Are you dressed properly?

I'm reading "Celebration of Discipline" by Richard Foster at the moment. Something he said triggered God to reveal the meaning of a parable and I felt compeled to share. It was really just a side note explaining a concept he was using in the full discussion of the book. He wrote, "Where are the people today who will respond to the call of Christ? Have we become so accustomed to "cheap grace" that we instinctively shy away from more demanding calls to obedience?" He then quotes Bonhoeffer "The Cost of Discipleship" by saying, "Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross." That definition smacked me across the face and said, "Hey, do you remember the parable about the wedding banquet? You know, the one where noone comes so they invite a bunch of losers; then, the losers come but one shows up dressed like a loser and gets kicked out because of it." I couldn't help but admit that I knew which parable I was being smacked with, and so without further ado, here is the parable and where the definition took me.

Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: ²‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. ³He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. ⁴Again he sent other slaves, saying, “Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.” ⁵But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, ⁶while the rest seized his slaves, maltreated them, and killed them. ⁷The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. ⁸Then he said to his slaves, “The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. ⁹Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.” ¹⁰Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 ‘But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, ¹²and he said to him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?” And he was speechless. ¹³Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” ¹⁴For many are called, but few are chosen.’ - Matthew 22:1-14

So, first of all, this is describing the kingdom of heaven. I'm pretty sure that makes the king, God. The slaves the king sends would represent the prophets to me. Those invited to the wedding banquet are the Israelites/Pharisees. They mistreated the prophets and thouroughly chose to not believe them. The king says those invited were not worthy because they returned his love with contempt and killed/abused anyone sent to them. The king tells his slaves (disciples) to go out into the mainstream and invite everyone they meet. The king comes in and sees a man not following the dress code. He asked him how he was able to get in without a wedding robe and the guy was speechless, and they threw him into the outer darkness.

All of the wedding attendees all experienced the grace of the King. The guy who attended without wearing wedding attire (changing his life) thought he could experience cheap grace. This is where verse 14 comes into play. Many are called, few are chosen. Few are chosen because few respond by coming prepared. Jesus said, "If you love me you will follow my commandments." This cheap grace guy thought he could show up and get free cookies without any type of a commitment to the occasion. The King thought otherwise, he had a wedding banquet to honor his son and his marriage. This guy came unprepared and was therefore kicked out. So the question is are you dressed properly? Or will you show up for the wedding banquet without the proper attire?