The parable of the Wedding Feast and the Wedding Clothes. Matt 22

Parables given during the third day:

 

The Laborers and the vineyard:

 

Matt 19:30 - 20:16

 

The two sons and the vineyard: Spoken in the temple.

 

Matt 21:28 - 32  

 

The evil vine-growers and the vineyard.

 

Matt 21:33 - 46

 

 

The wedding feast of the king’s son and the wedding clothes:

 

Matt 22:1 And Jesus answered and spoke to them again in parables, saying,

 

Matt 22:2 "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king, who gave a wedding feast for his son.

 

Matt 22:3 "And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come.

 

Of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, none of them went to a feast until the invitation had been given and repeated.

 

But in the Parable those invited would not come. It reminds us both of the Parable of the labourers for the Vineyard, sought at different times, and of the repeated sending of messengers to those Evil Vine-growers for the fruits that were due, when we are next told that the king sent forth other servants to tell them to come, for he had made ready his ‘early meal’ (ariston, not ‘dinner,’), and that, no doubt with a view to the later meal, the oxen and fatlings were killed.

 

These repeated endeavors to call, to admonish, and to invite, form a characteristic feature of these Parables, showing that it was one of the central objects of our Lord’s teaching to exhibit the longsuffering and goodness of God.

 

Instead of giving heed to these repeated and pressing calls, in the words of the Parable: ‘but they (the one class) made light of it, and went away, the one to his own land, the other unto his own merchandise.’

 

Matt 22:4 "Again he sent out other slaves saying, 'Tell those who have been invited," Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast. "' 

 

Matt 22:5 "But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business,

 

Matt 22:6 and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them.

 

By this we are to understand, that, when the servants came with the second and more pressing message, the one class showed their contempt for the king, the wedding of his son, and the feast, and their preference for and preoccupation with their own possessions or acquisitions - their property or their trading, their enjoyments or their aims and desires.

 

And, when these had gone, and probably the servants still remained to plead the message of their Lord, the rest evil entreated, and then killed them - proceeding beyond mere contempt, want of interest, and preoccupation with their own affairs, to hatred and murder.

 

Their sin reveals that they were the more aggravated that he was their king, and the messengers had invited them to a feast, and that one in which every loyal subject should have rejoiced to take part.

 

Theirs was, therefore, not only murder, but also rebellion against their sovereign. On this the King, in his wrath sent forth his armies, which - and here the narrative in point of time anticipates the event - destroyed the murderers, and burnt their city.

 

Matt 22:7 "But the king was enraged and sent his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and set their city on fire.

 

Matt 22:8 "Then he said to his slaves, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.

 

Matt 22:9'Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.'

 

This is one of the main points in the Parable. The first invitation had been sent to selected guests - to the Jews - who might have been expected to be ‘worthy,’ but had proved themselves unworthy; the next was to be given, not to the chosen city or nation, but to all that traveled in whatever direction on the world’s highway, reaching them where the roads of life meet and part. These are Jews, Samaritans, and Gentiles who will now be graced out because they would have never expected to be invited.

 

We have already in part anticipated the interpretation of this Parable. ‘The Kingdom’ is here, as so often in the Old and in the New Testament, likened to a feast, and more specifically to a marriage-feast.

 

But we mark as distinctive, that the King makes it for His Son, thus Christ, as Son and Heir of the Kingdom, forms the central Figure in the Parable. This is the first point set before us.

 

The next is, that the chosen, invited guests were the ancient Covenant-People - Israel. To them God had sent first under the Old Testament. And, although they had not given heed to His call, yet a second class of messengers was sent to them under the New Testament.

 

And the message of the latter was, that ‘the early meal’ was ready (Christ’s first coming), and that all preparations had been made for the great evening-meal (Christ’s Reign). By rejecting the first meal they do not enjoy the second meal (the Millennial Kingdom) and so to the Gentiles and any others who would not expect to be invited would enjoy the Church-age as well as the Millennium (which all believers will enjoy).

 

Another prominent truth is set forth in the repeated message of the King, which points to the goodness and longsuffering of God.

 

 

Next, our attention is drawn to the refusal of Israel, which appears in the contemptuous neglect and preoccupation with their things of one party, and the hatred, resistance, and murder, by the other.

 

Then follow in quick succession the command of judgement on the nation, and the burning of their city - God’s army being, in this instance, the Romans - and, finally, the direction to go into the crossways to invite all men, alike Jews and Gentiles.

 

Matt 22:10"And those slaves went out into the streets, and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.

 

The evil and good refers to past lifestyle before acceptance of the invitation. Whatever they were or however they lived was not a criteria for the invitation. Whosoever may come.

 

And by accepting this invitation it is an opportunity to turn a terrible life that had no hope of greatness or success into a fulfillment of that hope.

 

Through Christ all things are possible.

 

Yet as we shall see, the King will inspect each guest individually and He finds one that is not dressed in the proper wedding clothes.

 

Since these people were invited off the highways and perhaps many of them poor, but no matter since rich or poor, no one would be traveling with wedding clothes.

 

The implication is that the King has provided the wedding clothes and all the guest had the exciting opportunity to pick out such wonderful clothes to wear to a wedding that they never would have expected to attend. The excitement amongst them all is palpable.

 

However, there is one guest who isn’t dressed.

 

Matt 22:11"But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw there a man not dressed in wedding clothes,

 

So this guest attends but refuses to dress. This shows his lack of care for king, the son, the wedding and the guests. This is an unbeliever who has shown up pretending he has accepted this honor when he has really rejected it.

 

He is ignorant of what honor is due the king or the son.

 

So why did he go? I can think of many reasons, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is, what do you think of Christ, whose Son is He?

 

The wedding clothes are the righteousness of Christ that is imputed to everyone who believes in Christ as Savior, Rom 6.

 

Matt 22:12and he said to him,' Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?' And he was speechless.

 

Matt 22:13"Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

 

Matt 22:14"For many are called (all are invited), but few are chosen (accept the invitation - believe in TLJC)."

 

There is the difference of eternity between God’s call and God’s election. It is but one simple decision to bridge that great gap, but God cannot make that decision.

 

The man in the parable has to decide to put on the wedding clothes. Every man must decide for himself to believe in TLJC as his personal Savior.

 

All are called, but less are chosen because every generation has a certain number of people who do not believe.

 

REV 19:6-8

"Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. 7 "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready." 8 And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

 

Every believer has at least one righteous act - he has believed on the Lord for eternal life. This is the wedding clothes.

 

In time we are challenged in the word of God to put on those clothes every day. And to walk in a manner worthy of one who has been graciously given such clothes as well as the privilege of being invited to the wedding feast.

 

1 Peter 5:5

You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

 

REV 3:18

I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.

 

EPH 4:17-24

This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 20 But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.