The Parable of the Wedding Feast

1. The Parable of the Wedding Feast (Matthew 22:1-14)

There’s a lot in this parable, so let’s go through it together, shall we?

Read verses 1-6

Notice that the King is hosting this feast for His Son. This is a picture of the Father hosting a wedding feast for Jesus Christ, who, though it isn’t mentioned here, is getting married to the church. And who did the King invite to the wedding feast? It appears to be the Jewish people. However, many of them were too busy for God, instead focusing on their own work. Some (probably the chief priests and elders) are portrayed as seizing the true servants of the King, treating them shamefully and killing them. How sad it is when people, especially those who are aware of God’s Law, faithfulness, and righteousness, refuse to submit to what He wants and instead try to please Him on their own terms. No wonder God responds in the following way:

Read verses 7-10

Those Israelites who reject Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will be destroyed, and all the works that they were so focused on will be burned. It doesn’t matter that they are children of Abraham by blood; they are not real children of Abraham by faith. But God remains gracious! If the Israelites will not follow Him, then He will go out into the highways and the hedges calling all people to come. This invitation is still open today: anyone who wants an eternal relationship with God, anyone who wants a seat at the wedding feast, is welcome to come. There is only one requirement, which we see in the end of the parable.

Read verses 11-14

One day, we will all stand before God. On that day, He might ask us something like: why should I let you into heaven? When we honestly examine our own lives, our own acts of righteousness, and our own sins, we too will be like that man without a wedding garment: speechless. Sure, on this earth, we like to think that we are pretty good people, or maybe that our good deeds at least outweigh our bad deeds, but none of that matters to God. His standard is perfection. If you have sin in your life, any sin, then you have fallen short of His standard and don’t deserve to come to the wedding feast. You deserve instead to be cast into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. I don’t know if hell has literal darkness or literal fire (after all, how can you have both at the same time?), but if these are the pictures that the Bible uses to describe hell, then it certainly must be a horrible place! Unfortunately, that is the place that we are all destined to go: unless we have a wedding garment.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we are clothed with His righteousness. When we trust in Him for salvation, we take off the old deeds of the flesh and we put on Jesus Christ—He is the only way for us to come into the wedding feast of the King.

The invitation went out to everyone, but Jesus reminds us of the sobering fact that not many will choose to put on Jesus Christ and come to the wedding feast. Many are called, but few are chosen.

I thank God that He has chosen me to come to His wedding feast! What an incredible day that will be. Don’t be like the religious leaders of the Jews, who relied on their own good works and were destroyed and burned; don’t be like the man without a wedding garment who tried to get into heaven by some means other than Jesus Christ, and was cast into the outer darkness. Trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. He alone can get you access to the feast of the King.