Matthew 22:1-14--The Parable of the Wedding Feast

​Matthew 22:1-14 English Standard Version (ESV)
LISTEN:  https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Matt.22.1-Matt.22.14
The Parable of the Wedding Feast
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. 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. 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.
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.”

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We may have a little bit of trouble understanding this parable because most of us don't understand Jewish weddings of that time.  First, the wedding feasts would go on for days or weeks depending on how much the bridegrooms family had--literally the party would keep going as long as the wine would keep flowing (we see this at the first miracle of Jesus when Jesus' mother asked him to do something because they had run out of wine so quickly--that would have been an embarrassment to the family.).  Since this is a feast given by a king we could imagine this wedding feast could last a long time.

In today's culture we send out wedding invitations with an RSVP card to ask people if they are coming or not coming and we give them the choice.  In that culture, you received a set of wedding garments as your invitation and everyone must wear the garments to show they had been invited, and if you were invited, you came no matter what--especially if the king invited you.  Also these things didn't just happen overnight...there were long betrothal periods and the bridegroom would leave to go back to his father's house to build a house for his wife and family and he could only come back for his bride once the place he had prepared met the standards of the father of the bridegroom (the king in this story who represents God the Father).  At that time the father would tell his son, "go get your wife."  The bride would have to always be ready for the harbinger to come morning, noon or night to blow the trumpet and say, "Behold, the bridegroom commeth."  And you'd better not be caught unaware and not ready for his coming because the wedding was happening as soon as he got there and then he was immediately taking you away to consummate the marriage and the wedding feast would begin.  Everyone that knew they were going to be invited would have known for a LONG time to get their affairs in order, so all the excuses that are made in this story fall flat on their face and show disrespect to the king, his son, and the son's bride and it is understandable in that light why the king is angered.

Some of the people that were invited didn't just ignore the invitation, but they actively killed the messengers bringing the invitation to them (people that killed the prophets and the missionaries that are sent out).  The king in his anger sent out his army to destroy those who had shown themselves to be his enemies and destroyed them by fire, but he was not about to let that ruin his son's wedding and he had prepared a great feast for a great people, so he ordered his messengers to invite in everyone that they could find from the highways and byways (the common people).  We see in another gospel telling this same parable that the king kept ordering his men back out even compelling people to come until the banquet hall was full.

Remember what I said though about the wedding garments being your invitation?  Everyone had a dress code that was coming to the party and the clothes were provided by the bridegroom's family.  If anyone came in the wrong clothes they should not be able to come in.  We see here someone clothed in their own works instead of being clothed in the righteousness of Christ trying to enter the wedding feast and they are thrown out into the place of utter darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (hell--the place of eternal torment).

Then it ends with an interesting statement, many are called, but few are chosen.  I don't normally get into teaching on the doctrines of grace and if grace is irresistible or if we must choose to receive it, but since I recently had that discussion with a friend just last night and this passage clearly speaks to that issue, I feel God might want me to point out that this passage doesn't say, "Many were invited but few chose to RSVP."  It says many were invited (the whole world) but few were chosen (the Church).  This is called the doctrine of election.  While grace was provided to everyone, only those whom are invited and whom God provides the wedding garments for have a right to attend the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven--God does all the work and chooses who He wants to invite. He even has the right and ability as king to sent out His army to compel people to come if that's what He wants--He can make people choose Him if he wants to and will do so if that's what brings glory to Him and to the Son (I forgot to mention that the focus of the Jewish wedding mentioned here is the bridegroom and not the bride like in Western culture).  Everything is about this being his day and showing the world how much he loves his bride that he has chosen.  So you see, even in this simple parable some great truths have been revealed about how Christ loves us and what He meant by "I go to prepare a place for you that where I am there you may be also" (the same words a bridegroom would say to his bride during his "proposal" when they became betrothed).  There are lots of hidden gems here for us to find, but suffice it to say that Jesus will not be coming back for us until the father sends Him back (why Jesus said only the Father knows the time and the hour) and is satisfied with the accommodations and the feast that has been prepared for us, and God will make sure that everyone that is supposed to be at the party is there.