Matthew 22:1-14

Matthew 22:1-14 The parable of the guests at the wedding feast

Read only Matthew 22:1-10 first.   Verses 11-14 are an extension of the story with a separate point.

What happens in this parable?

Note: Luke tells a somewhat different version of this parable (Luke 14:15-24) where it is just a banquet not a wedding feast, and none of the king’s servants are mistreated or killed.  Also, Matthew adds an entirely separate addition to the story that we will look at shortly (vv. 11-14).  Some scholars suggest that Matthew tailored the story to the particular needs of his community and the particular point he wanted to make here.  It is also possible that Jesus told this story more than once and in this instance told it in a way that connected with the point he made in the preceding parable about the wicked tenants.

The image of a feast is a common way of thinking about what heaven might be like, and Jesus says that this is a parable about the kingdom of heaven.  Why is a banquet of feast a particularly good image of heaven?

Note: The Greek word translated “slaves” or “servants” in this parable is doulos.  This word generally means “slaves.”  It is often translated “servants” because, although slavery in the Roman Empire often was brutal, slaves often had much more freedom than we envision when we think of American, plantation-based, race-based, segregationist slavery.  In the Roman Empire, slaves often did the same jobs as free people, side by side with free people.  They could receive wages and in some cases were able to buy their own freedom.  To avoid giving the wrong impression, a majority of English translations from the King James Bible to the present have used the word “servant.”

Who do the different players of the story represent in the kingdom of heaven – who is:

• the king?

• the son?

• the invited guests?

• the first group of servants/slaves (who are ignored/rebuffed)?

• the second group of servants/slaves (who are mistreated/killed)?

• the third group of servants/slaves who go invite people in the streets?

• the people “bad and good” who are found on the streets and invited?

The parable is generally interpreted as referring to these people: God the Father, Jesus the Son of God, the people of Israel (the Jews), the prophets, more prophets and perhaps John the Baptist (and Jesus also might fit here in the sense that he was inviting the people of Israel to enter the kingdom of God), the apostles/early Church, and the Gentiles.

The king is excited to have his invited guests come to the wedding banquet.  What does this tell us about God?

God wants to share his presence and joy with humans.  He wants us to be with him.  He’s persistent.

Why would this particular kind of feast – a marriage feast for the son – be an especially appropriate image of heaven?

How do the invited guests react?

Notice that some of the invited guests just dismiss the invitation and go about their business, but other invited guests mistreat and kill the servants.  Who do the people who kill the servants represent?

The Jewish leaders, past and present.

How might people in our day be like the ones who ignore the invitation because they are too busy?

Is there a danger that even people who are members of the Church might be like these people who are “too busy” to spend time with God?

What in your life might sometimes seem so important that you might miss out on joining in the Lord’s banquet celebration?

Are there ways that we allow even mundane matters to distract us so that we don’t participate in the joy of spending more time with God?

In verse 7, the king destroys the murderers who killed his servants and burns their city.  Many scholars think that Matthew is alluding to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70, and that is one of the reasons they think that the Gospel of Matthew was written after AD 70.  Luke does not have this verse, which might be support the idea that Matthew added it to the original story.  When the New Testament was written, there was no such thing as quotation marks in writing, so Matthew would not have had any way to signal that he was adding a note of commentary or interpretation.

In verse 7, which is not in Luke’s version of the parable, it sounds like Matthew is suggesting that God destroyed Jerusalem because Jesus was killed there.  Some people are troubled by that image of God, because it seems to suggest that God is a vengeful god (“you killed my son, so I’m going to kill you”) rather than a loving God.  What do you make of this verse?

The king still wants guests.  He still has a banquet prepared and a banquet is no good without guests, so what does he do?

Who do these new guests represent in the kingdom of heaven?

In the immediate telling of the parable, they represent tax collectors, prostitutes, and other “sinners” who repent.  By the time of Matthew, they also represent the Gentiles, who were a significant part of Matthew’s community.  In our time, they represent us.

