Jesus tells a story of a wedding where a king has a feast prepared for his son. He has invited many guests but when he asks them to come on the day they all refuse and insult him. He tells his servants to go out and bring in the bad and the good and give them wedding clothes to wear. This parable is about the kingdom.
Jesus tells another parable. In this parable a whole series of people are invited to a wedding feast, but as it turns out they are not the ones who enjoy the party.
22 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son,
3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. (Mt 22.1-3)
There is a king who wants to give a wedding feast for his son. In this particular parable the wedding feast is the kingdom of Heaven.
Wedding’s and their feasts were prepared in advance so the guests have already been invited.
God summoned the people of Israel to come to his wedding feast (the kingdom). But many of them rejected his offer.
This sounds good, but unfortunately when the time comes to celebrate the sons marriage the people who were invited will not come. This is bad, but it gets worse!
4 Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.” ’
5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. (Mt 22.5-7)
Some even go so far as mistreat the servants he sent. I cant imaging the king will take this rejection lightly. Insulted and angered he destroys the ungrateful and rebellious and burns their city (perhaps a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem in c.e. 70).
But the king still has a wedding to celebrate and seats to fill.
8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.
9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’
10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. (Mt 22.7-10)
Keen to see his sons wedding celebrated and fill the hall with people, the king gets his servants to go out and invite anyone and everyone.
Their selection includes the ‘bad and good’. God forgives the bad and does not leave out the good. This includes the tax collectors, prostitutes, sinners, the righteous, Jews and Gentiles. (People like you and me.)
God summons all people to come to his wedding feast. This represents the kingdom of heaven. How will you respond to him?
Jan Luyken: the man without a wedding garment, Bowyer Bible.
11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment.
12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.
13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Mt 22.11-14)
Jesus says at the end many are called (referring to many people of Israel), but few are chosen (the bad and the good from the streets).
The man is thrown into the outer darkness all bound up because he is not wearing the right clothes. What’s with the clothes you ask?
Only those invited and wear God’s clothes are allowed in the wedding feast. Do you want to come in? If you do you have to change clothes.
About Jesus
“Actually, nobody really believes that God wants everyone to stay exactly as they are. God loves serial killers and child-molesters; God loves ruthless and arrogant businessmen; God loves manipulative mothers who damage their children’s emotions for life. But the point of God’s love is that he wants them to change. He hates what they’re doing and the effect it has on everyone else—and on themselves, too. Ultimately, if he’s a good God, he cannot allow that sort of behaviour, and that sort of person, if they don’t change, to remain for ever in the party he’s throwing for his son.
That is the point of [the clothes at] the end of the story, which is otherwise very puzzling. Of course, within the story itself it sounds quite arbitrary. Where did all these other guests get their wedding costumes from? If the servants just herded them in, how did they have time to change their clothes? Why should this one man be thrown out because he didn’t have the right thing to wear? Isn’t that just the sort of social exclusion that the gospel rejects?
Well, yes, of course, at that level. But that’s not how parables work. The point of the story is that Jesus is telling the truth, the truth that political and religious leaders often like to hide: the truth that God’s kingdom is a kingdom in which love and justice and truth and mercy and holiness reign unhindered. They are the clothes you need to wear for the wedding. And if you refuse to put them on, you are saying you don’t want to stay at the party. That is the reality. If we don’t have the courage to say so, we are deceiving ourselves, and everyone who listens to us.” (Wright, T., 2004. Matthew for Everyone, Part 2: Chapters 16-28, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.)
Jesus tells a story of a wedding where a king has a feast prepared for his son. He has invited many guests but when he asks them to come on the day they all refuse and insult him. He tells his servants to go out and bring in the bad and the good and give them wedding clothes to wear. This parable is about the kingdom.22 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son,
8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.
