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Matthew 22:1-14 (Parable of the wedding banquet)

INTRODUCTION: Our message series is called Jesus in Jerusalem, and in this series we are looking at Jesus’ final week in Jerusalem before he went to the cross. We are in a section of Scripture that is marked by a series of contrasts and conflicts. So far, we have looked at the contrast between what you say and what you do and the contrast between the kingdom taken and the kingdom given. This week’s contrast is between the many who are invited and the few who are chosen. (Read Matthew 22:1-3 and pray.)

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A question we often wonder about when it comes to Christianity and salvation is why do some people respond to the gospel while others don’t? Why do some people put their faith in Christ when they hear the good news while others do not?

Are the people who put their faith in Christ somehow better than those who do not? Did they have better natures or less sin to overcome? That can’t be the reason because the Bible says we have all sinned against God. The apostle Paul called himself the chief of sinners, so he certainly didn’t have less sin than others.

The invitation of the gospel goes out to all. So why is it that some believe, while others do not? It’s a question that Jesus explores and answers in today’s parable, the parable of the wedding banquet.

This is now the third parable that Jesus has directed against the religious leaders. In the first parable he accused them of hypocrisy because they did not repent and believe. In the second parable he told them that God will take the kingdom away from them and give it to others. Now in this third parable he warns them that although many are invited into God’s kingdom, few are chosen.

The first part of the parable focuses on those who refuse to come. The second part focuses on those who do come. And then at the end of the passage Jesus gives us the meaning of the parable. So, let’s look at the parable of the wedding banquet together.

I. Those who refuse to come (1-7)

The first part of the parable focuses on those who refuse to come.

   A. The king makes repeated invitations (1-4)

The king makes repeated invitations, but the guests refuse to come. Look at verses 1-4:

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.’” (Matthew 22:1-4)

So, this is a typical parable of the kingdom where Jesus begins by saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like….” and then tells a story to teach us something about the kingdom. And in this story the kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son, but the guests refused to come.

Now this is remarkable for several reasons. First of all, it is the king who does the inviting. It is a great honor to be invited by the king. Secondly, the occasion is momentous. It is the wedding of his son. It doesn’t get much more important than that. Thirdly, none of the guests respond. They all refuse to come. Can you imagine inviting people to your wedding and no one comes? I mean, you would understand it if a few couldn’t make it, but what if they all said no?

Put yourself in the place of the guests. Have you ever turned down a free meal? I usually don’t! And you’re not being invited to a funeral or a lecture, but to a wedding! You’re being invited to a party, to a feast! And everyone refuses. What’s going on here?

This part of the parable is fairly easy to understand. The king in the parable represents God. The son represents Jesus. The wedding banquet represents the joy of entering God’s kingdom. The servants represent those who go out and share the gospel with others. The invited guests who refuse to come represent those who refuse to respond to the gospel.

Notice the king makes repeated invitations. He doesn’t cut them off after one try. He sends the servants out again. “Hey! The banquet is ready! The food is all prepared. I’ve got the best steaks in town. The tables and chairs are all set up and the whole place is decorated. Everything is ready. I’m just missing one thing – you! Come! Come to the banquet.”

God in his grace gives us multiple opportunities to respond to the gospel. How many of those opportunities will we refuse? All of them?

Why didn’t the guests come? Why don’t we come when God calls us? The phrase that is translated “refused to come” here in the parable is literally, “They wanted not to come.” In other words, their will was set against it. Why didn’t they come? Because they didn’t want to. They didn’t want to be a part of all the good things God had prepared for them. God has prepared a beautiful, heavenly feast for you and for me. He makes repeated invitations. How will you respond?

   B. The invited guests make all sorts of excuses (5-6)

Well, in the parable, we see that the invited guests make all sorts of excuses. Look at verses 5-6 next:

“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.” (Matthew 22:5-6)

The guests pay no attention to the repeated invitations. Instead, they make all sorts of excuses. One goes off to his fields. Another goes off to his business. Doesn’t that sound just like the excuses people make today when someone tells them about Jesus and the gospel? “I’m too busy. I’ve got other things to do. It’s not important to me.”

The phrase that is translated “paid no attention” in the parable comes from a word that means “to have no care or concern; to be neglectful.” The guests are neglectful of the king’s invitation. They are more concerned about their own lives than attending the banquet.

And then some of them get violent! They are hostile to the servants. They seize them. They mistreat them. They even kill some of them. This is true even today when the gospel goes out. Some people just ignore the gospel and go their own way, while others actively persecute those who share the gospel.

