Matthew 22 commentary

MATTHEW 22 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet
1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying:
BAR ES, "And Jesus answered and spake unto them again in parables -
See the notes at Mat_13:3. That is, he answered or made reply to the Pharisees, who had
been enraged at him for what he had already spoken to them, Mat_21:45-46. He made a
still further statement, to show how the gospel would be received and treated by them.
The real answer here, as is frequently the case in the New Testament, refers to what was
passing in the mind, or to the conduct of those who were addressed, not to what they
said.
GILL, "And Jesus answered and spake unto them again in parables - See
the notes at Mat_13:3. That is, he answered or made reply to the Pharisees, who had
been enraged at him for what he had already spoken to them, Mat_21:45-46. He made a
still further statement, to show how the gospel would be received and treated by them.
The real answer here, as is frequently the case in the New Testament, refers to what was
passing in the mind, or to the conduct of those who were addressed, not to what they
said.
HE RY, "We have here the parable of the guests invited to the wedding-feast. In this
it is said (Mat_22:1), Jesus answered, not to what his opposers said (for they were put
to silence), but to what they thought, when they were wishing for an opportunity to lay
hands on him, Mat_21:46. Note, Christ knows how to answer men's thoughts, for he is a
Discerner of them. Or, He answered, that is, he continued his discourse to the same
purport; for this parable represents the gospel offer, and the entertainment it meets
with, as the former, but under another similitude. The parable of the vineyard represents
the sin of the rulers that persecuted the prophets; it shows also the sin of the people,
who generally neglected the message, while their great ones were persecuting the
messengers.
I. Gospel preparations are here represented by a feast which a king made at the
marriage of his son; such is the kingdom of heaven, such the provision made for
precious souls, in and by the new covenant. The King is God, a great King, King of
kings. Now,
1. Here is a marriage made for his son, Christ is the Bridegroom, the church is the
bride; the gospel-day is the day of his espousals, Son_3:11. Behold by faith the church of
the first-born, that are written in heaven, and were given to Christ by him whose they

were; and in them you see the bride, the Lamb's wife, Rev_21:9. The gospel covenant is a
marriage covenant betwixt Christ and believers, and it is a marriage of God's making.
This branch of the similitude is only mentioned, and not prosecuted here.
JAMISO , "
CALVI , ".And Jesus answering. Though Matthew relates this parable among
other discourses which were delivered by Christ about the time of the last Passover,
yet as he does not specify any particular time, and as Luke expressly affirms that
Christ delivered this discourse while he sat at table in the house of a Pharisee, I have
thought it better to follow this order. The design which Matthew had in view was, to
point out the reasons why the scribes were excited to the highest pitch of fury; and
therefore he properly placed it in the midst of those discourses which were hateful to
them, and interwove it with those discourses, without attending to the order of time.
But we must attend to Luke’s narrative, who says that, when one of those who sat at
table with him said, Blessed is he that eateth bread in the kingdom of God, Christ
took occasion from it to upbraid the Jews with ingratitude. It is by no means
probable, that the guest and friend of a Pharisee broke out into this exclamation
from any sincere feeling of piety. Still, I do not look upon it as having been spoken
in derision; but, as persons who have a moderate knowledge of the faith, and are not
openly wicked, are in the habit of indulging, amidst their cups, in idle talk about
eternal life, I think that this man threw out a remark about future blessedness, in
order to draw out some observation in return from Christ. And his words make it
manifest, that he had nothing in view beyond what was gross and earthly; for he did
not employ the phrase, eat bread, as a metaphor for enjoy eternal life, but appears
to have dreamed of I know not what state, filled with prosperity and abundance of
all things. The meaning is, Blessed shall they be who shall eat the bread of God,
(291) after that he has collected his children into his kingdom.
BE SO , "Matthew 22:1. Jesus spake unto them again by parables — That is,
spake with reference to what had just passed: for this parable is closely connected
with that of the vineyard, delivered at the close of the preceding chapter. And as our
Lord had in that foretold the approaching ruin of the Jewish place and nation, he
goes on in this to vindicate God’s mercy and justice in the rejection of that people
and the calling of the Gentiles; admonishing the latter, at the same time, of the
necessity of holiness, and showing that if they remained destitute of it, they would
meet with the same severity of judgment which had befallen the disobedient Jews.
BURKITT, "The design and scope of this parable of the marriage supper, is to set
forth that gracious offer of mercy and salvation, which was made by God in and
through the preaching of the gospel to the church of the Jews.
The gospel is here compared to a feast, because in a feast there is plenty, variety,
and dainties. Also to a marriage-feast, being full of joy, delight, and pleasure. And to
a marriage-feast made by a king, as being full of state, magnificence, and grandeur.
To this marriage-feast, or gospel-supper, Almighty God invited the church of the
Jews; and the servants sent forth to invite them, were the prophets and apostles in
general, and John the Baptist in particular, whom they entreated spitefully, and
slew.

The making light of the invitation, signifies the generality of Jews' refusal and
careless contempt of the offers of grace in the gospel. By the armies which God sent
forth to destroy those murderers, are meant the Roman soldiers, who spoiled and
laid waste the city of Jerusalem, and were the severe executioners of God's wrath
and judgment upon the wicked Jews. The highways signify the despised Gentiles,
who upon the Jews' refusal were invited to this supper, and prevailed with to come
in.
The king's coming in to see his guests, denotes that inspection which Christ makes
into his church in the times of the gospel.
By the man without the wedding garment, understand such as are destitute of true
grace and real holiness, both in heart and life. In the examination of him, Christ
says, Friend, how comest thou in hither? not, Friends, why came ye along with him?
Teaching us, that if unholy persons will press in to the Lord's supper, the sin is
theirs; but if we come not, because they will come, the sin is ours. The presence of an
unholy person at the Lord's table, ought not to discourage us from our duty, or
cause us to turn our back upon that ordinance. The command to bind the
unqualified person hand and foot, and to cast him into outer darkness, plainly
intimates, that the condition of such persons as live under the light, and enjoy the
liberty of the gospel, but walk not answerably to their profession, is deplorably sad
and doleful: they do not only incur damnation, but no damnation like it. Bind him
hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness.
From the whole, note, 1. That the gospel, for its freeness and fulness, for its varieties
and delicacies, is like a marriage-supper.
2. That gospel-invitations are mightily disesteemed.
3. That the preference which the world has in man's esteem is a great cause of the
gospel's contempt. They went one to his farm, and another to his merchandise.
4. That such as are careless in the day of grace, shall undoubtedly be speechless in
the day of judgment.
5. That Christ takes a more particular notice of every guest that cometh to his royal
supper, than any of his ministers do take, or can take. There was but one person
without the wedding garment, and he falls under the eye and view of Christ.
6. That it is not sufficient that we come, but clothed we must be before we come, if
ever we expect a gracious welcome to Christ's supper; clothed with sincerity, clothed
with humility; clothed with love and charity; if we be not thus clothed, we shall
appear naked to our shame, and hear that dreadful charge, Bind him hand and foot,
and cast him into outer darkness, where is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

See Luke 14:17.
COKE, "Matthew 22:1-2. And Jesus answered, &c.— The rulers being afraid to
apprehend Jesus, he was at liberty to proceed in the duties of his ministry.
Accordingly he delivered another parable, wherein he described, on one hand, the
bad success which the preaching of the Gospel was to have among the Jews, who for
that reason were to be destroyed; and, on the other, the cheerful reception which it
was to meet with among the Gentiles, who thereupon were to be admitted to the
participation of the privileges of the Gospel-dispensation. The kingdom of heaven
may be compared to a king, who made a marriage-feast for his son; Γαµος signifies
not only a marriage, but the feast at a marriage, or any great entertainment
whatever: in which latter sense it seems evidently to be used here. "God's gracious
design in giving the Gospel to men, and the success with which the preaching of it
will be attended, may be illustrated by the behaviour of a certain king, who, in
honour of his son, made a great feast, to which he invited many guests." This
marriage-supper, or great feast, signifies the joys of heaven, (see Revelation 19:9.)
which are fitly compared to an elegant entertainment, on account of their
exquisiteness, fulness, and duration; and they are here said to be prepared in
honour of the Son of God, because they are bestowed on men as the reward of his
obedience to the death of the cross. Our Lord is frequently represented in Scripture
under the character of a bridegroom. See ch. Matthew 9:15. Luke 5:34. John 3:29
the notes on Luke, Luke 14:16. &c. Macknight and Wolfius.
COFFMA , "And Jesus answered and spake again in parables unto them, saying,
The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a certain king, who made a marriage feast
for his son (Matthew 22:1-2)
This is the third of a series of three parables Jesus directly addressed to the
Pharisees. There is a definite connection in all three, revealing a progressive
intensity in the sins of the Pharisees, and setting forth stronger and stronger
punishments to be incurred by them. For a comparison and analysis of all three
parables, see under Matthew 22:14, below. This parable has the following analogies:
The king represents God.
The king's son is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The marriage supper stands for the privileges of the true faith.
The messengers are the evangelists of all ages who preach the truth.
The mistreatment of the messengers refers to the hostility of the Pharisees against
the apostles, first, and to other preachers later.
The rejection of the invitation is the rejection of Christ's message by the Pharisees
and other Jewish leaders.
The destruction of their city is the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and Vespasian

