1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven [ a ] is like [ b ] a king who [ c ] held a wedding feast for his son. 3 And he sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. 4 Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened cattle are all butchered and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!”’ 5 But they paid no attention and went their separate ways, one to his own [ d ] farm, another to his business, 6 and the rest seized his slaves and treated them abusively, and then killed them.

7 Now the king was angry, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. 8 Then he *said to his slaves, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 So go to the main roads, and invite whomever you find there to the wedding feast.’ 10 Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good; and the wedding hall was filled with [ e ] dinner guests.

Matthew 22:1-10 (NASB)

Match continues

If the first two parables weren’t enough (2 sons asked to work and the man with a vineyard), Jesus hits the religious leaders with a third. And it will continue for a bit more. Jesus proceeds to point out their aberrant behavior in the hopes they will repent and believe the gospel and stop leading others astray.

Wedding feast rejection

In this third punch, Jesus drives home the same idea. The persistent theme is that the Jews (especially the leaders)  have squandered their position as the chosen of God. More than that, they have rejected their Messiah. They are the honored original guests for the wedding feast but choose (many to this day) to reject the offer since it involves repenting and believing in Christ as Messiah. The slaves are the OT prophets. The coming destruction is likely that of Jerusalem in 70AD.

As a result of their rejection, God opens the doors to welcome anyone who will come. As we’ll see in the next passage, many come, “both good and bad”. Who wouldn’t come for a free wedding banquet meal!? But not everyone is chosen as we’ll see. This represents the call to salvation. I don’t believe this is the “wedding feast” of the Lamb that will happen in the future, held for those who accept the call to salvation. Click here for a nice, short, summary of this passage.

Personal story

It reminds me of a time my wife and I were out in a new area of town looking for a restaurant to celebrate my birthday dinner. We saw a church-looking building with decorations out front and today’s date in big letters. So we took a picture thinking what a lovely coincidence!

Then a bride and groom came out along with part of their wedding party. Without “missing a beat”, I walked up to the father of the bride and jokingly said, “I’m sorry we’re late.” He didn’t know me from Adam but invited us to join the wedding banquet inside. He introduced us as special foreign guests of the bride!

RЯeflection

• Have you responded to the call to the wedding feast? The master, God, is calling you. He’s prepared a place for you. You need to believe and go, in faith – that He has provided a way for you through Christ. For more about salvation click here.