To refuse the king’s invitation was a great insult. How much worse to refuse an invitation from God? The king makes repeated invitations, and the guests make repeated refusals. Like so many people today with God, they had no respect for the king; they had no fear of the king; they weren’t interested; they just didn’t care.

   C. The king executes judgment (7)

Unfortunately, they still had to deal with the king. Look at verse 7:

“The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.” (Matthew 22:7)

The king was enraged at all this and executed judgment on the offenders. Not only had they mistreated and killed his servants, but they had also dishonored him and disrespected his son. He had prepared a beautiful banquet for them, but they snubbed his invitation and put their own priorities first over coming to the wedding banquet and sharing in the joy of the king and his son.

In the same way, when we snub God’s invitation, we open ourselves to judgment. God in his grace makes repeated invitations, but the day will come when the invitation is rescinded, and those who refuse to come will face judgment instead.

II. Those who do come (8-13)

So that’s the first part of the parable, which focuses on those who refuse to come. The second part of the parable focuses on those who do come.

   A. The invitation is extended to all who will come (8-10)

And notice here that the invitation is now extended to all who will come. Look at verses 8-10 with me now:

“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 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, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.” (Matthew 22:8-10)

When those who were originally invited do not come, the king sends his servants out to the street corners to invite anyone they can find. And so, they gather all the people they can find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall is filled with guests. In the original context this refers to what we saw in the parable of the tenants last week. Jesus came to the Jewish people first, but when they did not receive him as Messiah, the gospel went out to the Gentiles instead.

But notice a couple of things from this part of the parable. Notice the king says, “Those I invited did not deserve to come.” In truth, when it comes to God’s kingdom, none of us deserve to come. We are all sinners who have broken God’s laws. None of us deserve to come. But when it comes to God’s kingdom, the worthy are those realize they are not worthy! The worthy are those who respond to God’s free gift of grace. Notice they gather everyone they can find, both good and bad. It doesn’t matter if you are a sinner this morning. Jesus came to save sinners! Notice that the wedding hall was filled with guests. Jesus will be glorified and honored as God’s Son.

   B. The man with no wedding clothes: not all who come truly believe (11-13)
      – Revelation 19:6-9, 22:14 (see also Psalm 132:9; Isaiah 61:10, 64:6; Zechariah 3:3-4)

We come to Jesus as we are, but we don’t stay that way. Jesus not only saves us from the penalty of sin. He also saves us from the power of sin. And that is illustrated for us in this next part of the parable – the man with no wedding clothes. Look at verses 11:13 with me now:

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ 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.’” (Matthew 22:11-13)

This is the most difficult part of the parable to understand, and the most disturbing. It is meant to be disturbing. You read this and say, “Wait a minute! How did this guy get in if he didn’t have any wedding clothes? And why was he thrown out? Does this mean we can get thrown out of heaven?”

Well, the answer to the first question, “How did he get into heaven?” is he didn’t. Remember, this is a parable. Not everything in a parable necessarily lines up with reality. Parables are meant to surprise us or even shock us into grasping important truths. The idea here is if someone could get into heaven without Jesus, they couldn’t stay there.

In the parable the king comes out and inspects the guests. He looks over them attentively. He examines them. And he notices the man with no wedding clothes. He approaches him gently at first: “Friend,” he asked, “how did you get in here without wedding clothes?” But the man is speechless. He has nothing he can say in his own defense. The Bible tells us that when God confronts us with our sin at the judgment day, we will also be speechless. God’s light will expose our darkness, and there will be no excuses, no bargaining, no negotiations before his throne.

The man with no wedding clothes is a warning and a reminder that not all who seem to come to God truly believe.

Filthy clothing in the Bible is often used as a symbol for sin, whereas clean clothing is a symbol for righteousness. (See Psalm 132:9; Isaiah 61:10, 64:6; Zechariah 3:3-4) For example, we read in Revelation 19: “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.’ (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) 9 Then the angel said to me, Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ And he added, ‘These are the true words of God.’” (Revelation 19:6-9) Or again in Revelation 22:14: “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.” (Revelation 22:14)

And so, the wedding clothes in the parable are a symbol of the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ. When you come to faith in Christ, God does two things. First, he gives you the perfect righteousness of Jesus, so that when you come before him, he sees Jesus’ righteousness instead of your sin. We call this the “imputed righteousness” of Christ. It’s not your righteousness; it’s Jesus’ righteousness, but God treats you as if it were your own.

And then, God not only gives you Jesus’ righteousness, but he also begins to make you righteous yourself. He gives you the Holy Spirit and helps you to grow in righteousness as a believer. This is the “imparted righteousness” of Christ. The imputed righteousness of Christ is Jesus’ perfect righteousness that is reckoned to your account. The imparted righteousness of Christ is Jesus’ righteousness as it begins to work its way into your life through the power of the Holy Spirit.

