What is the meaning of the Parable of the Wedding Feast?

Got Questions ^ | 25 Feb 18 | James Montgomery Boice

[SkyPilot]

Question: "What is the meaning of the Parable of the Wedding Feast?"

Answer: Jesus told the Parable of the Wedding Feast in Matthew 22:1-14. This parable is similar in some ways to the Parable of the Great Banquet (Luke 14:15-24), but the occasion is different, and it has some important distinctions. To better understand the context of this story, it is important to know some basic facts about weddings in Jesus’ day.

In Jewish society, the parents of the betrothed generally drew up the marriage contract. The bride and groom would meet, perhaps for the first time, when this contract was signed. The couple was considered married at this point, but they would separate until the actual time of the ceremony. The bride would remain with her parents, and the groom would leave to prepare their home. This could take quite a while. When the home was all was ready, the groom would return for his bride without notice. The marriage ceremony would then take place, and the wedding banquet would follow.

The wedding banquet was one of the most joyous occasions in Jewish life and could last for up to a week. In His parable, Jesus compares heaven to a wedding banquet that a king had prepared for his son (Matthew 22:2). Many people had been invited, but when the time for the banquet came and the table was set, those invited refused to come (verses 4-5). In fact, the king’s servants who brought the joyful message were mistreated and even killed (verse 6).

The king, enraged at the response of those who had been invited, sent his army to avenge the death of his servants (verse 7). He then sent invitations to anyone his servants could find, with the result that the wedding hall was filed (verses 8-10).

During the feast the king noticed a man “who was not wearing wedding clothes” (verse 11). When asked how he came to be there without the furnished attire, the man had no answer and was promptly ejected from the feast “outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (verses 12-13). Jesus then ends the parable with this statement: “For many are invited, but few are chosen” (verse 14).

The king is God the Father, and the son who is being honored at the banquet is Jesus Christ, who “came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (John 1:11). Israel held the invitation to the kingdom, but when the time actually came for the kingdom to appear (see Matthew 3:1), they refused to believe it. Many prophets, including John the Baptist, had been murdered (Matthew 14:10). The king’s reprisal against the murderers can be interpreted as a prophecy of Jerusalem’s destruction in A.D. 70 at the hands of the Romans (cf. Luke 21:5). More broadly, the king’s vengeance speaks of the desolation mentioned in the book of Revelation. God is patient, but He will not tolerate wickedness forever (Obadiah 1:15). His judgment will come upon those who reject His offer of salvation. Considering what that salvation cost Jesus, is not this judgment well deserved (see Hebrews 10:29-31)?

Note that it is not because the invited guests could not come to the wedding feast, but that they would not come (see Luke 13:34). Everyone had an excuse. How tragic, and how indicative of human nature, to be offered the blessings of God and to refuse them because of the draw of mundane things!

The wedding invitation is extended to anyone and everyone, total strangers, both good and bad. This refers to the gospel being taken to the Gentiles. This portion of the parable is a foreshadowing of the Jews’ rejection of the gospel in Acts 13. Paul and Barnabas were in Pisidian Antioch, where the Jewish leaders strongly opposed them. The apostle’s words echo the king’s estimation that those invited to the wedding “did not deserve to come”: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:46). The gospel message, Jesus taught, would be made available to everyone.

The matter of the wedding garment is instructive. It would be a gross insult to the king to refuse to wear the garment provided to the guests. The man who was caught wearing his old clothing learned what an offense it was as he was removed from the celebration.

This was Jesus’ way of teaching the inadequacy of self-righteousness. From the very beginning, God has provided a “covering” for our sin. To insist on covering ourselves is to be clad in “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Adam and Eve tried to cover their shame, but they found their fig leaves to be woefully scant. God took away their handmade clothes and replaced them with skins of (sacrificed) animals (Genesis 3:7, 21). In the book of Revelation, we see those in heaven wearing “white robes” (Revelation 7:9), and we learn that the whiteness of the robes is due to their being washed in the blood of the Lamb (verse 14). We trust in God’s righteousness, not our own (Philippians 3:9).

Just as the king provided wedding garments for his guests, God provides salvation for mankind. Our wedding garment is the righteousness of Christ, and unless we have it, we will miss the wedding feast. When the religions of the world are stripped down to their basic tenets, we either find man working his way toward God, or we find the cross of Christ. The cross is the only way to salvation (John 14:6).

For his crime against the king, the improperly attired guest is thrown out into the darkness. For their crimes against God, there will be many who will be consigned to “outer darkness”—existence without God for eternity. Christ concludes the parable with the sad fact that “many are invited, but few are chosen.” In other words, many people hear the call of God, but only a few heed it.

To summarize the point of the Parable of the Wedding Feast, God sent His Son into the world, and the very people who should have celebrated His coming rejected Him, bringing judgment upon themselves. As a result, the kingdom of heaven was opened up to anyone who will set aside his own righteousness and by faith accept the righteousness God provides in Christ. Those who spurn the gift of salvation and cling instead to their own “good” works will spend eternity in hell.

