Matthew 22:1-14

¹ And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, ³ and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. ⁴ Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” ’ ⁵ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. ⁶ And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. ⁷ But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. ⁸ Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. ⁹ Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ ¹⁰ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. ¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. ¹² So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Commentary

Vs. 1-3 ¹ And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, ³ and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.

In the previous parable Jesus told it was God’s servants the prophets and then the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who suffered and would suffer mistreatment and death at the hands of Israel’s leadership. Now in this parable the Lord Jesus pictures the kingdom of heaven like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; but they were not willing to come. Now in this parable the King is God the Father and the wedding feast is for His Son the Lord Jesus Christ while His servants here in this section of the parable are the apostles sent only to the nation of Israel at that time to invite the nation to the wedding feast of God’s Son. However, as the Lord Jesus notes the people of Israel were largely unwilling to come to Him.

Vs. 4-7 ⁴ Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” ’ ⁵ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. ⁶ And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. ⁷ But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

In this section the Lord Jesus Christ is describing the evangelistic ministry of the early church, which again had most of its focus on the repentance and restoration of the nation of Israel (vs. 4). But as the Lord Jesus foretells they will not believe, and so He states of them in the parable: “But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. ⁶ And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.” ^{vs. 5-6} Now in this parable (like with all of His parables) there is truth crossing over into the church’s ministry to the rest of the world as well, for anyone who has done any form of evangelism will know that Israel’s indifference, unbelieve, and or cruel and murderous treatment of God’s servants and messengers sent to bring the Gospel to them is not unique to them. And so, the Lord Jesus states in verse six that the rest not content to ignore the invitation then seized his servants, treated them spitefully and killed them. Thus, here the Lord Jesus Christ is describing the persecution, suffering, and death of believers in the early church at the hands of Israel’s leadership, specially the leadership in Jerusalem and Temple where all things were centered and directed from. Therefore, the Lord Jesus says when the king heard what had been done to his servants he was furious, “And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.” Thus, here the Lord Jesus is foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by Rome’s army in A.D. 68-70. Now some may think how can Rome be God’s army, given Rome’s persecution of early believers. Rome was God’s army in the sense that like ancient Babylon which also was God’s army when He sent them to bring judgment on His people, so He did when He sent Rome to destroy Jerusalem and the Temple and the leadership and people there. Later God judged and destroyed Babylon for their sins, just as He would later judge and destroyed Rome for theirs. Therefore, this section of parable covers the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ by Israel, and then their persecution of His servants, and finally their Judgment by God for doing so, with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, with the rest of the nation then being scattered to the ends of the earth. And thus, the time or era of Gentiles reconciliation has been fully ushered in.

Vs. 8-10 ⁸ Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. ⁹ Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ ¹⁰ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.

Now in this section of His parable the Lord Jesus is describing the ministry to the Gentiles, to the peoples and nations of the world. Thus, He says in verse eight those who were invited were not worthy, not worthy because they did not repent and believe and receive Christ Jesus the Lord as their King, instead they made light of Him and His Message, and or they persecuted and killed His servants sent to them, therefore those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore, with Israel’s unwillingness to come the invitation is sent out to all the world, as the Lord Jesus says in verse nine of His parable, that the servants are then told to go out into the highways and as many as you find invite. Now in ancient times the highways were the roads and paths that caravans of travellers and the peoples of all the nations travelled on. Thus, with Israel’s’ rejection of the Gospel and its invitation to God’s Kingdom (described here as being invited to a wedding feast) the invitation was no longer restricted to just the Jews and Israel. Now Jesus says that the servants did so and they gathered together all that they found, both bad and good (thus the Gospel and by default the church is not just a place for those who have lived good lives, but for all, for everyone regardless of their background and past lives must be invited for they can be reconciled back to God through the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.). Therefore, having done so the Lord Jesus Christ says the wedding hall was full of guests (vs. 10). A marvelous foretelling of the great wedding feast and marriage of the Lamb of God and His bride the church which awaits us.

Vs. 11-14 ¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. ¹² So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Now in this section of His parable the Lord Jesus describes how the Kingdom will be purged of every false professor. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ says that when the king came into see the guests he saw a man who did not have on a wedding garment (something that was done in ancient times was to dress all the invited guests in wedding garments). And so, the king seeing there a man who did not have on a wedding garment he asks him saying, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. (vs. 12). Now the wedding garment can be thought of the Spirit of the Lord, the indwelling Presence of God and Christ inside each and every true believer. Therefore, without Him sanctifying them they will really stand out amongst God’s elect and redeemed, something which is not always readily apparent down here. Therefore, with the man’s having no response for not having a wedding garment on, the king then says to his servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Thus, there will be no one in the Kingdom of heaven who does not have the Lord Jesus Christ’s wedding garment on at His Wedding Feast. For when Christ sets up His Kingdom there will be a purging of not just unbelieving nations from it, but also unbelieving individuals.

Scripture Quotations: 

The New King James Version. (1982). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.