Tuesday, Parable of the Wedding Banquet

Jesus and His disciples were in Jerusalem in the temple courts, and Jesus was teaching the people. Jesus had been speaking with the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people (the elders being the Sanhedrin; the Jewish council). And they had departed after Jesus told them the parable of the tenants.

Jesus then told the people another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. The king sent his servants to call those he had invited to the banquet, but they refused to come.

“Again, the king sent other servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

“But those who were invited paid no attention and went away, one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized the king’s servants, mistreated them, and killed them.

“The king was enraged, and he sent his troops to destroy those murderers and burn their city. Then the king said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the crossroads and invite to the banquet as many as you can find.’

“So, the servants went out into the streets and gathered everyone they could find, both evil and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he spotted a man who was not dressed in wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ the king asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’

“But the man was speechless.

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

“For many are called, but few are chosen.”

See Matthew 22:1-14

Notes:
1. The banquet is similar to the one described by Isaiah (Isaiah 25:6).

2. In an ancient Hebrew wedding, a wedding garment was provided to each guest as they entered the wedding feast. The garment was simple and nondescript. By wearing the garments, the guests honored the host and the wedding couple, and the guests could also mingle as equals. Anyone found at the feast without a wedding garment was either not invited or refused to put on the garment.

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