Mat 22:1-14 | KingComments | STEP | With the following parable, the Lord reacted on His rejection, which He brought to light in the previous parable. In this reaction His grace is expressed. Despite His rejection, He still offers His grace in the invitation to come to the wedding. If they accept the invitation of the gospel, they come under the rule of heaven after the national collapse proposed in the preceding parable has taken place. It is again a parable, but now in connection with the kingdom of heaven. That distinguishes this parable from the two previous. Those were about the righteous claims the Lord Jesus has on Israel on the basis of what He has confided to them and their response to it. This is about something new, the wedding. With this parable He brings again to light why He came. As in the previous parable, there is mention of a son, this time a son of a king. The Lord introduces this parable with the words: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to.” This means that He does not announce the kingdom of heaven in its original form. This is no longer possible because of His rejection. By talking about a wedding, He emphasizes the joy that is connected to someone accepting the invitation and attending. In this parable an invitation is issued. The slaves are not ordered to go into the vineyard and work, but to call: “Come to the wedding feast.” There is not demanding, but giving. The slaves are the disciples whom the Lord has sent out. The guests are first and foremost the Jews, the people of God. But the people don’t want to come, they reject the invitation. However, Christ is full of grace and sends out a second invitation to the same group of particularly privileged persons, the guests. He now instructs His slaves not only to invite, but also to present the attractiveness of the party in the invitation. It is all ready for the guests. They just need to come. He does everything He can to get the guests to the party. The spiritual meaning is that everything is ready through the sacrifice of Christ. This was not yet the case for the first call. The fulfilment of the second invitation can be seen in the first chapters of Acts. This second invitation is made by the apostles when the work of redemption is completed. But the guests show no interest. The cause is different. There is one group that is too busy with its own possessions, another group is busy with its business. There is also a group among the guests that react differently. When they receive the invitation, they flare up in anger. This has to do with their pride in their national religion from which they derive their importance. They answered the invitation by mistreating and killing the messengers. It should come as no surprise that the king cannot let these reactions to his invitation go unpunished. In the year AD 70 God allowed Jerusalem to be destroyed by the Romans as “his armies”.

‏ Matthew 22:1-14

Those Invited to a Wedding

With the following parable, the Lord reacted on His rejection, which He brought to light in the previous parable. In this reaction His grace is expressed. Despite His rejection, He still offers His grace in the invitation to come to the wedding. If they accept the invitation of the gospel, they come under the rule of heaven after the national collapse proposed in the preceding parable has taken place.

It is again a parable, but now in connection with the kingdom of heaven. That distinguishes this parable from the two previous. Those were about the righteous claims the Lord Jesus has on Israel on the basis of what He has confided to them and their response to it. This is about something new, the wedding. With this parable He brings again to light why He came. As in the previous parable, there is mention of a son, this time a son of a king.

The Lord introduces this parable with the words: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to.” This means that He does not announce the kingdom of heaven in its original form. This is no longer possible because of His rejection. By talking about a wedding, He emphasizes the joy that is connected to someone accepting the invitation and attending. In this parable an invitation is issued. The slaves are not ordered to go into the vineyard and work, but to call: “Come to the wedding feast.” There is not demanding, but giving.

The slaves are the disciples whom the Lord has sent out. The guests are first and foremost the Jews, the people of God. But the people don’t want to come, they reject the invitation. However, Christ is full of grace and sends out a second invitation to the same group of particularly privileged persons, the guests. He now instructs His slaves not only to invite, but also to present the attractiveness of the party in the invitation. It is all ready for the guests. They just need to come. He does everything He can to get the guests to the party.

The spiritual meaning is that everything is ready through the sacrifice of Christ. This was not yet the case for the first call. The fulfilment of the second invitation can be seen in the first chapters of Acts. This second invitation is made by the apostles when the work of redemption is completed.

But the guests show no interest. The cause is different. There is one group that is too busy with its own possessions, another group is busy with its business. There is also a group among the guests that react differently. When they receive the invitation, they flare up in anger. This has to do with their pride in their national religion from which they derive their importance. They answered the invitation by mistreating and killing the messengers.

It should come as no surprise that the king cannot let these reactions to his invitation go unpunished. In the year AD 70 God allowed Jerusalem to be destroyed by the Romans as “his armies”.

The Wedding Hall Is Filled

The king tells his slaves how things stand and that the guests are not worthy of coming to the wedding. He has sent them the invitation, but they have made themselves unworthy to be present at the wedding. Now he wants to send out his slaves, a picture of the Lord’s servants, to people who were not earlier among the guests. His slaves may, without making any distinction, invite to the wedding all those they find in the main highways. At the main highways you can always find the most people. Now that the guests have turned down the offer of grace from the gospel, the offer goes to all people.

The slaves carry out their task by bringing together, without distinction, all those they find. The gospel is offered to all people. The evangelist does not have to deal with who has been chosen by God. He must bring the Word to all he encounters. By “evil” we can understand great sinners and by “good” people like Nicodemus. It is not about the nature and character of the people to whom the gospel goes, but about the fact that the invitation is made to all without distinction. There is no search for people who wear wedding clothes because they will receive them from the King. It is here as it is in Matthew 13 with the parable of wheat and tares. In this way the wedding is filled with dinner guests.

Without Wedding Clothes

Then the king comes in to see who has come in. This parable is not about the responsibility of the preacher, but of those who responded to the preaching. The man without wedding clothes has entered in an arbitrary way. He has mingled with those invited, but did not accept the wedding clothes. He thinks his own clothes will suffice.

This is clearly not about heaven. No one who is not clothed with Christ can enter there. It is a parable of the kingdom of heaven that has become like a situation in which evil and good are present together. However, there will come a day when God will reveal who really belongs in it and who does not.

The man is called to account. The king calls him “friend” because he has come. But the man gives no answer to the question about how he came in without wedding clothes. The imagination by which he thought he could be present there on the basis of his own conditions, has disappeared. So it will be with all people who now have a big mouth about how they will respond to God when He calls them to account.

In this parable we have already seen the judgment on Jerusalem (Mt 22:7). Because this is a parable of the kingdom, we also see the judgment of what is within the kingdom. There may be an outward entry into the kingdom, a confession of Christendom, but he who is not clothed with what belongs to the feast will be ejected. We must be clothed with Christ Himself. He who is not, is thrown into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. The Lord represents the terrible destiny of those who imagine themselves in the light, while their hearts are in darkness. They will be eternally where their hearts always were.

He ends the parable by pointing out once again that many are called, that is to say all people, but few are chosen, that is, not many bow under grace. The fate of this individual in the parable, will in reality be the fate of many.

The twofold test of the nation ends here. The first took place under the responsibility of the nation under the law (Mt 21:33-46). The second benchmark for them was the message of grace (Mt 22:1-14).