Matthew 22:1-14

¹ And Jesus spoke to them in parables again, saying,

² “The kingdom from the sky 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 He sent other servants again, 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 ignored the invitation and went off, one to his farm, another to his business,

⁶ while the rest arrested 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 So go to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you can find.’

¹⁰ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered everyone 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?’ But he was speechless.

¹³ Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot and throw 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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Come to the wedding feast

The picture Jesus paints is a festive one. A wedding feast has been prepared for the king’s son, and all the important people have been invited. Then something goes wrong. The people invited stood up the king! That’s the first twist in the plot of the story. The embarrassed king sends out a general invitation through his servants. That works: the wedding hall is now filled with guests. But something is still not right.

There, in the corner. Someone has crashed the party. He is conspicuous because he is not wearing the special clothing supplied by the king himself, for the feast. He’s out of there.

The intended target of this parable is the religious elite of first century Judaism. They would recognize themselves in this story because they had rejected the kingdom offered them by John the Baptist and Jesus. They thought that they had enough merit by their own works to get into the coming kingdom. But they had refused Jesus – whose atoning sacrifice is the wedding garment. No shirt, no shoes, no service.

LORD, we enthusiastically accept your gracious invitation to your coming wedding feast. We will be there, properly clothed in your righteousness, bought by the blood of your Son.