The self-righteous Pharisees who heard this parable did not miss Jesus’ point. In the very next verse, “the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words” (Matthew 22:15). The Parable of the Wedding Feast is also a warning to us, to make sure we are relying on God’s provision of salvation, not on our own good works or religious service.

[SkyPilot]

Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

[SkyPilot]

The aspect of this parable that always perplexed me was: why did the King throw out the man who was invited to the feast, only to have him thrown out for not wearing the wedding clothes?

I mean, the guy was invited, and then they threw him out after binding him hand and foot. Seemed kind of harsh, no?

This commentary is pretty dead on in its answer: the utter uselessness of self-righteousness. The only covering for our sin is Jesus Christ. Nothing else will do, and all the legalism, machinations, and efforts in the world will not do us any good when it comes to salvation itself.

God's Word is full of fascinating parallels, foreshadowing, and woven threads. From the very beginning, Adam and Eve tried to clothe themselves, but it was God who had to provide them the animal skins (and thus blood had to be shed to kill the animals as a sacrifice).

In a Jewish wedding, you were given wedding clothes to wear, and to reject them and not wear them was the supreme insult to the host.

In Revelation, we see the saints wearing the white robes.

I pray you all have a wonderful Sunday. Glory be to Christ.

[iowamark]

The guy came to the wedding without a present?

[IrishBrigade]

‘(and thus blood had to be shed to kill the animals as a sacrifice).’

have you ever wondered why an omnipotent and eternal deity would require blood sacrifices, with its attendant terror and agony of the victims, to consecrate his compact with his people...?

[SkyPilot]

have you ever wondered why an omnipotent and eternal deity would require blood sacrifices, with its attendant terror and agony of the victims, to consecrate his compact with his people...?

Yes. When we research it, we find that sin is awful, and must be atoned for somehow.

Atonement in Christianity

[SkyPilot]

The guy came to the wedding without a present?

The guest refused to be clothed in the wedding clothes provided. In the same way, we cannot rely on our own self-rigtheousness before God. All of our man made religious acts and machinations will not save us from our sin. Only Christ's redemption, and our acceptance of Him on a personal level will save us from Hell.

[CitizenUSA]

First off, God is what He is and He doesn’t answer to anyone. Perhaps I misread your intent. We, the created, have zero rights here. He could destroy us for whatever or no reason, except we are told He loves us. God’s motives are His and His alone, and it’s the height of arrogance to expect Him to explain Himself to His own creation.

Nevertheless, despite your tone, I will attempt to answer your point. Animals are killed all of the time for food. It’s not like sacrifice is something unique and cruel. A sacrificed animal was not treated poorly, and from what I understand, the meat wasn’t generally wasted (although it wouldn’t matter if it was).

There is cause and effect for everything in creation. If a wrong is done, an unbalance created, how can it be made right? It must be restored by some sort of payment. It is said that God knows our hearts. When someone sacrifices the pride of their flock, an unblemished animal worthy of sacrifice, they demonstrate true repentance in their heart.

Finally, God provided His own sacrifice for us, Christ, so that we will not have to pay the price ourselves in blood. You are free to believe or not. However, it’s impolite to post snark on these threads if you don’t believe.

[Clutch Martin]

“Yes. When we research it, we find that sin is awful, and must be atoned for somehow”

I have heard it referred to as obedience training for a proud and stiffed neck people called the tribes of the decendants of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob Israel.

[CitizenUSA]

I see this as someone who is active in the church and tries to appear like a proper guest, but they aren’t wearing the appropriate garments cleaned by Christ’s sacrifice. There are people in scripture who did things in Christ’s name, but they didn’t believe. I think they used it more like magic or a totem without repentance.

[aces]

perhaps because in reality this world is not “life” to God.
possibly seen as a developing egg unborn into spiritual truth of his existence and ongoing creation..so a certain amount of backbone is required of His children, once saved in Christ, to begin walking the life he intended for us. This is walking though the shadow of death aspect of scripture..

ie man holds on to this world as life, but we have not seen it yet, how does one teach that?

[metmom]

In the parables of the wedding feast of the son, there is the talk about the invited guests and the virgins with their lamps.

Often I have heard these parables used to to compare the virgins and the invited guests to Christians.

The problem I have is that at the wedding feast, the Father holds the feast. The wedding is for the son. There must be a bride.

If the son is Jesus, the if the virgins and the guests are the church, just who is the bride?

In Scripture, the church is called *the Bride of Christ*, so in these parables, if the church age believers are the bride, then it’s OUR wedding.

I am not sure who the guests and the virgins are but it could not be us if the wedding is ours.

Thoughts?

[metmom]

Another thought here.

God said that the soul that sins, dies, is separated from Him forever.

The shedding of blood is proof positive that something has died. The fact that God was willing to let substitutionary sacrifices made to atone for our sin is an act of great grace and mercy on our behalf.

He didn’t HAVE to do that and it shows the greatness of His love for us that He allows for it.