in 70 A.D.
The sending of the messengers into the byways prefigures the call of the Gentiles.
The man without a wedding garment represents all who despise the privilege of true
faith, and, while professing it, prove themselves unworthy of it.
The coming in of the king to see the guests is the arraignment of all men at the final
judgment.
The binding of the offender and casting him out show the punishment of the wicked
in hell.
The speechlessness of the offender shows that evil men at last shall concur in their
own punishment, being able to make no defense of their own conduct.SIZE>
PETT, "‘And Jesus answered and again spoke in parables to them, saying,’
The use of ‘answered’ in this vague way is a characteristic of Matthew’s Gospel. If it
has any significance other than as a literary device it is in suggesting that by these
words Jesus is answering His opponents. The ‘again’ connects back to the previous
two parables. ‘Spoke in parables’ is simply a colloquialism for ‘spoke parabolically’
PETT, "The Parable Of The Wedding Feast (22:1-14).
The emphasis in this parable is on people’s attitude towards the king’s son, and in
the final analysis on their attitude to Jesus, the true King’s Son. The tenants in the
vineyard had despised Him. ow all must consider their response to Him. It makes
most sense if we see the situation as one where the king has, in view of his son’s
forthcoming marriage, appointed his son to have authority over a part of his
kingdom. Thus the idea is of those who are invited to the son’s wedding feast, to
swear fealty to him and to do him honour, because they are to be his subjects. This
would make sense of why only one city and its surrounding countryside are
involved, and why the responses to the invitation are so virulent. Thus in the same
way the Chief Priests, Scribes and Pharisees are called on to swear fealty to Jesus
and do Him honour, (a claim that He has revealed by riding into Jerusalem on an
asses colt), something which they are seen to reject out of hand with the same
virulence.
The refusal of the invitees to come to the wedding feast, even to such an extent that
it results in the mistreatment and murder of his messengers, is an indication of their
absolute refusal to have His Son to reign over them (messengers were seen as
dispensable), and the attitude of the man who comes in unsuitably dressed is
similarly a deliberate affront to the King’s Son, as are the lives of all who profess to
be loyal to Him but who do not reveal it by changed lives. The assumption is that he,
along with the other guests, had been given time to dress themselves suitably for the
wedding by putting on their ‘best clothes’, (or have even been provided with them),

but that this man has deliberately chosen not to do so. Such an act was insulting to
the King and His Son in the extreme. Any others who had deliberately come
unsuitably dressed would no doubt have been treated in the same way. We are
simply given the example of one.
This last part of the parable with its sudden switch of idea is in fact typical of Jesus
who regularly suddenly enters a warning to those who might seem to think that they
were all right. Compare Matthew 7:22-23; the elder brother in Luke 15:25-32; Luke
19:27.
The parable echoes many of the themes of the previous two parables with which it is
connected by the use of the word ‘again’ (Matthew 2:1). Compare how the previous
parable was connected by the phrase ‘another parable’ (Matthew 21:33). The
anticipated honouring of the son compares with the hoped for reverencing of the son
in Matthew 21:37. The treatment of the two sets of slaves parallels the similar
treatment in Matthew 21:34-36. The destruction of the culprits parallels Matthew
21:41. The curt refusal to come was like the son who refused to go to the vineyard
(Matthew 21:30). Those who did come on the basis of the resulting opportunity are
like the son who finally did get to the vineyard (having first of all refused) (Matthew
21:29). The invitation to the ‘as many as you shall find’ parallels the ‘other vineyard
workers’. In both cases they will replace the first (Matthew 21:41). All the parables
are seen to have reference to the Kingly Rule of Heaven/God (Matthew 21:31;
Matthew 21:43; Matthew 22:1). Thus the message is a united one, even though seen
from different angles. And now there is no doubt as to Who the Son is.
It should be noted that in most of its details, and in the main idea behind it, this
parable differs from that in Luke 14:15-24 at nearly every point. While the
similarities are mainly superficial and inexact, the central thoughts and ideas are in
fact very different. It is therefore surprising, in view of the multitude of parables
that Jesus is said to have taught, that some scholars try to suggest that they are
basically the same parable, with totally insufficient grounds.
Analysis.
a And Jesus answered and again spoke in parables to them, saying (Matthew 22:1).
b The kingly rule of heaven can be likened to a certain king, who made a marriage
feast for his son (Matthew 22:2).
c And sent forth his servants to call those who were bidden to the marriage feast,
and they would not come (Matthew 22:3).
d Again he sent forth other servants, saying, “Tell those who are bidden, Behold, I
have made ready my dinner. My oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are
ready. Come to the marriage feast” (Matthew 22:4).
e But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his
merchandise, and the remainder laid hold on his servants, and treated them
shamefully, and killed them (Matthew 22:5-6).
f But the king was angry, and he sent his armies, and destroyed those murderers,
and burned their city (Matthew 22:7).

e Then he says to his servants, “The wedding is ready, but those who were bidden
were not worthy” (Matthew 22:8).
d “Go you therefore to the partings of the highways, and as many as you shall find,
bid to the marriage feast” (Matthew 22:9).
c And those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many
as they found, both bad and good, and the wedding was filled with guests (Matthew
22:10).
b But when the king came in to survey the guests, he saw there a man who did not
have on a wedding-garment, and he says to him, “Friend, how did you come in here
not having a wedding-garment?” And he was speechless (Matthew 22:11-12).
a Then the king said to the servants, “Bind him hand and foot, and cast him out into
the outer darkness. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. For many
are called, but few chosen (Matthew 22:13-14).
ote that in ‘a’ Jesus answers His opponents and in the parallel we have His
answer. In ‘b’ the king makes a marriage feast for his son. This will be intended to
include expressions of fealty, and recognition of the son’s position. But in the
parallel the man refuses to wear suitable clothing, thus dishonouring the son and
refusing to recognise his position. In ‘c’ the servants were sent to those who out of
loyalty and status should have come to the wedding, but they refused to come, and
in the parallel they were sent out to the riffraff and the common people and they
came in droves. In ‘d’ the ‘proper guests’ were bidden to the marriage feast, and in
the parallel those at the partings of the highways were bidden to the wedding. In ‘e’
the invitees proved their unworthiness, and in the parallel they are declared
unworthy. Centrally in ‘f’ is the declaration of what will happen to those who refuse
the king’s invitation to pay due honour to his son.
BARCLAY, "Matthew 22:1-14 form not one parable, but two; and we will grasp
their meaning far more easily and far more fully if we take them separately.
The events of the first of the two were completely in accordance with normal Jewish
customs. When the invitations to a great feast, like a wedding feast, were sent out,
the time was not stated; and when everything was ready the servants were sent out
with a final summons to tell the guests to come. So, then, the king in this parable
had long ago sent out his invitations; but it was not till everything was prepared that
the final summons was issued--and insultingly refused. This parable has two
meanings.
(i) It has a purely local meaning. Its local meaning was a driving home of what had
already been, said in the Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen; once again it was an
accusation of the Jews. The invited guests who when the time came refused to come,
stand for the Jews. Ages ago they had been invited by God to be his chosen people;
yet when God's son came into the world, and they were invited to follow him they
contemptuously refused. The result was that the invitation of God went out direct to
the highways and the byways; and the people in the highways and the byways stand
for the sinners and the Gentiles, who never expected an invitation into the Kingdom.
As the writer of the gospel saw it, the consequences of the refusal were terrible.

There is one verse of the parable which is strangely out of place; and that because it
is not part of the original parable as Jesus told it, but an interpretation by the writer
of the gospel. That is Matthew 22:7, which tells how the king sent his armies against
those who refused the invitation, and burned their city.
This introduction of armies and the burning of the city seems at first sight
completely out of place taken in connexion with invitations to a wedding feast. But
Matthew was composing his gospel some time between A.D. 80 and 90. What had
happened during the period between the actual life of Jesus and now? The answer
is--the destruction of Jerusalem by the armies of Rome in A.D. 70. The Temple was
sacked and burned and the city destroyed stone from stone, so that a plough was
drawn across it. Complete disaster had come to those who refused to recognize the
Son of God when he came.
The writer of the gospel adds as his comment the terrible things which did in fact
happen to the nation which would not take the way of Christ. And it is indeed the
simple historical fact that if the Jews had accepted the way of Christ, and had
walked in love, in humility and in sacrifice they would never have been the
rebellious, warring people who finally provoked the avenging wrath of Rome, when
Rome could stand their political machinations no longer.
(ii) Equally this parable has much to say on a much wider scale.
(a) It reminds us that the invitation of God is to a feast as joyous as a wedding feast.
His invitation is to joy. To think of Christianity as a gloomy giving up of everything
which brings laughter and sunshine and happy fellowship is to mistake its whole
nature. It is to joy that the Christian is invited; and it is joy he misses, if he refuses
the invitation.
(b) It reminds us that the things which make men deaf to the invitation of Christ are
not necessarily bad in themselves. One man went to his estate; the other to his
business. They did not go off on a wild carousal or an immoral adventure. They
went off on the, in itself, excellent task of efficiently administering their business life.
It is very easy for a man to be so busy with the things of time that he forgets the
things of eternity, to be so preoccupied with the things which are seen that he
forgets the things which are unseen, to hear so insistently the claims of the world
that he cannot hear the soft invitation of the voice of Christ. The tragedy of life is
that it is so often the second bests which shut out the bests, that it is things which are
good in themselves which shut out the things that are supreme. A man can be so
busy making a living that he fails to make a life; he can be so busy with the
administration and the organization of life that he forgets life itself.
(c) It reminds us that the appeal of Christ is not so much to consider how we will be
punished as it is to see what we will miss, if we do not take his way of things. Those
who would not come were punished, but their real tragedy was that they lost the joy
of the wedding feast. If we refuse the invitation of Christ, some day our greatest
pain will lie, not in the things we suffer, but in the realization of the precious things