The king then tells the servants/slaves to invite anyone they can find, “bad and good.”  Why does God invite even the “bad” to come spend time with him in his banquet?

Being there can start a change.  God is inviting us to come to him even when we are not perfect, because he wants us to be with him and grow to be like him.

How does this inclusion of the bad and the good describe the Church (i.e., Christians as a whole) throughout history and in our day?

What does this welcoming of the bad and the good tell us about God?

How does this part of the story illustrate the meaning of “grace”?

What is the message Jesus is trying to get across to the Jewish leaders?

What is the message for us?

Now let’s look at the additional section Matthew adds that is not in Luke’s story.  It is like an additional parable added on to the earlier parable.

Read Matthew 22:11-14.

What happens?

People are sometimes uncomfortable with the idea that people who were invited in off the streets could be criticized for not wearing the proper clothes.  This would miss the point.  Scholars suggest that we might picture it this way: The guests might have been provided wedding robes by the king, or the invitation might have named a specific time that gave them time to go home and put on the proper attire for the wedding banquet.  It was the norm at the time for a king to send out invitations in advance to let people know that they were going to be invited to a feast and then send out a second notice when it was time to come.  So we shouldn’t take this part of the parable too literally.  Instead, we should ask:

This is a parable about the kingdom of heaven.  What are the proper “garments” to wear in the kingdom of heaven?  What should we clothe ourselves with?

Read Colossians 3:12-14.

What does Paul tell us to clothe ourselves with?

In Colossians 3:12-14, he tells us to put on compassion, kindness, humbleness, gentleness, patience, forbearance, forgiveness, and love.  In other words, live a life fitting for being at the banquet of the Lord.  God is inviting us to put on those garments, which are his garments.  In Romans 13:14, Paul tells us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for our sin-based desires. 

Returning to Matthew, who does the guest who is not properly dressed stand for?

This guest might represent people who respond to God at a surface level but don’t actually let him transform them.  They do not show any recognition of the relationship with God (the king) that they have been invited to embrace.

How might we be guilty of not fully putting on the metaphorical “garments” that are fitting for living with God now and forever in the kingdom of heaven?

Does it make sense to you that God would invite everyone, good and bad, including us, into a relationship with him, but expect us to respond by putting on the proper “attire” for being at his heavenly banquet?

Some scholars like the idea that God supplies the proper garments to us – he doesn’t expect us to be holy on our own.  How does that image reflect your relationship with God?

In Revelation 7:13-15, the ones who are wearing white robes are those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.  In 19:6-8, at the wedding feast of the Lamb, his bride, the Church, is wearing a bright clean garment made out of “the righteous deeds of the saints.”

Read Matthew 7:21-23.

What would Matthew say is necessary to be clothed properly for the kingdom of heaven?

We need to do the will of God.

In Matthew 22:14, many translations say, “many are called,” but the verb in that phrase has the same root as the word “invited” in the parable.

When Jesus in Matthew 22:14 that “many are invited but few are chosen,”  what does that tell us?

The invitation to be part of God’s kingdom goes out far and wide, and everyone is given a chance to come to God’s heavenly banquet.  But not everyone does their part.  Jesus is not saying that God is selectively allowing only a few people into heaven.  In the contrary, he is saying that some people don’t choose to do what is necessary to belong there.

What do you need to do to be properly “clothed” for God’s great banquet feast in heaven?

Take a step back and consider this:

Regardless of whether the king provides the wedding robes to the guests or they are given time to get properly dressed before they come, one thing stands out: The man at the end of the story is not properly clothed.  When the king points this out, the man is unable to offer any argument or defense.  He is not dressed properly to be celebrating with the king at the heavenly banquet.

To what extent do we have a choice as to what “garments” we put on as we participate in the kingdom of God?  How do we “choose” our garments?

How can you, by the choices you make, embrace a life that puts on the love and compassion of Jesus?