[trebb]

For the same reason He, in the New Covenant, said, "Kill, Peter. Eat!"

Made food a reminder that they owed God homage.

Never saw where He condoned torturing the animals - making it sacrificial probably made it more humane too.

Trying to make folks question God or are you lurking with a viable answer?

[grumpa]

Christians are easily inclined to misinterpret the Bible because of their ingrained presuppositions. Even trained theologians are subject to this error. Here’s an example:

I recently heard a sermon on the Parable of the Wedding Feast (Matthew 22:1-14). You remember the story. Jesus was discussing the kingdom of heaven and the refusal of those invited to the wedding feast to attend. To make matters worse, those invited killed the king’s servants! The king was obviously greatly perturbed and administered his justice by destroying their city and casting the perpetrators into “outer darkness.” The parable ends with a warning: “Many are called but few are chosen.”

Now, how could you miss what is going on here, especially in the greater context of chapters 21 through 26? Certainly, this is about the refusal of the Jews to accept Jesus’s new-covenant kingdom. The bride of Christ is, of course, the church (Ephesians 5:32; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Revelation 19:7-8). But in his sermon, the preacher turned this story into one of grace vs. works, thus reading something into the text that really is not there. The details of the parable dwell on the Jews’ sins of (a) persecuting Christian servants, and (b) failing to accept Jesus as Messiah!

As the sermon progressed, the preacher even mentioned, by way of context, the previous parable in Matthew 21—the Parable of the Tenants. But he missed entirely the main message of these parables, which was clearly the coming judgment against Old Covenant Israel for their sins. In the Parable of the Tenants we find the owner of the vineyard and his son (obviously YHWH and Jesus), and the TENANTS who worked the vineyard. A vineyard is an Old Testament metaphor for Israel, so the tenants were the Jews of Old Covenant Israel whom Jesus was addressing. The tenants not only killed the king’s servants (Christians), but killed the son (Jesus)!

In punishment, God took the kingdom from the wicked tenants. The parable ends with this: “When the chief priests and Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that He was speaking about them.” Gotcha.

The Old Testament repeatedly, beginning in Deuteronomy 27-32, prophesied that there would come a time—in the last days—when Israel would become so apostate that God would take the kingdom from them and give it to others. This would happen at Messiah’s coming (Daniel 9, 12). Jesus was telling them: THE TIME WAS AT HAND TO FULFILL ALL THAT WAS WRITTEN (Luke 21:22). Clearly, the Jews of Jesus’ day got this message. An important interpretive concept is that we should understand the Bible based on how the original audience understood it, rather than reading it through the lens of our daily newspaper.

So, these parables are not about some far distant judgment or some theological discourse about how we are saved. It is about the soon coming destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70. In Matthew 22:7 Jesus prophesied that their city would be burned! This literally happened in AD 70 when God used the Roman army to demolish Jerusalem and the temple.

Interestingly, the entire Parable of the Wedding Feast, including this statement about the BURNING OF THEIR CITY was printed in the worship folder of our pastor’s sermon. But the pastor never mentioned this part of it in his sermon. I’m confident that the pastor just didn’t know how to deal with this, so he just ignored it.

Need more proof? In the very next chapter, Matthew 23:29-39, Jesus proclaimed the most powerful curse on the Jews that could possibly be given. He told them that they would suffer the punishment for “all the righteous blood” EVER SHED ON EARTH! And it would happen in THEIR GENERATION. Wow!

Then the famous Olivet Discourse which follows immediately—Chapter 24. Here Jesus gets even more specific. The cherished Jewish temple would be left in rubble IN THEIR GENERATION (Matthew 24:34). And, in Matthew 26:64 Jesus added insult to injury. He told the high priest and the other Jewish bigwigs that THEY THEMSELVES would see Him (Jesus) coming in power (on “clouds of heaven”). Again, the Jews understood that Jesus was claiming deity and authority to judge THEM, just as Yahweh “came on a cloud” in judgment numerous times in the Old Testament against his enemies.

***************

For more articles about Bible prophecy, see my websites

https://prophecyquestions.com/2016/02/01/articles-by-charles-meek

https://www.facebook.com/EvangelicalPreterism/?fref=ts&ref=br_tf

[Ambrosia]

The Bride of Christ is The Church (not a building), ALL who have accepted Jesus as Savior, Son of God; John 3:16

[teeman8r]

People in heaven gotta eat too..

[9YearLurker]

I never quite got the idea that God only decided to save the gentiles because the Jews disappointed him.

[klimeckg]

https://www.ministrybooks.org/SearchMinBooksDsp.cfm?id=0FC345162077

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“http://biblehub.com/nasb/matthew/26.ht

Check again.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“ I never quite got the idea that God only decided to save the gentiles because the Jews disappointed him.

All nations were promised to be blessed as a result of God’s covenants to Israel. It was this way from the beginning.

Israel being temporarily set aside and the Gentiles being grafted in, is said by Paul to provoke Israel to jealousy.