we have missed.
(d) It reminds us that in the last analysis God's invitation is the invitation of grace.
Those who were gathered in from the highways and the byways had no claim on the
king at an; they could never by any stretch of imagination have expected an
invitation to the wedding feast, still less could they ever have deserved it. It came to
them from nothing other than the wide-armed, open-hearted, generous hospitality
of the king. It was grace which offered the invitation and grace which gathered men
in.
BROADUS, "Marriage Of The King's Son
This is found in Matt. only, but the first part resembles a parable given by Luke as
spoken some time earlier. (Luke 14:16-24) Some critics at once assume that only one
parable was given. But any man who ever went to and fro as a preacher will know
that to repeat an illustration to a new audience with some modification is perfectly
natural (compare at beginning of Matthew 5). So later in this same day, Matthew
25:14 ff. will repeat Luke 19:11 ff. There are examples in the Talmud of a like
repetition and reworking of an illustration by different Rabbis, and why not this be
done by the same Rabbi? It has been held that a parable cannot have been spoken at
this point, between the rise of the feelings described in Matthew 21:45 f. and the
consultation of Matthew 22:15. But why not? It required only a few minutes. And
Matthew 21:46 is a general statement, covering much that followed.â€”The
supposed Rabbinical parallels to this parable (WÃ¼nsche, Edersheim) are in fact so
little like it as not to be worth stating. To derive illustration from a feast would be a
matter of course.
Matthew 22:1. Answered, not to anything that had been said, so far as we know, but
responded to the feelings and wishes (Matthew 21:45 f.) which he knew were
entertained. And spake again by parables. Only one is given; there may have been
others, or this may have been regarded as comprising two (Matthew 22:2-10,
Matthew 22:11-13), or the plural may be (Goebel) only that of category, meaning
that he spoke parabolically. This parable is not expressly applied, like the two
foregoing, because the application is now sufficiently obvious, especially since
Matthew 21:43. Bruce: "The parable of the vine-dressers exposes Israel's neglect of
covenanted duty; this, her contempt of God's grace. The two are mutually
complementary, and present together a full view of Israel's sin." For the term
parable, and the general principles of interpretation, see on "Matthew 13:3".
STEDMA , "Verses 1-14
For our concluding study of the Parables, I would like to turn to Matthew 22, and
look with you at the parable of the marriage feast. In some ways this is the easiest
parable of all to interpret because there is an obvious meaning lying right on the
surface. This parable grew out of our Lord's controversy with the Pharisees during
the last week of his ministry, when it was very apparent that he was on his way to
the cross. The enmity against him had sharpened tremendously throughout the city

and the Pharisees, scribes, and rulers were plotting together to kill him. Knowing
this, Jesus spoke very sharply to them and informed them very clearly about what
was going to happen. Part of that information was given in the form of this parable,
which is built upon what he had said to them earlier, as recorded in Chapter 21,
Verse 43: "Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you
and given to a nation producing the fruits of it." Here is his announcement to these
Pharisees that they were to lose their privileged position and that the gospel was
thereafter to go out to all nations everywhere.
In the first seven verses, we have our Lord's description of his own ministry of
invitation to the nation, of the refusal of the national leaders to heed what he said;
and then his prediction of the ultimate destruction of the city of Jerusalem:
And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be
compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son, and sent his servants to
call those who were invited to the marriage feast; but they would not come. Again he
sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have made ready
my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves are killed, and everything is ready; come to
the marriage feast.' But they made light of it and went off, one to his farm, another
to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and
killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those
murderers and burned their city." (Matthew 22:1-7 RSV)
What a clear prediction of what will happen as a result of the rejection by the nation
Israel of our Lord's invitation! All of it is couched in this figure of the marriage
feast. This is an Eastern wedding scene, as we have noted before in some of our
Lord's other parables. The custom there was to invite people to the wedding feast a
long time before it actually occurred. The invitations went out and were
acknowledged and accepted. Then, when the preparations were complete, servants
were sent out to bid those who had already accepted the invitation to come.
It is important to understand this because our Lord here clearly has in mind the
nation Israel. Historically, they had been invited to the wedding long, long before,
through the prophets whom God had sent them. The invitation was to come and
have fellowship with the Son. ( otice that the marriage feast is for the son.) But now
all things are ready. The son is there in their midst and is himself extending this
final call, "Come now, everything is ready. Come and enter into fellowship with
me." But they refused to heed the summons even though they had already accepted
the invitation. That is the picture our Lord is drawing here. As a consequence, we
read in the next section, a worldwide invitation goes out to all men, everywhere:
"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those invited were not
worthy. Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite to the marriage feast as many
as you find.' And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom
they found, both bad and good; so the wedding hall was filled with guests."
(Matthew 22:8-10 RSV)
This is clearly our Lord's prediction that the gospel message, with its invitation to
worship the Son, is to go out to all the world. Everyone is invited. It does not make
any difference whether they have a respectable reputation, or are disreputable in
the eyes of society -- bad and good as used here are only men's evaluation. o matter
who they are, if people have a need, if they want life, whether they are of good
reputation or not, they are invited. We know that history has confirmed that this

pattern has been followed exactly. The gospel has gone out to all the world, and it
has been "whosoever will may come," (Revelation 22:17). And through the centuries
many have come in response, out of the highways and byways of life.
But that is only the understanding of this parable which lies right on the surface.
You can hardly miss it, can you? But we would miss a great deal if that were all we
saw because it has a deeper significance. So I want to take a closer look at certain of
the elements in this parable which will unveil its significance to us here this
morning, and its clear implications for our own day.
otice first that this occasion is a wedding feast. Today we call them receptions, and
it falls my lot as a pastor to be present at many receptions. Usually I find them
joyful occasions marked by gladness, music, and laughter. In fact, sometimes people
work up such elevated spirits that it is hard to keep them out of trouble. They tend
to want to perpetrate all kinds of high jinks. That is why you often find the bride
and groom driving off in a car that is a disgrace to behold, dragging old cans and
shoes behind them. It is an expression of the cheerfulness, the joyfulness, the
gladness of the occasion.
It is important for us to understand that this is the way our Lord characterized
God's invitation -- the gospel. It is not an invitation to a funeral, even though some
people act as though becoming a Christian is equivalent to being soaked for a week
in formaldehyde. It is an invitation to joy. It is not an invitation to a formal state
dinner, but to a relaxed, cheerful, joyful occasion. It is an invitation, in other words,
to life. This is what we so desperately need to understand.
During this tremendously significant last week, when man landed on the moon for
the first time -- and when we now even have pictures coming to us from Mars, and
are really beginning to understand something of our solar system and the universe
in which we live -- it struck me very forcibly how barren and dreary and desolate
these places are. I don't want to live on the moon, do you? Once you have seen one
square mile of the moon's surface you have seen it all. It seems to be the ugly
repetition of the same scarred, barren, dreary landscape. When I first saw the
picture from Mars, I mistook it for the moon. It looks very much the same. It struck
me as highly significant that, so far, the only beautiful place in our solar system is
earth. It was the only beautiful thing the astronauts saw on their trip to the moon --
the beautiful earth. As we look around on our planet we can see something of the
goodness and the graciousness of God toward man. What a beautiful place he has
prepared for us! How he has flung beauty abroad with a lavish hand! We see it on
every side.
This is indicative also of what God has prepared for the spirit in man. His invitation
to us is never to unhappiness or sorrow, drudgery or darkness, fear or death; it is to
life and to vitality, to excitement, joy, and gladness. We will never understand the
gospel unless we understand it in those terms. God is inviting men to come alive, to
discover what makes life exciting, challenging, wonderful. A phrase in Paul's letter
to the Romans comes to mind here: "For the kingdom of God does not mean food
and drink [it is not made up of mundane things even enjoyable things such as food
and drink] but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit," (Romans 14:17
(RSV)). That is what God is calling us to.
A few weeks ago a Christian young man was talking with me about what he should
be doing for the next few months of his life. He said. "I have two choices before me,

two things I can do this summer. One of them I would really hate to do. It doesn't
have any appeal to me at all. I feel that perhaps I should do it, but I don't want to.
The other is something I really enjoy doing. It's a ministry I delight in." And he
looked at me and said, "Of course, it's not difficult for me to know which is the will
of God. I know he wants me to do the hard thing, the difficult thing." I asked him,
"Why do you say that?" He said. "Well isn't that what God always wants?" He
wants us to do things that are tough and challenging and difficult." I said, "My
friend, I'm afraid you don't know God very well yet. The Lord Jesus said, 'I delight
always to do those things that please him.' It is great, it is exciting, it is challenging
to do the things that please him." This is the testimony of millions who have become
Christians that they have found the secret of life. God has invited them to a joyful
feast in fellowship with the Son of God.
A lady said to me a couple of weeks ago. "Oh, I had no idea that, when I became a
Christian life, would be as exciting and wonderful as it is. I accepted the Lord
fifteen years ago and I had no idea at the time that I would ever enter into the kind
of peace, gladness. and joy that I've been experiencing of late." That is the testimony
of many. I know there are exceptions. The philosopher, ietzsche, once said about
Christians. "If you want me to believe in your Redeemer, you're going to have to
look a lot more redeemed." Some of us need an exhortation like that. But the
important thing to understand is that when God issues the invitation through the
gospel, he is inviting us to discover life -- life as it really is.
otice also the nature of the call here. It is an invitation. It is not a summons from
the draft board to report for duty; it is an invitation which recognizes the right of
the ones invited to reject, if they so desire. It is without coercion or compulsion.
When God offers to us this marvelous gift of life in Jesus Christ, he does not
threaten us. He does not try to coerce or compel us to come; he offers it as an
invitation which we are free to accept, or reject, if we want to. "Come, all you who
are weary and heavy laden," says Jesus, "and I will give you rest," (Matthew 11:28).
"Come if you really want to live," is the nature of the invitation.
"Well," someone says, "wait a minute! Doesn't it say here that the king was angry
when they refused to come? And that he sent his troops and destroyed these people
and burned their city? That looks pretty compulsory to me." Yes, he did do that.
But notice when he did it. He did not grow angry when they first refused the gospel
invitation. Instead, he sent other servants to plead with them. Here is a revelation of
the patience and kindness of God, is it not? There is no resentment on his part at
this callous refusal to come when everything has now been made ready. Rather, he
sends other servants and another entreaty, and he describes the feast to them, trying
to entice them to come. "Everything's ready," he says, "I've made ready the dinner,
the oxen and the fat calves." This was the greatest gastronomic treat they could
expect in those days. It was all ready and he pleaded with them to come.
But notice the reaction of these people. Monstrous, really. The record says that they
made light of the invitation. ow we could understand this reaction if it were a case
of excessive demand on the part of God. All of us get tired of someone who is
constantly demanding something from us. Our tempers grow short after awhile, and
we say, "Leave me alone! I don't want to do it. I'm not interested." But that is not
the case here. This was an invitation to enjoy what these people wanted more than
anything else. It was what they desired, what they were looking for in life -- joy and

