(Joe Stehle)
Matthew 22:1-14 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who were 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.”” 5But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.7The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed these murderers and burned their city. 8Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11“But when the king came to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14For many are called, but few are chosen.”
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Our passage today is very confusing for many of us. Matthew places this parable in the time when the chief priests and the Pharisees were looking for a way to arrest Jesus (Mt 21:46), but he continued teaching with this parable.
As I considered this parable and did a bit of background reading, I am very thankful that wedding customs have changed significantly. I have been blessed with three adult daughters, all married. We have had a variety of experiences at these three weddings, but nothing like this parable. Today it is common to send out a “save-the-date” card since we are much more long-range calendar-driven than in Jesus’ day. Our culture also has a much more finite celebration, with most of the main activity happening over just a few days. It is still common to dress nicely for the wedding and reception, but a specific wedding garment would be hard to define. Those factors help make this parable uncomfortable for us, especially when we consider it in relation to ourselves, perhaps as the wedding guests.
Verse 3 indicates that a number of people had been invited to the wedding. But rather than planning for Saturday morning 11:00 AM three weeks from now, it was more that the king would send out his servants when the feast was ready. Verse 5 says that some folks chose not to come, instead taking care of their normal responsibilities despite the honor and command of a royal invitation. Verse 6 says that others responded with violence, injuring or killing the messengers. I do not have a clear understanding of what would trigger that violence, but if we use a common interpretation of the parable, the king’s invitation can be compared to God’s invitation to us. Many of us ignore the invitation (too busy with our own work), and some of us violently reject it.
The king, understandably angry, sends his army out to “invite” people from the main roads (vs. 10). Then as the celebration begins (vs. 11), the king sees someone without a wedding garment and has him cast out. Since most people do not travel in a wedding garment, this “feels” unfair when reading through the parable. But when we think of the wedding feast as a picture of salvation and recognize that none of us have the righteousness symbolized by the wedding garment apart from the free gift of God’s grace, we can take comfort in God’s sovereignty even when we do not see clearly his ways.
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