So, what was wrong with the man who tried to enter the wedding banquet without any wedding clothes? He thought his own clothes were good enough. He thought he didn’t have to change. He thought he didn’t need Jesus. He trusted in his own righteousness instead of Jesus’ righteousness.

We sometimes sing that song “Cornerstone” in church, which is really a reworking of the old hymn, “On Christ the Solid Rock.” But either way the lyrics apply so well to our passage here today:

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly trust in Jesus’ name

When He shall come with trumpet sound, oh may I then in Him be found
Dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne

On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is shifting sand,
All other ground is shifting sand.

The man without the wedding clothes serves as a warning to examine yourself this morning to see if you are really in the faith. Are you trusting in Jesus’ righteousness or in your own good works? Because only those who put their trust in Jesus will be saved.

III. The meaning of the parable (14)

So, we have looked at the parable of the wedding banquet. We have looked at those who refused to come. We have looked at those who do come. And now finally, Jesus gives us the meaning of the parable in one short, memorable statement. Look at verse 14 with me now:

“For many are invited, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:14)

There are two parts to Jesus’ explanation.

   A. Many are invited
      – Revelation 22:17

The first part is that many are invited. The Bible tells us all are invited. The gospel call goes out to all, and the Bible says whosoever will may come. We read in Revelation 22:17: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” (Revelation 22:17) So, that’s the first part: many are invited.

   B. Few are chosen
      – John 6:37,44; John 15:16

But the second part is this: few are chosen. In other words, the invitation goes out to all, but not everyone who is invited responds, which brings us back to our original question. Why is that? Why do some people respond while others do not? The Bible tells us that none of us can respond on our own. Jesus says in John 6:44: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:44)

Remember the guests in the parable? Jesus said, “They wanted not to come.” Their wills were set against it. That is all of us. Our wills are set against God. We don’t want to come. And so, when the gospel invitation comes, we make all sorts of excuses. We put our own plans and priorities first. Some of us even get hostile towards those who are sharing the good news with us. Our wills are set against God, and so God needs to draw us to himself. Just as none of the original guests in the parable came to the wedding, so none of us can come to Christ unless the Father draws us.

Jesus also says this in John 6:37: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” (John 6:37) All that the Father draws to Jesus will come to Jesus, and Jesus will never drive anyone away who comes to him.

Jesus also says this in John 15:16: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.” (John 15:16) Put it all together, and this is what Jesus is saying. No one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him, and everyone whom the Father draws will come. We did not choose him, but he chose us. Many are invited, but few are chosen.

How many has God chosen for salvation? The Bible sometimes seems to say only a few will be saved, but then at other times it seems to say a great number will be saved. Comparing the various passages together, probably the best way to understand this is that compared to the many that are invited, only a few are chosen. But those few will still be a great multitude of believers. The wedding hall will be full of guests. There are many who will be saved, many who will bring great glory and honor to Jesus for all of eternity, beginning with the great wedding feast of the Lamb.

CONCLUSION: So, this is the meaning of the parable. The gospel call goes out to everyone. No one is excluded. There is a paradox here. Whosever will may come, but no one comes unless the Father draws them. We love God because he first loved us. We did not choose Jesus, but he chose us. No one can go to heaven without receiving the righteousness that only Jesus can give.

It’s hard to believe it, but there are people – maybe here today – who would never turn down a free meal, and yet they will turn down the free gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ. They will miss out on the wedding feast of the Lamb, they will miss out on heaven, all because they did not want to come. And if that’s you this morning, you need to cry out to God to save you. You need to ask him to open your blind eyes. You need to ask him to overcome your stubborn heart and draw you to Christ so you may be saved.

And if you are saved this morning, know that it is not because you are somehow better than others or that you had less sin to overcome. You are saved this morning because God chose you. We call this the doctrine of election. The Bible says God chose you before you were born. In fact, it goes back even further than that. The Bible says God chose you before he created the world. (Ephesians 1:4)

The doctrine of election is not always an easy doctrine to understand, but the Bible teaches it in many places and in many ways. I like the way Charles Spurgeon explains it. He wrote:

“I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love.” (Charles H. Spurgeon)

And so, we should give God all the glory for our salvation. We could not save ourselves, so God sent Jesus to save us. Our hearts were hardened against God, so God softened our hearts and drew us to himself. You should be humble and grateful to God for your salvation. Why did God choose you for salvation? Not because you were better than anyone else (spoiler alert – you weren’t!), but simply because he loves you. Many are invited, but few are chosen. Give God the glory for your salvation this morning.

© Ray Fowler

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