gladness, fellowship, and companionship -- fulfillment in every sense. So when they
rejected and refused it, they were refusing the very thing that they wanted most.
What stopped them? Why did they thus refuse? Matthew tells us "they made light
of it." In a parallel passage. Luke says they began to make excuses. One man said,
"I bought a field, so I can't come." Another said, "I've bought some oxen and I have
to go try them." And a third said, "I've married a wife, and I can't come," (Luke
14:18-20). (His was probably the best excuse of all.) What does all this mean? It
means that these men were putting the everyday concerns of their lives before this
call to discover and enjoy the secrets of life. They were taking the ordinary, normal
matters of business and counting them as of far greater importance than this which
actually meant everything in life to them. This invitation, which was the
embodiment of everything they wanted most of all, they downgraded and treated
with scorn and indifference, in contrast to some of the less important matters of life.
There is nothing wrong with the things that they set in its place; but obviously, the
whole point is that they had lost their perspective. They could not evaluate things
properly and they treated lightly this marvelous, gracious invitation to come to the
fellowship of the Son.
Some went even further, the record tells us. They seized the messengers which the
king had sent and killed them. They not only resisted the invitation and refused it,
but they hated it. This is revealing, is it not? They murdered the ones who brought
it. And it was then, only then, that the king became angry after they had descended
to murdering the ones he sent. Then they had become criminals, and it was then that
he came and destroyed the city.
All of this reveals a very great mystery about human lives. It reveals that what this
marriage feast symbolizes -- this fellowship with the Son -- is so essential, so
necessary to man that, without it, man cannot remain human. When he refuses this,
something happens to him. He begins to deteriorate, to fall apart. Either he loses his
perspective and life turns upside down, so that rather trivial things become all-
important, while really important things are treated lightly and with scorn. That is,
he lives then in an unreal world, a phantasmic world, an Alice in Wonderland
existence where everything is out of proportion, a world of unreality. Or, he
becomes animalistic, fierce, hateful, and dangerous, so that he actually breathes out
anger, hatred, and threatening against the very message sent to set him free.
Is it not striking that the two major problems of the day in which we live are
meaninglessness and violence? It is because men turn a deaf ear to the message of
the king to come to the wedding feast, to come to the fellowship of the Son. And
when they refuse that, they are refusing such an essential element of human life that
they no longer can remain human beings in the true sense but drift off instead into
one or the other of these two extremes.
But, as the record tells us, the king is not defeated. He is determined to have guests
at the wedding. So the invitation goes out, literally, "to the partings of the
highways," to the place "where cross the crowded ways of life," where people
mingle and mix without distinction, where there are all kinds -- the respectable and
the disreputable, the up-and-outers and the down-and-outers. The invitation goes
out to anyone who will hear, anyone who wants to live. If what you are after is to
discover the secrets of life, then you can come. That is very much like what we have
in the opening of the Sermon on the Mount. The Lord Jesus said. "Blessed are the

poor in spirit [those who do not have anything in themselves to count upon] for
theirs in the kingdom of heaven," (Matthew 5:3). The parable takes a sudden turn
here. A rather strange event occurs:
"But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no
wedding garment; and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a
wedding garment?' And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants,
'Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep
and gnash their teeth.' For many are called, but few are chosen." (Matthew 22:11-14
RSV)
The high point of the feast was when the king himself came in. After all, that is the
chief value of this feast -- the opportunity for a personal acquaintanceship with the
king. The king saw there a man without a wedding garment. He was what we would
call today a gate-crasher. He came in without the prescribed proper dress. He was
there on false grounds, in other words. At every Eastern wedding like this, the one
who gave the marriage feast always provided wedding garments for the guests to
wear. They did not cost them anything -- they were provided. All they needed was to
put on the wedding garment and they could come to the feast. Yet when the king
comes he finds a man there without one.
It is not difficult to interpret this, as we have garments used many times in Scripture
as symbols of righteousness. The wedding garment is a picture of the gift of
righteousness which the Lord gives to those who come with no righteousness of their
own. It is a picture of that righteousness of Jesus Christ with which we stand clothed
in God's presence if we are ready to renounce any dependence upon ourselves, or
upon anything we have done, or our background, heredity, ancestry or anything else
we might think of value to us. If we renounce our righteousnesses, which, as the
Scripture says, are as filthy rags, then God has the gift of his righteousness to give to
us.
This man was standing there without a wedding garment. And, in the original
language, the account makes clear that his was a deliberate refusal. There are two
Greek words for not and both of them are used in this account. In the first sentence
we read, "But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who
had not a wedding garment." The word simply means the negative. He did not have
one, that's all. A plain statement of fact. But when the king said to him, "Friend,
how did you get in here not having a wedding garment?" he uses another Greek
word. It is a word that implies a deliberate action of the will. This king is saying to
him, "Look, friend, you are here under false pretenses. You are deliberately
rejecting what has been provided. Your being here without a wedding garment
implies that you are in rebellion against all that this wedding feast stands for. You
are here as a phony, a sham."
And we read that the man was speechless; he had nothing to say. So the king said,
"Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep
and gnash their teeth." In other words, this man is as bad off as those who refused
to come in the first place. He is in the same condition as those who actually hated the
king and fought against him. This is a picture, easy to see, of hidden rebellion of an
outward pretense toward being what the king desires, but an inner refusal actually
to go along with him. So, in view of this, the final pronouncement of our Lord is that
he was cast out into the outer darkness, where men weep and gnash their teeth.

"For," he says, "many are called, but few are chosen."
Many have wondered what that sentence means. Sometimes you hear it
paraphrased, "Many are cold, and few are frozen," and that is getting fairly close to
the truth of it. What our Lord says, literally, is, "Many are called, but few are called
out." The words are related.There are many adherents of Christianity, but there are
few who actually become disciples. There are many who are willing to come without
a wedding garment, they are at the scene of the wedding feast, in the presence of the
fellowship of the saints with the Son, but they themselves do not actually enter in.
You can see how accurately and incisively descriptive this is of those who are
present with the people of God, who profess Christianity, who are there Sunday
after Sunday along with all the others, singing the hymns and reading the
Scriptures, bowing their heads together at the right time. Yet they sustain an inner
rebellion in their hearts, an inner refusal to accept the gift of righteousness of Jesus
Christ. Instead they cling to something in themselves upon which they are
depending for favor before God, and they refuse to heed the authority and
acknowledge the lordship of Jesus Christ. For these the sentence is, "Bind them
hand and foot, and cast them into the outer darkness; ... For many are called, but
few are chosen."
You often hear people say, "The reason I don't go to church is that there are so
many hypocrites there." Well, there are hypocrites in the churches. There is not one
of us who is not a hypocrite, in one way or another. But what our Lord is focusing
upon here is the initial entrance into the relationship of fellowship with the Son of
God. That must be based solely upon the gift of righteousness, the gift of
justification by faith. If we do not have that, then there is no possibility of
development in the Christian life. Our Lord is highlighting for us the fact that we
are dealing with God, who sees our hearts and knows our inner thoughts --
everything about us.
This is particularly significant and pertinent as we come to the table of the Lord,
because, here, we are dealing with something which can easily be used as a mask, a
guise of Christianity. All of us can partake of the table of the Lord. All of us can eat
the bread and drink the wine. But God is watching the heart. He is looking to see
whether that heart has really accepted the gift of life and has genuinely entered into
an understanding of the joy, the gladness, and the glory that it is to know Jesus
Christ.
We were singing earlier this morning a song that I love very much. A verse in it
says,
He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean;
His blood availed for me.
Those words always speak to my heart because I have such a sense of having been
cleansed, of having been foul, dirty, filthy, and of needing every day the cleansing of
the blood of Jesus Christ. That is what this Communion table speaks of.
And God will be examining our hearts as we meet together here. That is why the
Scriptures tell us not to treat this lightly, not to treat the table of the Lord as though
it were a mere perfunctory ritual, for God is reading the attitude and the reaction of
the heart as we participate together.

