are, God reaches out to us on Main Street, in our work place, and in our homes. God reaches us where we are and invites us to come to where God calls us to be. God comes to us where we are but God loves us too much to allow us to stay there.

Tom Long in his commentary on this text says, "To come into the church in response to the gracious, altogether unmerited invitation of Christ and then not conform one’s life to that mercy is to demonstrate spiritual narcissism so profound that one cannot tell the difference between the wedding feast of the Lamb of God and happy hour in a bus station bar."

How we behave and live our lives should be a reflection of the changes that God is working in our lives. There should be a discernable difference between a life live in Christ and one that is not. By accepting the invitation to follow Christ, we open ourselves up to be changed and molded into the people God is calling us to be. God has sent out the invitations, are you dressed for the feast?