¹ 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, ³ and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. ⁴ Again he sent other servants, 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 paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, ⁶ while the rest seized 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 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ ¹⁰ And 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 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?’ And he was speechless. ¹³ Then 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.’ ¹⁴ For many are called, but few are chosen.” –  Matthew 22:1-14 ESV

In this, the final of the three parables Jesus shared on this occasion, He told the story of a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son. When the great day arrived, the king sent his servants to escort all the invited guests to the festivities. But, shockingly, all those who had received the king’s gracious invitation refused to come. So, he sent additional servants, equipped with details concerning the elegant and elaborate feast awaiting them.

“Look! The feast I have prepared for you is ready. My oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.” – Matthew 22:4 NLT

They were told that the king had prepared this feast with them in mind, and he had spared no expense. This was going to be an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime event that they would long remember. But each of those who had received the king’s personal invitation to this very special occasion chose to ignore his kind offer. Instead, they gave lame excuses, stating they had other, seemingly more important things to do with their time. They showed no interest in the king, his son, or the feast that had been prepared on their behalf.

But it gets worse. Jesus described some of the invited guests showing their disdain for the king by verbally and physically abusing his servants, and even putting them to death. Obviously, they had never heard the age-old maxim, “Don’t kill the messenger.” Their violent treatment of the innocent servants of the king revealed their attitude toward him as their sovereign. They showed him no respect and refused to extend to him the honor associated with his title. They displayed no fear that the king, the father of the groom, might seek retribution. Their actions revealed a total disregard for the king’s position and power.

But they were in for a big surprise. Upon hearing of the murder of his servants, the king ordered his army to seek out and destroy these people, burning their town as recompense for their ungrateful and unrighteous actions. He accused them of being murderers and treated them accordingly. And the king made it clear that their actions had exposed their inherent unworthiness to be guests at the wedding feast of his son.

“The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.” – Matthew 22:8 ESV

Their actions had disqualified them. But it wasn’t the fact that they had murdered the king’s servants. It was that they had refused his gracious and repeated invitation to be guests at his son’s wedding feast. They had placed no value on the king’s decision to include them as his guests to this invitation-only event.

By now, Jesus’ intent behind this parable should be clear. He was telling His disciples about the coming kingdom of God. The king in the parable represents God, the Father. The king’s son is Jesus. The wedding feast is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, a future event described in Revelation 19.

Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” – Revelation 19:7-9 ESV

The guests who had received invitations to the wedding feast but who had refused to attend are meant to represent the nation of Israel. God had extended His invitation to the Jewish people, sending His Son to proclaim the coming of the kingdom of heaven. But as John records in his gospel, “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:11 ESV). Not only that, God had sent His prophets, years in advance of Jesus’ incarnation, and they had proclaimed the future coming of the Messiah. The Jewish people had been “invited” by the servants of God to be His guests at His Son’s great wedding feast. But the Jewish people had rejected the words of the prophets, even putting some of them to death. Jesus would later declare His sorrow over Israel’s rejection of Him.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing.” – Matthew 23:37 ESV

In the parable, Jesus described the king’s decision to extend his invitation to others. He sent his servants to invite anyone they found – “both bad and good” – to fill the banquet hall for his son’s wedding. In other words, the king opened up the invitation to anyone and everyone. The chosen ones had refused his kind offer and been deemed unworthy, so now the king was providing an open invitation to any and all.

And it seems that many of those whom the servants found were unlikely candidates to receive an invitation to an event of this magnitude. The king even supplied them with the proper clothes to wear to a wedding. Having not been part of the original group invited to the wedding feast, they would have had no time to prepare for the occasion. So, the king provided everything they needed: The invitation that provided them with entrance into the feast and the proper attire to wear to an event held in the king’s palace.

And the king’s gracious provision of garments should not be overlooked because Jesus points out that, in spite of the king’s gracious provision of clothing fit for a wedding, one man had the audacity to show up improperly dressed. He had failed to put on the elegant clothes he had been given by the king, and, as a result, he was promptly bound and thrown out. He was denied entrance to the feast. The invitation alone proved insufficient. He was expected to come properly attired for an occasion of this magnitude.

So what’s the point? God had invited the nation of Israel into His kingdom. Over the centuries, He had sent His messengers, the prophets, to the Jewish people, with His call to repent, but they had refused God’s messengers, rejecting and even killing them. So, through this parable, Jesus reveals that God, the king, was going to deal harshly with all those who had received a personal invitation to His Son’s wedding feast. Even the Jews of Jesus’ day were going to reject Him as Messiah, effectively refusing the Father’s gracious invitation to join Him at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

As a result, the invitation would be extended to the “both bad and good,” a clear reference to the Gentiles. The refusal of the Jews would cause God to open up the doors to the feast to those outside the Jewish community. He would even provide these formerly uninvited guests with the proper “attire” for a wedding.

Through His upcoming death on the cross, Jesus would clothe those who believed in Him with His own righteousness. He would replace their rags of sin with the white garments of righteousness, making them acceptable before God the Father. But if anyone tries to enter God’s Kingdom clothed in their own righteousness, they will be rejected. As the prophet Isaiah so aptly put it, “We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6 NLT). An invitation to the feast is not enough. You must come appropriately attired, dressed in clothing provided by the Father of the Groom: Wearing the righteousness of Christ.

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
    my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
    he has covered me with the robe of righteousness… – Isaiah 61:10 ESV

The nation of Israel had received a personal invitation from God to enter into His kingdom, but they had refused. They had rejected the message of the prophets, even killing some of them for speaking the truth of God. And while many of the Jews had seemingly accepted the message of John the Baptist, even undergoing the ritual of baptism meant to symbolize their repentance, they would eventually reject Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 NLT).

All of this ties into the issue of authority. Remember, that is what the Pharisees had asked Jesus.

“By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” – Matthew 21:23 ESV

Jesus had authority as the Son of God. He was the Son of the King and the rightful heir to the throne. And the message of the prophets concerning the coming Messiah was fulfilled in Him. But that raises additional questions: Is Jesus Christ the authority in your life? Do you hear what He says and obey it? Have you accepted His invitation, or are you too busy, too good, or too smart to buy into something so hard to believe? Does the way you live your life reveal that you sometimes question whether Jesus has authority over your life? Do you refuse to put on the righteousness He has provided because you prefer your life just the way it is?

Jesus not only wants to be the Savior, but He also wants to be your King. He wants to rule and reign in your life. He wants to lead you and direct you. He wants you to worship and obey Him. He wants you to live in submission to Him. Because He loves You, and He alone knows what is best for you. He is a gracious, loving, merciful, righteous King who longs to provide for and protect His people.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.