It is not the will of God to cast anyone out. He has made full provision for a wedding
garment for us all. But only those who actually put it on will enter into the joy of the
Lord at a time like this. As we participate together in this central sacrament of the
Christian faith, will you be asking yourself these questions: What is the reaction of
my heart to all of this? Is there joy there? Do I really know the glory of a cleansed
life? Has God washed away any sins of mine? Am I free from my dark, sordid past?
Is my inner life cleansed, as well as my outer life? Has God brought me into the
place where I can rejoice and discover the joy of the Holy Spirit?
If you cannot say, "Yes," then I suggest that you face the Lord Jesus on other terms.
Say to him, "Lord, until now I've been pretending to be a Christian. Up to now I've
been doing all the outward, expected things. But I have never really trusted you. I've
never really accepted from you the gift of life. Until now I've wanted to run my own
life. I have wanted to be my own boss, make my own plans, and do all the things
that I want to do. But now, Lord Jesus, I bow to your authority, to your right to be
my Lord, and I thank you for your willingness to change me, to love me, and to lead
me into the experience of life." Will you pray that way?
Prayer
Our Holy Father, thank you for the significance of this feast to which we come
today. How luminous it becomes in the light of these words of the Lord Jesus. This is
the feast intended to symbolize all the good things of life -- joy and peace and
righteousness. And Lord, as we come to it, we pray that we may be honest, sincere,
open, and transparent before you. We come, Lord, not because we feel that we have
anything to offer. We partake only on the grounds that we have nothing in
ourselves, but all things in you. And, Lord Jesus, we thank you for this. We pray
that this will move our hearts and that we will experience anew what it means to be
set free from the weight of guilt for our sins, to be forgiven, to be restored to be
given the gift of life in Jesus Christ and to walk with him in daily fellowship. We
thank you in his name, Amen.
HAWKER 1-10, ""And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and
said, (2) The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for
his son, (3) And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding:
and they would not come. (4) Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them
which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are
killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. (5) But they made light of it,
and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: (6) And the remnant
took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. (7) But when the king
heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those
murderers, and burned up their city. (8) Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is
ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. (9) Go ye therefore into the
highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. (10) So those servants went
out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and
good: and the wedding was furnished with guests."
We shall enter, through the teaching of God the Holy Ghost, into the beautiful design of
our Lord, in this parable, if we take with us, all the way we go through it, the leading
features the Son of God hath drawn. The kingdom of heaven is uniformly meant to
describe the kingdom of grace, in the present gospel state of the Church. The certain

king, here spoken of, is God our Father. And the marriage is that union the Son of God
hath been mercifully pleased, at the call of God his Father, to make with our nature, and
with each Person in that nature, whom God the Father hath given to him, whose
redemption Christ hath purchased, and God the Holy Ghost hath regenerated, for the
purpose of grace here, and glory hereafter.
This marriage took place, in the plan and counsel of Jehovah, before all worlds. The
Church was then presented by the Father, and fore-viewed by the Son, and sanctified in
the will and design of God the Holy Ghost, when Christ betrothed her to himself forever.
And although, in the ordination of the divine will, this Church of Jesus was to be
involved in the Adam-fall of our nature, in common with the whole race of men, yet the
original connection could not be dissolved by this spiritual adultery, but rather afforded
occasion for the Son of God to get more glory and honour by her recovery, is the
wonderful means he accomplished in time, by the salvation he wrought for this purpose.
The Church, therefore, departing from her glorious husband, and having lost the image
of God by sin, and having mingled with the heathen, and learned their works; this
parable represents the King as sending forth his servants to bring his Church home to
her lawful Lord and Husband again, notwithstanding all her baseness and unworthiness
of departure.
The invitation to this purpose is represented under the image and similitude of a great
dinner, in which a plentiful table is spread, the richest food is provided, servants are in
waiting, and all with one voice say, all things are ready, come to the marriage! It were
needless to observe, that the several parts of the parable, in the servants being again and
again sent, and the contempt shewn by some, and the cruelty by others; are meant to set
forth the various ages of the Church, in which Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles, have
ministered to this one end, and the events which have followed. These things are so
plain, that everyone who is acquainted with the Bible, cannot but know them. All that
seems necessary for the least additional information on this subject, is to observe, that
the final issue of the Lord’s design, can neither be frustrated, nor unaccomplished. The
Lord Jehovah, in his threefold character of persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, hath
made, for this, an effectual security. The Church is One with Christ, her Head and
Husband, from all eternity. Hence every individual which constitutes a part in that
mystical body, notwithstanding the after act in the Adam-nature, and Adam-fall, is
secured from a pre-union with the Lord, her Husband, from everlasting ruin. Hence
their effectual call and conversion is engaged for in covenant settlements. A secret union
subsisted between Christ and his members from all eternity. And this brings up after it
an open espousal of everyone of them at the season of their conversion. Thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power. And hence they are carried safely on through all the
periods of time, and will be brought home to a more public display of the divine love, at
the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven. Rev_19:9.
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR 1-10, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king
which made a marriage for his son.
Making light of gospel invitations
I. When or how men slight the invitations of the gospel.
1. When they neglect the Word of God, which is full of them, and which
authoritatively announces them to the world.
2. When they absent themselves from the sanctuary, when they are proclaimed by

God’s own ambassadors.
3. When they fail to give heed to the Divine message, when it is personally and
solemnly addressed to them.
4. When Sabbath after Sabbath they refuse to accept the invitation to come to the
feast of love spread for them. No greater slight can be conceived when we consider-
(1) who gives the invitation;
(2) the character and condition of those to whom it is made;
(3) the honour and infinite good involved in the invitation.
II. The danger of slighting these invitations.
1. It cannot fail to provoke the anger of God. “The king was wrath.”
2. It inevitably forfeits all the blessings of Christ’s meditation and sacrifice.
3. It shuts the door of mercy against the sinner. (J. M. Sherwood, D. D.)
The marriage of the king’s son
I. A monarch’s celebration of an interesting event.
1. The king here referred to is evidently the Most High. The human kingship is really
but a lower form of the heavenly.
2. The king had a son who had taken to himself a bride.
3. On the occasion of his marriage a splendid banquet was provided. Royal feasts are
sumptuous and abundant.
II. The munificence despised by his ungrateful subjects.
1. The invitation he sent, and the way in which it was responded to.
2. The causes of their rejecting so kind an offer.
(1) Indisposition. “They would not come.”
(2) Love of the world. “One to his farm,” etc.
(3) Open malignity.
3. The consequences that ensued.
III. The royal bounty at length appreciated.
1. The messengers were entrusted with a fresh commission to a totally different
class.
2. The response which their message received.
IV. The assembled company inspected, and the consequences that ensued.
1. The spectacle which was beheld: “He saw there a man which had not on a wedding
garment.”
2. The question proposed.
3. The doom pronounced. (Expository Outlines.)

The royal marriage feast
Four different ways of treating God’s invitations in the gospel are here set before us.
1. We have it complacently ignored by those who went their ways to their farms and
to their merchandise.
2. We have the gospel offer violently rejected. There is still a violent rejection of the
gospel by open infidels.
3. The inconsistency and insolence of the man who professed to accept the
invitation, and yet failed to comply with the conditions on which alone true
acceptance of it was possible. He pushed into the festive hall without having on a
wedding garment.
4. We have the gospel invitation sincerely and heartily accepted. (W. M. Taylor, D.
D.)
The parable of the wedding feast
I. A magnificent banquet with A grand object in view. The person is Divine. The occasion
a subject of delight to us personally; it is a marriage with our nature; not with angels.
The royal descent of the Bridegroom. His character; His achievements.
II. Here is a gracious method of accomplishing the design.
1. A feast for joy;
2. A feast for fulness.
3. A feast for fellowship.
4. All the expense lies with Him.
5. How honourable is the gospel to those who receive it. A monarch’s entertainment.
III. The serious hindrance.
1. They were disloyal.
2. They slighted the king.
IV. The gracious rejoinder, (C. H. Spurgeon.)
As dangerous to slight the gospel as to reject it
If I were in a boat on the river in the rapids, it would not be necessary, to insure my
destruction, that I should enter into violent controversy with those who would urge me
from the shore, to take heed and come to land: all I should have to do would be to shut
my ears to their entreaty, and leave myself alone; the current would do the rest. Neglect
of the gospel is thus just as perilous as the open rejection of it. Indeed, half the evils of
our daily life in temporal things are caused by neglect; and countless are the souls who
are lost for this same cause. Leave your farm for a little, then; let your merchandise alone
for a season; settle first, and before all things else, what you will do with this invitation
which God has given you to the gospel banquet: then, that accepted, your farm will

become to you a section of God’s vineyard, and your business will be a means of
glorifying Him. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
The wedding of the prince
I. The false hope indulged. The man without the wedding garment represents the person
who believes that he is reconciled to God, who has not God’s righteousness. This hope
may be designated
1. A self-righteous hope.
2. An impenitent hope.
II. The soul stripped of its hope and its pretensions.
1. Here is the dumbness of true conviction. No excuse.
2. The speechlessness of amazement. Amazed that all his efforts are of no avail.
3. The dumbness of awe and terror. He has met his Maker.
4. The speechlessness expresses despair.
Learn:
1. The first duty of every one is to determine what is a suitable preparation for
heaven.
2. Sincere ignorance will save no man.
3. Now is the time for self-scrutiny. (E. N. Kirk, D. D.)
The king punishing his barbarous subjects
1. From the whole of our Saviour’s parables and predictions relative to the Jews, we
may infer both His prophetic wisdom and singular humanity.
2. That the Jews were under a peculiar economy of Divine providence, and were
more directly, immediately, and judicially rewarded with national prosperity, or
punished with national calamity and ruin, in proportion to their piety and virtue, or
impiety and wickedness, than any other nation.
3. That the spirit of pride, malice, and revenge, with which the Jews were possessed
and instigated to their own destruction, is the worst that can possess the human
breast, most injurious to society and pernicious to them who are actuated by it.
4. That we ought to congratulate ourselves, and be thankful to the providence of God
that we live in an age and nation wherein this malignant spirit, which has been seen
to prevail so much, and produce such terrible effects, not only amongst Jews, but
Christians also, is happily abated, though not entirely extinguished. (S. Brown.)
Gospel feast
Doctrine-the gospel is a large feast, stored with all kinds of spiritual provision in it.
Consider-

