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v. 12. Not having garment. We have abundant evidence that kings were pro vided with extensive wardrobes from which each invited guest was furnished with a suitable garment.—Schaff. He was speechless. The man who came without a\ wedding garment endorsed substantially the act of those who had proudly refused to comply with the in vitation. It was the same heart dis obedience accompanied by hypocrisy that would fain commit the sin yet escape the consequences. On both sides it is silently assumed that the guest might have had the wedding garment on. The condemned guest is therefore speechless when he hears his doom. v. 13. Outer darkness. To be merely outside the heavenly*city (Rev. 22:15), excluded from its nuptials and festivals, is sad enough, hut to find oneself in a region of darkness with all its horrors— this is the retribution that awaits, the unworthy in the great day.v-1—Braun. v. 14. Many are called. The calling is single. It is wholly God’s. The choice is double and mutual—God’s choice of us and our choice of Him— neither goes alone. Election is mutual, combining His election of us and ours of Him.—Pierson. The calling answers to the invitation of the parable. The chosen are those who accept the invi tation and comply with its conditions— those who in one parable work in the vineyard and in the other array them selves' with the wedding garment of holiness.—Plumptre. What is the pro portion between those who are chosen and those who are called only? All we can say is that there are too many who we must fear are not chosen and there are too few of whom we can feel sure that they are.—Arnot. The Story of a Wedding Party. Matt. 22:1-14. * Memory Verse: “Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matt. 11:28. Approach: Do seme of you remem ber when father and. mother received an invitation to a wedding? Perhaps some of you went with father or mother to a wed- BEGINNERS ding? Helen says AND PRIMARY she went to a wed- Mabel L. Merrill ding just a short time ago, so we will
things, then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, “It was necessary that the word should have been spoken to you but seeing ye put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlast ing life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us.” (Acts 13:45, 46.)—Mauro. v. 9. Go into highways. Literally “partings of the highways”— into places where different roads branch off. The servants are the earliest Christian mis sionaries who went in their journeys to such meeting places of the nations as Rome, Antioch and Corinth.—Carr. As many as ye shall find. The wedding feast went on despite the unfitness of those first selected. The refusal of his own people gave the royal host a chance to exercise a gracious hospitality in quar ters where no thought of claim existed. Jesus thus with exquisite art justifies His attitude to sinners and reveals how reasonable it is that publicans and har lots and even Gentiles when humble, repentant and trustful, should enter into the kingdom before those whom self will and pride had hindered from their rightful place. v. 10. Both bad and good. Without making any distinction between open sinners and the morally correct. The Gospel call fetched in Jews, Samaritans, and outlying heathen alike.—Faucett. v. 11. He saw a man. Note there is one man only without the dress needed. This suggests the keenness of the king’s glance which in all the crowded tables picks out the one ragged, unprepared— so individual in his knowledge, so im possible for us to hide in the crowd.— Maclaren. Had not a garment. Such language could not be strange to those in whose ears had so long resounded those words of prophetic joy, “My soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed me with the garment of sal vation; he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments.” (Is. 61:10.)—J. F. & B. The question nat urally arises—in so mixed an assembly would every man present be of the right sort? Would there be none there to bring discredit on him who had invited them there? The wedding garment rep resents newness of life. For the pro fessed disciple jjot to put on this gar ment (Col. 3:10, 12) is indeed to trifle with God. For the absence of this no excuse can be offered, for the apparel is previously offered each man by his host.—Lewis.
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