Dominic Bnonn Tennant

I was recently emailed with a question about the parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22:1–14. My correspondent comments,

The parable works on several levels, but one is how the prophecy of Isaiah [25:6–10] is fulfilled now, with Jesus the Bridegroom coming as the Bread of Life, and in the future, at the end of time, when the heavenly wedding feast takes place, as portrayed in Revelation 19:7–10.

Needless to say this correspondent is a Roman Catholic. He continues:

A curious detail in the story in Matthew is that of the wedding guest who had no wedding garment and was kicked out. I would be interested to know what your interpretation of this is.

Although I’m not much of an expositor, I always find it enjoyable to study and unravel the parables of Jesus, since they are so very rich in theological content. Close examination of one parable invariably reveals linkages with others which weren’t obvious at first sight, and which weave it into a larger tapestry in illuminating and gratifying ways. So let me break away from my more typical philosophical theology, and offer an exposition of the parable of the wedding feast.

The larger context

Matthew 22:1–14 comes at the end of a number of previous parables and events which demonstrate and commentate upon the apostasy of the Jews; that is, their rejection of the kingdom of heaven which was their rightful inheritance as God’s chosen people:

Matthew 20

In Matthew 20:1–16 the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a vineyard who hires laborers at various times throughout the day, but pays them all the same amount at sundown. Here is demonstrated firstly the generosity of God toward those who formerly were not his people, and secondly the ungracious and foolish presumption of the Jews in believing their own perseverance and works to be meritorious. In verses 17–19, Jesus foretells his death at the hands of the Jews, laying a contextual foundation for the parables to come. Then in verses 20–28 the mother of the sons of Zebedee asks him that her sons may sit beside him in his kingdom—an event which culminates in the re-emphasizing of this contextual foundation as Jesus declares his purpose in coming to give his life as a ransom for many. All of these parables and events serve to highlight the theme that the first will be made last, and the last will be made first—a principle exemplified in Jesus himself. Finally, he heals two blind men, leading into his triumphal entry into Jerusalem in Matthew 21:1–11.

Matthew 21

The triumphal entry poignantly re-emphasizes the fact that Jesus himself is not excluded from the repeated statement that the first shall be last, but rather is its ultimate exemplar. Entering Jerusalem, he is regarded as the first among a people who are themselves regarded as the first before God. Yet later he was to be handed over by them for execution as the lowest criminal among a people regarded as the lowest criminals before God.

To lay the narrative foundation for this, Matthew turns in chapter 21 to emphasizing particularly the apostasy of the Jews. Verses 12–17 detail how the temple has become “a den of robbers”; verses 18–22 recall the cursing of the fig tree for failing to bear fruit, just as Israel will be made to spiritually wither for the same reason; and verses 23–27 describe the unbelief and malice of Israel’s spiritual leaders toward the authority of God.

This leads into three parables which build upon each other. The first is of the two sons. Jesus uses it to explain to the Scribes and Pharisees that they are less righteous than the worst sinners, because they did not do what they ought to have done by believing God’s message proclaimed through John the Baptist. Here is emphasized their rejection of God’s authority as represented in his prophets. The second parable is of the murderous tenants, where the rejection of God’s authority in the prophets is built upon to emphasize the rejection of his own son—the most recent and despicable of Israel’s acts of unbelief and disobedience. Therefore, Jesus tells them, “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone [that is Jesus] will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him” (vv 43–44).

The parable of the wedding feast

This all finally leads into chapter 22:1–14: the parable of the wedding feast. In this, Jesus expands on what he has said about the kingdom being taken away from the Jews and given to a people producing fruits. Israel’s apostasy is again described, but now the emphasis shifts from what was required of them, and toward what God will give to others:

Verses 1–3

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.”

The motif of a feast is common in Scripture as a metaphor for God’s provision and delight in his people, and for their reciprocal delight in him. Isaiah 25:6 is a good example. The metaphor is a natural one, since human kings and patrons would show their graciousness to their subjects by holding feasts in this way. Here in Matthew, Jesus also alludes to the scriptural metaphor of Israel as God’s bride, such as appears in Ezekiel 16. Most importantly, he names the wedding as being for the king’s son—thus explicitly identifying himself as God, who is king over Israel.

This marriage feast metaphor is used again in Revelation 19:6–10 to describe the glorified church rejoicing in its savior. Here in Matthew 22, however, the context is not glory in the intermediate (or final) state, but rather the kingdom of heaven firstly as a past and future temporal reality (verses 3–6 and 7–10 respectively); and extending secondly into an eternal state within which God’s people remain—or not—following the final judgment (verses 11–14).

Verses 4–6

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.’” 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.