1. Wherein the resemblance of the gospel to a feast appears.
2. In what respect it is a large feast.
3. What things we have need of against this feast.
4. What is the bill of fare?
5. What excellent properties there are in the provisions of the great supper.
6. What suitableness from God appears in them to the case of man.
7. Why it is a feast with all things in it.
8. What hindrances do make it to many ineffectual. (Joseph Hussey.)
Gospel invitation
Doctrine-that God makes an invitation to sinners in the preaching of the gospel to come
in to this feast.
(1) It was a gracious;
(2) a free;
(3) a sovereign;
(4) a clear;
(5) a commanding;
(6) an open;
(7) a large and comprehensive;
(8) a pressing and earnest;
(9) a seasonable;
(10) an effectual and saving invitation. (Joseph Hussey.)
Causes of refusal to accept Christ
1. Worldly cares, incumbrances, secular business, or the concernments of this life, in
providing earthly things.
2. The riches, or love of wealth, or earthly honour.
3. But it appears that sensual satisfaction, or the inordinate love of pleasures, is that
which hath the greatest power over men, and which drowns and swallows up the
spirit and soul of mortals: for this sort says, “they cannot come.” (Benjamin Keach.)
The gospel banquet
History tells of a banquet given by Henry VIII. to the French ambassadors. The best
cooks in all the land were engaged. Privateers went through all the country to gather all
the costliest viands, and when the day arrived the guests were kept hunting in the park
so that their appetites might be keen, and then, at the right moment, to the sound of the

trumpeters, they entered the hall, and sat down to the table, agleam with imperial plate
and ablush with the costliest wines, with gold candles with a hundred tapers as large as
torches. But I have to tell you to-day of a more wonderful entertainment. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the banqueter; the angels of God are the cup-bearers; pardon, and peace, and
life, and heaven are the viands; palaces hung with gardens of eternal beauty are the
banqueting place; the chalices of God are the plates; and I am one of His servants, and I
come out with the invitation to all the people-a written invitation to every man, woman,
and child in all this audience. (Dr. Talmage.)
Making light of the gospel call
A celebrated preacher of the seventeenth century in a sermon to a crowded audience,
described the terrors of the Last Judgment with such eloquence, pathos, and force of
action, that some of his audience not only burst into tears, but sent forth piercing cries,
as if the Judge Himself had been present, and was about to pass upon them their final
sentence. In the height of this commotion the preacher called upon them to dry their
tears and cease their cries, as he was about to add something still more awful and
astonishing than anything he had yet brought before them. Silence being obtained, he,
with an agitated countenance and solemn voice, addressed them thus: “In one quarter of
an hour from this time the emotions which you have just now exhibited wilt be stifled;
the remembrance of the fearful truths which excited them will vanish; you will return to
your carnal occupations, or sinful pleasures, with your usual avidity, and you will treat
all you have heard ‘as a tale that is told!’” (Cheerer.)
God’s anger against those who refuse the gospel invitation
Another proof of the earnestness of God in His invitation is His wrath against the
murderers who had refused it. You are not much offended at one who refuses an
invitation you have given in jest, or, for form’s sake, half hoping it would not be
accepted. God is angry because you have treated in jest and made light of what has been
most earnest to Him; because you have crossed Him in the sincerest purpose to bless
you; because after He has at the greatest expense, not only of wealth and exertion, but of
life, provided what He knows you need, you act towards Him as if He had done nothing
that deserves the least consideration. This acceptance or rejection of God’s offers that we
come and talk over, often as if the whole matter were in our hands, and we might deal
with it as we arrange for a journey or an evening’s amusement, is to God the most
earnest matter. If God is in earnest about anything, it is about this; if the whole -force of
His nature concentrates on any one matter it is on this; if anywhere the amplitude and
intensity of Divine earnestness, to which the most impassioned human earnestness is as
the idle vacant sighing of the summer air, if these are anywhere in action, it is in the
tenderness and sincerity with which He invites you to Himself … To save sinners from
destruction is His grand purpose, and success in other parts of His government does not
repay Him for failure here. And to make light of such an earnestness as this, an
earnestness so wise, so called for, so loving, pure, and long-suffering, so Divine, is
terrible indeed. To have been the object of such earnest love, to have had all the Divine
attributes and resources set in motion to secure my eternal bliss, and to know myself
capable of making light of such earnestness as this, is surely to be in the most forlorn
and abject condition that any creature can reach. (Marcus Dods, D. D.)

The gospel feast
I. The nature of gospel blessings.
1. They are of God’s own providing.
2. They are rich and valuable as Well as Divine.
3. These blessings are suitable.
4. They are abundant.
II. The invitation given to partake of these blessings.
1. A feast so rich is designed for numerous guests.
2. The gospel is made known to mankind.
3. This invitation is free and gracious.
4. It is earnest and authoritative.
III. The reception which the invitation meets with, and the folly, guilt, and danger of
rejecting it.
1. The Jews to whom it was first sent refused to come.
2. Some make light of the gospel from the love of worldly pleasures.
3. That the generality of those who hear it make light of it is evident from their
conduct.
4. The folly to prefer the world to God who is the Supreme Good.
5. The guilt of to-day is in proportion to the freeness and suitableness of the
blessings offered.
6. The blessings of the gospel are as necessary to your present as to your future
happiness. (R. Fletcher.)
The marriage
I. The history of the marriage.
1. The marriage purposed.
2. The preliminary arrangements.
3. The servants sent out.
4. The message.
5. The advent of the king.
6. The inspection.
II. Turn to Rev_19:1-21

2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who
prepared a wedding banquet for his son.
BAR ES, "The kingdom of heaven - See the notes at Mat_3:2. The idea here is,
“God deals with man in his kingdom, or in regard to the dispensation of the gospel, as a
certain king did,” etc. This parable refers, undoubtedly, to the rejection of the Jews and
to the calling of the Gentiles. The gospel, with all its privileges, was offered to the Jewish
people; but through their wickedness and pride they rejected it, and all its blessings were
offered to the Gentiles and accepted. This is the general truth. Many circumstances are
thrown in to fill out the narrative which cannot be particularly explained.
A marriage for his son - Rather a “marriage-feast,” or a feast on the occasion of the
marriage of his son. The king here doubtless represents God providing for the salvation
of the world.
CLARKE, "The kingdom of heaven - In Bereshith Rabba, sect. 62. fol. 60, there
is a parable very similar to this, and another still more so in Sohar. Levit. fol. 40. But
these rabbinical parables are vastly ennobled by passing through the hands of our Lord.
It appears from Luke, Luk_14:15; etc., that it was at an entertainment that this parable
was originally spoken. It was a constant practice of our Lord to take the subjects of his
discourses from the persons present, or from the circumstances of times, persons, and
places. See Mat_16:6; Joh_4:7-10; Joh_6:26, Joh_6:27; Joh_7:37. A preacher that can
do so can never be at a loss for text or sermon.
A marriage for his son - A marriage feast, so the word γαµους properly means. Or a
feast of inauguration, when his son was put in possession of the government, and thus
he and his new subjects became married together. See 1Ki_1:5-9, 1Ki_1:19, 1Ki_1:25,
etc., where such a feast is mentioned.
From this parable it appears plain,
1. That the King means the great God.
2. His Son, the Lord Jesus.
3. The Marriage, his incarnation, or espousing human nature, by taking it into union
with himself.
4. The Marriage Feast, the economy of the Gospel, during which men are invited to
partake of the blessings purchased by, and consequent on, the incarnation and
death of our blessed Lord.
5. By those who Had Been bidden, or invited, Mat_22:3, are meant the Jews in
general, who had this union of Christ with human nature, and his sacrifice for sin,
pointed out by various rites, ceremonies, and sacrifices under the law; and who, by
all the prophets, had been constantly invited to believe in and receive the promised

