The Gospel of Matthew
The parable of the Banquet
Chapter 22: 1-14
Continuing His address to the chief priests and Pharisees in the temple, the Lord Jesus told this parable concerning the kingdom of God. Only Matthew records it, and as there is no interpretation given by the Lord Jesus for it here, we have to use our knowledge of other Scriptures and history to draw our own conclusions. The parable appears to follow directly from the previous one about the rejection of the Messiah by the Jewish leaders, and concerns events in the future at that time.
In this parable, the leading figures are a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son, two groups of servants, a group of people who were first invited, another group of people who replaced them, and a man who attended without using a wedding garment.
The king, as did the landowner in the previous parable of the farmer, represents God, Jesus himself being represented as the bridegroom, the king’s son.
We read about the wedding of the Lamb in other parables, an event still in the future but foreseen in Revelation 19:7-9, where His "bride" is His church, resurrected, transformed and raptured to heaven. This parable omits any mention of the bride, being focused instead on the guests to the wedding banquet. Introducing the bride would unnecessarily complicate the application of the parable.
The wedding banquet typifies the joyful reunion of God with His Son, and the guests He invites to be present and rejoice with them. It is the kingdom of God, seen in a different form.
The first guests represent the nation of Israel, introduced by God to be His people and to have contact with Him since its creation, having been well instructed by His prophets.
John the Baptist began the first invitation to the wedding when he preached in the wilderness of Judea, "repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (chapter 3:2). Many went to listen to him, especially from the city of Jerusalem.
When John the Baptist ended up by being arrested by civil and religious authorities, the Lord Jesus continued preaching, giving start to His ministry through Galilee, saying: "repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (chapter 4:17), and His message concerned the kingdom of heaven and the conditions to enter it.
The Lord Jesus gathered disciples to learn from Him, and sent twelve of them to preach to the people of Israel that, "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (chapter 10:7). They were the first servants who went out to call the guests to the wedding, and these were not willing to come. He had said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven" (chapter. 18:3), but the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees closed the kingdom of heaven to men: “you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in” (chapter 23:13). This phase ended with the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, promoted by the leaders of the people.
After His death and resurrection, the invitation to the Jewish people to repent was repeated, beginning with Peter's speech on the day of Pentecost, along with others that were part of the group of eleven Apostles (Acts 2:14 to 39). They are represented by the “other servants”, sent to the guests of the King for the second time.
As in the parable, the leaders of the people of Israel continued in their obstinacy, they arrested and flogged some of the apostles, and killed James. They persecuted ferociously all who converted to Christ. In the parable, this behaviour motivated the king to consider his guests unworthy and he became angry to the point of destroying those murderers and burning their city.
The final rejection of the guests by the King, and the sending of the servants to the highways inviting all they could find to the wedding, gathering together all those they could find, both bad and good, was marked by the words of Paul and Barnabas to the Jews: "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles" (Acts 13:46).
The Lord Jesus foresaw the punishment, as in the parable, “there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." (Luke 21:23-24). This prophecy was fulfilled in the year 70 AD, when the Roman legions destroyed Jerusalem, killed a large part of its population and initiated the exile, which lasted until the mid-20th century. Gentiles are still trampling Jerusalem.
As a nation, God marginalizes Israel, but the Gospel is preached throughout the world, to the good and bad, being an invitation to repent and to convert to Christ, receiving Him as Lord and Saviour. Those who do, Jews and Gentiles, good and bad, enter the Kingdom of heaven as guests entered into the marriage banquet (Acts 13:45,46, 28:28).
In those days, it was customary to provide festive white garments to the guests who came to the wedding banquet. In the parable, the one who entered and refused to wear the garment soon stood out from the others. When the King inquired about it, he was speechless, because there was no excuse: the garment was provided free of charge. The King then considered himself insulted, and condemned him to outer darkness.
Ii is an obvious type of he who seeks to enter the kingdom of heaven thinking that he is entitled to it, without having first being covered with God's righteousness through the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). Justice is afforded by the grace of God to any sinner who trusts in Him, and no sinner can justify himself to enter the Kingdom of God.
The weeping and the gnashing of teeth of the parable are types for suffering in hell for all eternity, away from the enjoyment of the presence of God.
As the Lord Jesus declared at the end of this parable, it demonstrates how many are called (the guests) but only a few are chosen (those who accept the invitation, put on the wedding garment, and enter the banquet).
The Jews received the Scriptures of the Old Testament, which contain invitation after invitation from God to leave their sin and turn to Him. They also contain prophecies of the coming of the Messiah, the Saviour, in details so they could recognize Him when He arrived. Jesus of Nazareth filled all the requirements, and presented Himself to the people, inviting them to enter the kingdom of heaven, but He was rejected by the nation that, until today, still is waiting in vain for a Messiah according to their wishes.
As a result, they lost their territory and as a people, they suffered terribly as God had foretold. They will only become the people of God again here on Earth after they acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the true Messiah.
This recognition is coming at the end of the "times of the Gentiles" when the complete church will be taken to be with Christ in heaven, and the nation of Israel will have suffered the "great tribulation", being finally rescued from its enemies by the Lord Jesus Christ, who they rejected.
In our days, free justification through faith in Christ is offered by the grace of God to all, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, both Jews and Gentiles. Whoever accepts it, is justified by faith and enters the kingdom of heaven (Romans 3:21 to 30).
R David Jones
1 And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said:
"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."
Matthew chapter 22, verses 1 to 14