The Parable of the Wedding Banquet (Mt. 22)

In this parable Jesus weaves a story about a King who is throwing a wedding party for his son. He had his “A” list of invitees but they refused to come. So he sent the invitation again, this time with more details… fattened beef cooked to perfection, etc. They still refused to come and went about their own business.

Some of them seized the King’s messengers and mistreated and killed some of them. The King was so mad he sent his army and killed those murderers and destroyed their city.

Then he told his messengers to go out among his kingdom and find whoever they could to come to the party. It didn’t matter who they were. At last the wedding hall was filled to capacity.

As the King was intermingling with the guests he came across a fellow that wasn’t dressed appropriately. The King told his servants to tie him up and throw him into outer darkness… for many are called but few are chosen.

The King is God. The wedding party is the uniting of Jesus Christ (his son) with his bride the church (God’s people).

The first guests invited were the Jews. They rejected God’s invitation and killed his messengers (John the Baptist, etc.)

God destroyed them and their city (Jerusalem) in AD 70.

The next guests who were invited were the sinners and the Gentiles (the rest of humanity). Unlike the Jewish establishment they were glad to come to the party. However, some of them didn’t abide by God’s rules… they didn’t give up sin and were unsuitable to be at the party.

You see this wasn’t just a wedding party they were invited to… they were invited to marry Jesus Christ the Son of God… to become “one flesh” with him. But they didn’t recognize Him and they didn’t understand the unspeakable value of the gift they were turning down.

God still invites humanity to be in a spiritual relationship with his Son… don’t pass it up or you will be really, really sorry.