Dress-code requirements for God's wedding banquet

By the Rev. Robert Blezard
Revised Common Lectionary reflection for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 23, Year A

October 11, 2026

The last four verses of this week’s Gospel lesson may seem jarring to progressive Mainline Christians (like me) because we are so accustomed to understanding God as all-merciful and all-loving. After all, the reading tells us that “the king’s” banquet hall is filled with folks “both good and bad” (v. 10). So why was the guest tossed out for a dress-code violation? What could Jesus possibly mean?

The “wedding robe” question raises many issues central to how we are stewarding our lives of faith, issues that have profound consequences. Could we – church goers and folks who confess Jesus as Lord – be among those caught without a “wedding robe” at God’s banquet?

There is much to unpack, first of which is the whole “wedding banquet” image. Life eternal is perhaps our popular culture’s go-to interpretation, but another understanding is that the “wedding banquet” refers to the here-and-now life abundant that Jesus promises us in John 10:10. Support for this idea can be found in this week’s reading from Isaiah, which speaks of God providing God’s people “a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow” (Isaiah 25:6). Is the “wedding banquet” in the life to come or the here and now? Probably some combination of both/and. Whatever way we understand the “wedding banquet,” we all want to be guests in good standing, right?

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About the Author:

The Rev. Robert Blezard is a lifelong writer and editor. Before retiring from ministry in 2026 he had served as web content editor of the Stewardship of Life Institute, as a congregational pastor, as an assistant to the bishop and as an editor of The Lutheran magazine. He lives in Maryland.

Previously published reflections for Proper 23, Year A:
2023 – We all are invited to God’s sumptuous feast
2020 – A strange story indeed
2017 – The welcome table
2014 – Come to the feast
2011 – ‘Pity party’ or ‘plenty party’?

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