Preparing a feast in biblical times was not as exact a science as it is today. There were no industrialized meat or vegetable farms, no combine harvesters or abattoirs, no packing plants or storage facilities, no trucks or trains, no supermarkets or cornershops, no cars or vans, and no fridges or freezers. Subsequently, when a patron wished to organize a feast or a banquet, he would send out an invitation well in advance informing those invited of the intended time for the event. Then, when the food was actually prepared and the banquet finally set, a second invitation was sent so that the waiting guests could come immediately (cf Luke 14:17). Jesus uses this custom to allude to the repetition with which God has called the Jews through the prophets. Yet despite these repeated invitations, the Jews chose the world over the kingdom of heaven, while some even persecuted and murdered the messengers God sent. Thus they not merely ignored God’s invitation; they actively despised it. As he says in another place, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

Now, unlike today, a person could not reasonably refuse an invitation like the one in this parable. Attendance at a feast was a serious social obligation—especially for the invited dependents of a patron, and most especially for the invited subjects of a king. It was highly incumbent upon such guests that they come punctually when summoned. Conversely, refusal to attend constituted a deliberate insult to the dignity and grace of the host. Thus, a unanimous refusal such as the one in this parable implies a conspiratorial effort on the part of the guests to greatly shame and insult their king. In return, he would be socially obliged to save face by avenging his honor and executing justice. Even in a far more mundane situation, this would typically entail severe punishment for those who had refused to attend; while the graciousness of the invitation had to be upheld by extending it to prior non-invitees. Here, the extreme, concerted actions of the guests in refusing in toto to attend, and in further murdering the king’s messengers, would have constituted nothing less than treason. Capital punishment would have been the only appropriate response.

Verse 7

The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

The king appropriately sends his army to slay the treasonous guests. This certainly alludes to historical occasions on which God had punished Israel’s disobedience by subjecting them to military conquest. Isaiah again comes to mind, where in 10:5–6 the armies of Assyria are prophesied to bring God’s wrath upon Israel:

Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury! Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

However, while these historical judgments are certainly in view, they in turn merely foreshadow the final judgment wherein God rejects the Jews utterly forever, and gives their inheritance to others. This is particularly the focus of the parable, and thus Jesus does not merely recall what God has done, but also prophesies what God will do. Rome was shortly to destroy the temple and put the Jews to the sword, scattering them abroad and preventing them gathering in the presence of God, as his people, ever again. There is a comparison here to Luke 14:16–24, which also emphasizes that “none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet” (verse 24).

Verses 8–10

Then 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.

Here is where the parable turns from what was commanded by God to what will be given by God. Jesus expands on his previous comment in Matthew 21:43: that, having taken his kingdom from the Jews, he will give it to a people producing fruits. Thus he alludes to the spread of God’s kingdom throughout the world as prophesied in Genesis 18:18, wherein “the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed’” (Galatians 3:8). This coming grafting of the Gentiles into God’s people is progressively revealed in Psalm 22:27, Micah 4:1–4, Isaiah 49:6, Hosea 2:23, and many other places—and fulfilled in Luke 24:47, John 4:22, Acts 17:30, and Matthew 28:19, where Jesus says: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.

The servants of God—that is, in the church age, ourselves—go out into the world as instructed, and gather as many as we find: “both bad and good” (verse 10). So we indiscriminately preach the gospel, drawing into our number those of sincere faith; but also those who harbor unbelief in their hearts despite professing as we do. We know that in the visible body of Christ there are many who are outwardly Christians, but who have not inwardly clothed themselves with the righteousness of Jesus. But we are commanded to invite all without exception, even if some who come are insincere.

Verses 11–13

But when the king came in 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.”

When our King arrives, on that final day, “the angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous” (Matthew 13:49). So God will take these wolves in sheep’s clothing and demand an account from them. But “every mouth will be stopped” (Romans 3:19), and he will cast them out, for

Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” And then will I declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:21–23)

Normally, guests at a wedding were expected to attend in fresh and clean clothes in honor of the occasion. Wearing the same clothes one had been working in all day was to insult the host by demeaning the value of the event, rather than extending the honor deserved. Thus, the wedding garments in the parable at least refer to unsoiled, clean clothes. However, given that the guests were gathered from the highways, it’s reasonable to infer that they had no such clothes on them. Subsequently, wedding garments must have been provided for them when they entered. Here, then, is an allusion to righteousness unto salvation. Our own garments are as polluted menstrual cloths (Isaiah 64:6)—wearing them to the wedding feast, the kingdom of heaven, is to bring upon ourselves the wrath of our host the King. Without clean garments he will throw us out into the darkness. However, because we have no such garments, he has graciously provided them for us; as in Isaiah 61:10—

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, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Or Ephesians 2:4–9—

God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Professing Christians who presume upon God’s grace while remaining inwardly unconverted, even though they may appear in every way very pious, will be thrown into hell along with all those who rejected God openly. “For we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2:16); so even the holiest of people, performing all outward observances and good deeds and acts of contrition, will never be saved by these, but by faith—”for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). Only those who have, by faith, put on the foreign righteousness of Christ are actually justified (Romans 5:1); so only they will remain in the kingdom of heaven after the final judgment. Of the others, God will ask, “How did you get here?” A man without a wedding garment must not have come in through the front door; and “he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way—that man is a thief and a robber” (John 10:1).

Verse 14

For many are called, but few are chosen.

Finally, Jesus appends a brief summation—an explanation of God’s purposes in redemption. Many are called by the gospel, but few are chosen to receive it. So the gospel is extended to all, even though all are not elect. Yet as many as are appointed to eternal life will believe (cf Acts 13:48), for “he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Ephesians 1:4; cf 2 Thessalonians 13–14). In this way, the parable is drawn to a close with a summary affirmation of all that it teaches: that God, the sovereign king of salvation, freely chooses to whom he will give it, and from whom he will withhold it.