The Parable of the Wedding Feast
The Chosen depicts many of Jesus' most important lessons. One such lesson is the parable of the wedding feast.
The Parable of the Wedding Feast
The parable of the wedding feast can be found in the twenty-second chapter of the book of Matthew.
Here is the story in its entirety.
1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying:
2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.
3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business.
6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.
7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come.
9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’
10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.
12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.
13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
(Matthew 22 as found in the NIV)
Although it’s known as the parable of the wedding feast, there are three separate events or parables that together make up the entire wedding feast story.
First, there’s the parable of the king reaching out to the invited.
Second, there’s the parable of the king reaching out to everyone.
And third, there’s the parable of the king rejecting the unprepared from the wedding.
Rejecting the King
First, Jesus makes it clear that the king in these parables is God and the son’s wedding banquet is the kingdom of heaven.
In the first parable, the king reaches out to those who were already invited to the banquet by sending his servants to the would-be guests, but the people who were invited chose not to come. In their anger, the servants of the king killed the would-be guests. When the king learned what happened, he got angry and destroyed the murders.
In the second parable, the king tells his servants to go back out and invite everyone who will come to his banquet.
His servants reach out to every corner of the king’s kingdom and invite men, women, rich, poor, and everyone in between to feast with him.
Few Are Chosen
After the king’s servants fill the banquet hall with new guests, the king found one guest who was not wearing the wedding garment.
For context, in ancient Israel, it was customary for wealthy people to give guests properly-fitting wedding attire. Dressing everyone in similar wedding clothes made everyone look appropriately dressed for a wedding feast.
It was considered inappropriate for a wedding guest not to wear the garments that were given out freely to the guests.
When the king realized this guest was hoping to participate on their own terms, he had the guest removed from his wedding feast.
As shown in The Chosen and as believers read in the Bible, Jesus invites everyone to follow Him, but not everyone heeds that call.
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