Messiah.
6. By the Servants, we are to understand the first preachers of the Gospel,
proclaiming salvation to the Jews. John the Baptist and the seventy disciples
(Luk_10:1), may be here particularly intended.
7. By the Other Servants, Mat_22:4, the apostles seem to be meant, who, though they
were to preach the Gospel to the whole world, yet were to begin at Jerusalem
(Luk_24:47) with the first offers of mercy.
8. By their making light of it, etc., Mat_22:5, is pointed out their neglect of this
salvation, and their preferring secular enjoyments, etc., to the kingdom of Christ.
9. By injuriously using some, and slaying others, of his servants, Mat_22:6, is
pointed out the persecution raised against the apostles by the Jews, in which some
of them were martyred.
10. By sending forth his troops, Mat_22:7, is meant the commission given to the
Romans against Judea; and, burning up their city, the total destruction of
Jerusalem by Titus, the son of Vespasian, which happened about forty-one years
after.
On this parable it is necessary to remark,
1. That man was made at first in union with God.
2. That sin entered in, and separated between God and man.
3. That as there can be no holiness but in union with God, and no heaven without
holiness, therefore he provided a way to reconcile and reunite man to himself.
4. This was effected by Christ’s uniting himself to human nature, and giving his Spirit
to those who believe.
5. That as the marriage union is the closest, the most intimate, solemn, and excellent,
of all the connections formed among mortals, and that they who are thus united in
the Lord are one flesh; so that mystical union which is formed between God and
the soul through Jesus Christ, by the Eternal Spirit, is the closest, most intimate,
solemn, and excellent, that can be conceived; for he who is thus joined unto the
Lord is one spirit.
6. This contract is made freely: no man can be forced to it, for it is a union of will to
will, heart to heart; and it is by willing and consenting that we come unto God
through his Son.
7. That if this marriage do not take place here, an eternal separation from God, and
from the glory of his power, shall be the fearful consequence.
8. That there are three states in which men run the risk of living without God and
losing their souls.
1st. That of a soft, idle, voluptuous life, wherein a man thinks of nothing but
quietly to enjoy life, conveniences, riches, private pleasures, and public
diversions. They made light of it.
2dly. That of a man wholly taken up with agricultural or commercial employments,
in which the love of riches, and application to the means of acquiring them,
generally stifle all thoughts of salvation. One went to his own field, and another
to his traffic.
3dly. That of a man who is openly unjust, violent, and outrageously wicked, who is
a sinner by profession, and not only neglects his salvation, but injuriously treats

all those who bring him the Gospel of reconciliation. Seizing his servants, they
treated them injuriously, etc.
GILL, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king,.... The Gospel
dispensation which had now taken place, the methods of divine grace in it, and the
behaviour of men under it, may be fitly illustrated by the following simile, or parable; the
design of which is to express the great love of God the Father, who is represented by this
certain king, in espousing any of the children of men to his own son: as, that he a king,
who is the King of kings, and Lord of Lords, should concern himself in this manner; and
especially, that he should espouse such mean and unworthy creatures to his own, his
only, and beloved son, his equal, and his heir: also, the view of it is to set forth the
plenteous provisions of grace made under the Gospel dispensation in the word and
ordinances; the great neglect and contempt of these by the Jews, who were externally
called unto them; the wrath of God upon them for their abuse of them, and ill usage of
his servants; the calling of the vilest among them, or of the Gentiles, and how far persons
may go in a profession of religion without the wedding garment, and at last be lost:
which made a marriage for his son: which may be understood either of contracting
and bringing him into a marriage relation, or of making a marriage feast on that
account: in the former sense, the persons concerned are the Father, the bridegroom, and
the bride: the parties contracted are the Son of God and sinful creatures. The
bridegroom is no other than the only begotten of God the Father, his only Son and heir,
the Maker and Governor of the universe, who has all the, perfections of the Deity, and
fulness of the Godhead in him; and, as mediator, has all accomplishments and,
excellencies; he has all the riches of grace and glory; all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge; all loveliness, beauty, and amiableness in his person, and everything to
recommend him as the chiefest among ten thousand: on the other hand, the bride is the
church, which consists of a set of persons chosen by God, in Christ, before the
foundation of the world; who were considered as sinless creatures, and viewed as such
when first betrothed to Christ in the everlasting covenant: but for the further
demonstration of his love to them, were suffered to fall in Adam, with the rest of
mankind, and to be scattered abroad; when they lost the image of God, came short of his
glory, passed under a sentence of condemnation, became liable to the curse of the law,
and eternal death; were defiled and polluted in their nature, and in their estate became
bankrupts and beggars; and yet this hindered not the consummation of the marriage
between Christ and them. The person that contracted this relation between them, is the
Father of Christ, who chose them for him to be his spouse and bride; brought and
presented them to him, as he did Eve to Adam before the fall; and gave them to him, and
made them one body and flesh with him, in the everlasting covenant; and draws them,
and brings them to him by his powerful grace, in the effectual calling; there was a secret
betrothing of all these persons to him in eternity, at his own request, and the full consent
of his Father, who had the disposal of them; there is an open espousal of them, as
particular persons, at conversion; and there will be a more public and general
consummate marriage of them, at the last day, when they are all called by grace, and
brought home: moreover, this may be understood of the marriage feast which the Father
makes on this extraordinary account. So the Syriac version renders the word by ‫,משתיתא‬
"a feast"; and in this sense is it used by the Septuagint in Gen_29:22 by which is meant,

not the latter day glory, or marriage feast of the Lamb, to which only saints will be
invited, and partake of; nor the ultimate glory, when all the elect shall go with Christ into
the marriage chamber, and spend an eternity in endless and unspeakable felicity with
him; nor the spiritual blessings of grace enjoyed by believers now; but the external
ministry of the word and ordinances, which are a feast of fat things, a rich
entertainment, the particulars of which are after given; which many are invited to, who
never partake thereof, and others do, and yet destitute of the grace of God; for both good
and bad were guests at this feast. The allusion is to the custom of the Jews, and of other
nations, in making feasts and grand entertainments at such times. The Jews used to
make feasts both at espousals, and at marriage: hence we (g) read of ‫אירוסין‬ ‫,סעודת‬ "a feast
of espousals", and of ‫נישואין‬ ‫,סעודת‬ "a marriage feast": the reference here is to the latter;
and which used to be made at the charge of the father: for so runs one of their canons
(h):
"a father marries his son, ‫משתה‬ ‫לו‬ ‫,ועשה‬ "and makes a feast for him", and the expense is
the father's &c.''
JAMISO , "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made
a marriage for his son — “In this parable,” as Trench admirably remarks, “we see
how the Lord is revealing Himself in ever clearer light as the central Person of the
kingdom, giving here a far plainer hint than in the last parable of the nobility of His
descent. There He was indeed the Son, the only and beloved one (Mar_12:6), of the
Householder; but here His race is royal, and He appears as Himself at once the King and
the King’s Son (Psa_72:1). The last was a parable of the Old Testament history; and
Christ is rather the last and greatest of the line of its prophets and teachers than the
founder of a new kingdom. In that, God appears demanding something from men; in
this, a parable of grace, God appears more as giving something to them. Thus, as often,
the two complete each other: this taking up the matter where the other left it.” The
“marriage” of Jehovah to His people Israel was familiar to Jewish ears; and in Psa_45:1-
17 this marriage is seen consummated in the Person of Messiah “THE KING,” Himself
addressed as “GOD” and yet as anointed by “HIS GOD” with the oil of gladness above
His fellows. These apparent contradictions (see on Luk_20:41-44) are resolved in this
parable; and Jesus, in claiming to be this King’s Son, serves Himself Heir to all that the
prophets and sweet singers of Israel held forth as to Jehovah’s ineffably near and
endearing union to His people. But observe carefully, that THE BRIDE does not come
into view in this parable; its design being to teach certain truths under the figure of
guests at a wedding feast, and the want of a wedding garment, which would not have
harmonized with the introduction of the Bride.
CALVI , "2.The kingdom of heaven is like a human king As it was long ago said by
a Spartan, that the Athenians knew what was right, but did not choose to practice it;
so Christ now brings it as a reproach against the Jews, that they gave utterance to
beautiful expressions about the kingdom of God, but, when God kindly and gently
invited them, they rejected his grace with disdain. There is no room to doubt that
the discourse is expressly levelled against the Jews, as will more plainly appear a
little afterwards.
Matthew and Luke differ in this respect, that Matthew details many circumstances,

while Luke states the matter summarily, and in a general manner. Thus, Matthew
says that a king made a marriage for his son: Luke only mentions a great supper
The former speaks of many servants, while the latter refers to no more than one
servant; the former describes many messages, the latter mentions one only; the
former says that some of the servants were abused or slain, the latter speaks only of
their being treated with contempt. Lastly, the former relates that a man was cast
out, who had gone in to the marriage without a wedding garment, of which Luke
makes no mention. But we have formerly pointed out a similar distinction, that
Matthew, in explaining the same thing, is more copious, and enters into fuller
details. There is a remarkable agreement between them on the main points of the
parable.
God bestowed on the Jews distinguished honor, by providing for them, as it were, a
hospitable table; but they despised the honor which had been conferred upon them.
The marriage of the king’s son is explained by many commentators to mean, that
Christ is the end of the Law, (Romans 10:4.) and that God had no other design in his
covenant, than to make him the Governor of his people, and to unite the Church to
him by the sacred bond of a spiritual marriage. I have no objection to that view. But
when he says, that the servants were sent to call those who were invited, these words
are intended to point out a double favor which the Jews had received from God;
first, in being preferred to other nations; and, secondly, in having their adoption
made known to them by the prophets. The allusion is to a practice customary among
men, that those who intended to make a marriage drew up a list of the persons
whom they intended to have as guests, and afterwards sent invitations to them by
their servants. In like manner, God elected the Jews in preference to others, as if
they had been his familiar friends, and afterwards called them by the prophets to
partake of the promised redemption, which was, as it were, to feast at a marriage It
is true that those who were first invited did not live till the coming of Christ; but we
know that all received an offer of the same salvation, of which they were deprived
by their ingratitude and malice; for from the commencement, God’s invitation was
impiously despised by that people. (292)
BE SO , "Matthew 22:2-3. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king —
That is, the dispensation of the gospel may be well illustrated by that which
happened in the case of a king; who made a marriage for his son — Our Lord is
frequently represented in Scripture under the character of a bridegroom. The
marriage-feast here spoken of is intended to signify the blessings of the gospel,
which are set forth under the emblem of a feast in divers passages of Scripture,
especially Isaiah 25:6; and Isaiah 55:1-2; Luke 14:16; where see the notes. And sent
forth his servants — John the Baptist and the twelve, and the seventy sent forth
during our Lord’s lifetime; to call them that were bidden — τους κεκληµενους, that
had been before invited — amely, the Jews, who had been invited from the times
of Moses, by the law and the prophets, to this long-expected marriage of the Desire
of all nations; and to whom the first offers of grace and salvation through Christ
were made, to the wedding, or nuptial banquet, as γαµους here properly signifies.
And they would not come — They were so rude and foolish as to refuse complying
with the invitation. By this their refusal, and by the reasons assigned for it, stated

