Everyone Loves A Wedding, Don't They?

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

Matthew 22:1-14

One of Jesus’ favorite teaching techniques was parables – stories from everyday life used to illustrate insights into His kingdom. One of those events people in the first century identified with and we still identify with is a wedding. Jesus tells the story of a wedding feast, a Royal Wedding feast, in Matthew 22:1-14

(I inserted comments about the popularity of the Royal Weddings and the high television ratings they garnered around the world and even here in the US. Everyone seems to love a wedding. Most everyone, at least.)

(Summarize the story or read from the text. I chose to summarize the story as follows)

King has a son who is getting married, and a banquet is planned

• He sends out invitations to all the in crowd, all those who are invited to such occasions, influential people, anyone who’s anyone

• He gets no RSVP’s

• He sends some servants into town to personally invite them but they refuse to come. What an insult to the king. Tantamount to insurrection/rebellion.

• But the king is patient and a third invitation is extended. Servants go out again. They start talking about all the food that’s been prepared but they get the cold shoulder. They don’t seem interested at all. They make up some excuses – take care of my field, take care of business.

• Others start to get violent. They seize the servants, insult them, mock them, and then go so far as to kill them!

• Now the King is enraged, and who could blame him? He gets his army together, invades the land, and burns down the city.

But the king is determined to honor his son.

• In spite of the rejection, there will be a celebration.

• He sends his servants and they go and invite all the common people – the outsiders who weren’t invited the first time. They are sent to the street corners and anywhere people are gathered and invite anyone –doesn’t matter if your good or bad.

• Many people respond and the banquet hall is full.

The king then goes to greet all the guests.

• He notices someone without proper wedding clothes on.

• These were ordinary people but still they were expected to wear clothes appropriate for the occasion.

• Some people even think that the host would provide wadding garments for the guests and this guy said he’ll wear what he wants to wear.

• This man came to the wedding but wasn’t willing to honor the king and his son by wearing the appropriate clothing.

• King approaches him kindly (he calls him friend) and asks how he got in the banquet hall in the first place.

• The man is speechless. No apology. No explanation. His silence is interpreted as defiance.

• The king calls the wedding attendants and has this man bound up and thrown outside where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Jesus ends the story saying, “Many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Great story – What is he getting at?

• Every story has the potential to have at least two meanings

• One to the original audience

• One to the those who read this story afterward

Who is the original audience and what would it mean to them?

• The original audience seems to be the Jewish religious leaders. This is the last week of Jesus’s life. He has recently overturned the tables in the temple. The Jewish leaders are not happy and are looking for a way to silence Jesus.

• This is the third of three parables that all seem to indicate that as a group the Jewish people – not every individual but the leaders who represent the Jews –have rejected Jesus.

• In this parable, they are refusing the invitation to the King’s wedding banquet and more than that are even putting to death those who invite them.

• This may be a reference to the early persecution of the church at the hands of these same Jewish leaders. Think Saul and his persecution of believers.

• The reference to the burning of the city might be a veiled prophecy of what will happen to Jerusalem in about 40 years. In AD 70 Jerusalem will be destroyed by the Roman armies and the temple will be burned to the ground.

• The invitation to the “nobodies” is the fact that the Gospel will be received by the Gentiles as we see on the book of Acts.

So the primary meaning of this parable is the rejection of Jesus by the Jews (as represented by their leaders) who don’t enjoy the blessings of the Kingdom and the corresponding invitation to the Gentiles who do accept the invitation.