Keith Sharp | Studies in the Parables | Matthew 22:1-14
Differences in the Parables
This parable is strikingly similar to the Parable of the Great Supper, but there are important differences. Jesus taught the former earlier in His ministry when he was attending a supper given by an important Pharisee and there might still be hope for the Jewish nation. He spoke this one during the week before His crucifixion when He had already pronounced judgment on the Pharisees and the nation (Matthew 21:28-44) and in answer to the angry response of the chief priests and Pharisees over this condemnation (Matthew 21:45-46). In the Great Supper parable those invited were rude toward and contemptuous of a wealthy man and his feast, whereas in the Marriage of the King’s Son they were contemptuous of and rebellious toward the king and his son. In the Great Supper they were shut out of the feast; in this they and their city were destroyed.
The Parable
A king gave a wedding feast for his son and invited guests, but they were not willing to come. So he sent out other slaves informing them the feast was ready and ordering them to come. But some paid no attention to the command and went about their usual occupation, while others reacted with outright hostility and abused and killed the king’s messengers. Their rebellious, contemptuous refusal of the king’s invitation was doubly inexcusable, for he was not summoning them to some onerous task such as military service but honoring them by inviting them to the wedding feast of the prince. So the king was infuriated and sent his army to destroy both those who abused his messengers and their city.
Then, since the feast was prepared and his intended guests were unworthy of it, the king sent his slaves into the highways to bring in anyone, good or bad. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
But when the king made his entrance, he saw a guest who was not wearing a wedding garment. The king asked him why he was not appropriately dressed, and when the guest couldn’t give a reason, the king ordered him to be bound and thrown into the darkness outside the hall, a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Then the Master Himself drew the conclusion – “For many are called, but few are chosen” (verse 14).
Meaning
God is the Great King whose “name is to be feared among the nations” (Malachi 1:14) and Jerusalem was His city (Psalm 48:1-3). His Son Christ Jesus was about to be wed, His kingdom was compared to a wedding feast, and the Jews as a nation were the invited guests. God sent His prophets to invite them to His kingdom, but they were not interested. He also sent John the Baptist, as well as apostles, prophets, and evangelists, telling them the kingdom had arrived, but they abused and killed the messengers. Thus God destroyed both their nation and their city.
Because the Jewish nation rejected and killed the messengers of God, He opened the door to the Gentiles to come in. The invitation was not just to the morally upright but to all mankind, both good and bad. But those who fail to put on the wedding garment of righteousness will be cast out of the heavenly kingdom. Though the gospel calls all, only those who respond in obedient faith and turn to righteousness are chosen by the Lord for the eternal, heavenly kingdom.
Application
The gospel invitation is the summons of the King to the wedding feast of His Son. Those who refuse this call are rebellious to the Great King and face utter destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).
He invites all, Jew and Gentile, morally upright and immoral wretches (1 Timothy 1:15-16), to come into the kingdom. But when He comes in the person of His Son in judgment (John 5:22,28-29), even those who have responded by faith and obedience to the gospel call and have been saved will be cast out and punished eternally if they have not put on the garment of righteous living (Revelation 7:13-14; 19:8). Yes, a child of God, one saved by the blood of Christ, can be cast into outer darkness away from the light of God and spend eternity weeping and grinding his teeth in anguish.
God calls all mankind to His Son’s wedding feast through the gospel (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14), but only those who accept the call, wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, put on the wedding garments of righteous living, and remain faithful to the Lord (Revelation 19:13-14) are chosen of God (Ephesians 1:4).