here and Luke 14:18-19, is shown the rejection of the gospel by the Jews, and the
carnal causes, not only of their, but of all men’s refusing to come unto the gospel-
feast.
ELLICOTT, "(2) Which made a marriage for his son.—The germ of the thought
which forms the groundwork of the parable is found, in a passing allusion, in Luke
12:36—“When he shall return from the wedding.” Here, for the first time, it
appears in a fully developed form. The parable of Luke 14:15-24 is not specially
connected with the idea of a wedding feast. The thought itself rested, in part at least,
on the language of the older prophets, who spoke of God as the Bridegroom, and
Israel as His bride (Isaiah 62:5), who thought of the idolatries of Israel as the
adultery of the faithless wife (Jeremiah 3:1-4) who had abandoned the love of her
espousals (Jeremiah 2:2). Here the prominent idea is that of the guests who are
invited to the feast. The interpretation of the parable lies, so far, almost on the
surface. The king is none other than God, and the wedding is that between Christ
and His Church, the redeemed and purified Israel (Revelation 19:7-9). We have to
remember the truth, which the form of the parable excludes, that the guests
themselves, so far as they obey the call, and are clothed in the wedding garment, are,
in their collective unity, the Church which is the bride. (Comp. Ephesians 5:23-27.)
PETT, "‘The kingly rule of heaven can be likened to a certain king, who made a
marriage feast for his son,’
The parable is to be an illustration of the Kingly Rule of Heaven. Compare for this
Matthew 13:24; Matthew 18:23; Matthew 25:1; and see also Matthew 13:31;
Matthew 13:33; Matthew 13:44-45; Matthew 13:47; Matthew 13:52; Matthew 20:1.
Like those parables it will indicate present activity in the Kingly Rule of Heaven,
leading up to the final everlasting Kingly Rule. It refers to God’s doings and God’s
offer and men’s response to them. They are being called to come under His Son’s
Kingly Rule.
In this case the parable is of a King Who makes a marriage for His Son. On such an
occasion a king would often, in honour of the occasion, promote his son to a position
of authority over a part of his realm. That would seem to be the case here. Thus
those who are bidden to the wedding were to be future subjects of His Son.
We must beware of just attributing this to what is called ‘the Messianic Banquet (as
in Matthew 8:11). That is never described as a marriage feast. The marriage feast
indicates rather a celebration of joy and gladness, a feast of ‘good things’,
pertaining to this life (compare John 4:10-14; John 6:35; John 7:37; Ephesians 5:25-
27). It was portrayed at Cana as offering the wine of the new age that Jesus had
bought (John 2:1-11). It was such ‘good things’ that Jesus had come to bring men so
that they might be immediately enjoyed (John 5:3-9; John 7:11; compare John 9:15
where the wedding is on the point of taking place but is interrupted by Jesus’ death,
although that sadness will not last for long). This was not an invitation to some
distant eschatological event as in Matthew 25:10; Revelation 19:6-9, but to present
rejoicing along with the King’s Son Who was soon to be enthroned, and with Whom

they would feast at His table, as some had already done (John 14:13-21; John 15:27;
John 16:32-33), and then faithfully serve Him. The whole point is that the Chief
Priests and Pharisees were turning down the present offer to eat at His table.
For to feast at His table was to believe on Him Whom God had sent and to partake
of Him (John 6:32-40). It was an invitation which could be refused on the very verge
of the wedding resulting in the earthly consequences that followed for those who did
refuse (which was not the same as the later final judgement - Matthew 22:13).
Others would then come later to enjoy the same feast, and at least one of these
would be ejected because he had come improperly prepared. Thus it is not the
heavenly banquet of Matthew 8:11 where all was final and all were secure. It is the
time of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit which are basic elements
of being under the Kingly Rule of God now (Romans 14:17). It is the current
Messianic Banquet, currently enjoyed by Messiah’s people, as they receive good
things from Him. It was to this Banquet that Jesus was calling men and women, to
the music and dancing enjoyed by the returned prodigal (Luke 15:25). They were
being called to eat and drink with their Lord.
SIMEO , "THE MARRIAGE FEAST
Matthew 22:2-3. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a
marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the
wedding: and they would not come.
I STRUCTIO and reproof generally irritate those who will not be reformed; but
ministers must “speak plainly, whether men will hear or forbear.” They must
present the same truths in various shapes, if by any means they may win the souls of
their hearers; nor should they be intimidated even by the most imminent dangers.
Jesus had spoken a parable that greatly offended the Pharisees: they even sought to
take away his life on account of it: but he still persisted in his benevolent labours for
their good, and repeated the same offensive truths in the parable before us. In the
parable he compares the kingdom of heaven, or the Gospel dispensation, to a king
who made a marriage for his son, and sent his servants to invite guests to the
marriage-feast. This king was Jehovah: the wedding was between the Lord Jesus
Christ, God’s only-begotten Son, and his spouse the Church: and the feast instituted
in honour of it, contained all the blessings of grace and glory. The Prophets and
Apostles were sent forth in Jehovah’s name to invite all the Jews to a participation
of this feast: but their message was despised and their persons injured; so that God
would now cease any more to call the Jews, and would send forth his invitations to
the Gentiles, whom he would receive with all imaginable kindness, whilst he left the
Jews to eat the bitter fruit of their folly.
ow, as we are the favoured people to whom these invitations are sent, I will more
distinctly open to you the parable in its different parts, and then execute the
commission which is here assigned me.
The union of Christ with his Church is often spoken of in the Scriptures under the

figure of a marriage—
[By nature we are in the most deplorable condition. But he of his own sovereign
grace sets his heart upon us, and prepares us for himself, and unites us to himself in
the closest bonds [ ote: Ezekiel 16:4-12.]. The espousals take place now in this
world [ ote: Jeremiah 2:2. 2 Corinthians 11:2.]; the consummation will be in the
world to come [ ote: Rom. 19:7.].]
In honour of this marriage God institutes a feast—
[But who shall declare how rich this feast is? Truly it is a feast worthy of God, the
God of heaven, to provide, and worthy of his most favoured creatures to partake of
in the heavenly world. Already, whatever can conduce to the enlightening of the
mind, the rectifying of the will, the purifying of the affections, the strengthening,
establishing, and comforting of the soul, is dispensed to us as a foretaste of that
divine banquet. The love of the Father, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the
fellowship of the Holy Ghost, are imparted to us in the richest abundance. Wine and
strong meat are ministered to adults, and milk to the new-born babes, insomuch
that there is not a person in the universe who may not find that very food which he
most affects, and which his necessities more particularly require.]
And now are his servants sent forth to invite us all—
[As Prophets and Apostles were sent forth in former ages so are ministers appointed
now to this very service, to call to the wedding all who have a wish to come; saying,
“Whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely.” This, brethren,
has been my happy office, which I have most gladly performed from the first instant
that I came amongst you. I have not set forth the Gospel as a work to be performed,
or a labour to be sustained, but as a feast to be enjoyed, “a feast of fat things full of
marrow, of wines on the lees well refined [ ote: Isaiah 25:6.],” “to satiate every
weary soul, and to replenish, and exhilarate every sorrowful soul [ ote: Jeremiah
31:25.].” In calling you to be guests, we require of you no pre-requisites of goodness
and worthiness for the meriting of this distinction: it is offered even to the very chief
of sinners, provided they be willing to accept of mercy and all the other blessings of
salvation as the free gift of God in Christ Jesus. All is offered to you freely “without
money and without price.”]
But what reception has our message met with in the midst of you?
[Some, I am happy to say, have accepted the invitation, and are already partaking of
the feast — — — But the generality amongst you have acted, as those in former
days, who “made light of” the proffered mercy, and “went to their farm and
merchandize” as an employment better suited to their taste. Some, like the Jews in
former ages, have evil-entreated the servants of the Lord [ ote: ver. 6.]. Others, who
have treated the messengers with more respect, have yet shewn the same
indifference to the message, satisfying themselves with vain excuses, which
nevertheless they must know can never satisfy their God [ ote: Luke 14:18-20.] —

— — Almost all desire to put off the day of their intercourse with the heavenly
Bridegroom, as though it were rather an evil to be dreaded, than a feast to be
enjoyed. If the listening to our invitation would suffice, they would be contented to
go thus far on the Sabbath-day: but if they must come to Christ and sit down with
him at the wedding-feast, they desire to postpone it to some more convenient season,
when the cares and pleasures of life shall have lost all their attraction.]
And what must be the issue of such conduct?
[Those who have reviled and persecuted the servants of the Most High, will meet
with a suitable recompence at his hands [ ote: ver. 7.]. And those who have “made
light of” their labour, will never be admitted “so much as to taste of this supper
[ ote: Luke 14:24.].” It is a fact that they who come not now to this feast, know
nothing of God’s pardoning love, nothing of the comforts of the Holy Ghost. They
are utter strangers to all spiritual joy. They think all experience of heavenly
communications, all manifestations of God’s love, and all foretastes of his glory, to
be no better than the dreams of a heated imagination. What hope then can they have
that they shall possess all the fulness of these blessings in the eternal world? In their
present condition they have no capacity for the enjoyment of the heavenly feast,
even if they were admitted to it. But they never can be admitted, nor to all eternity
shall they ever “so much as taste” what the favoured guests shall feed upon in the
presence of their God.]
But let me once more endeavour to execute my commission—
[Once more in the name of Almighty God I invite you, brethren, to come to the
wedding-feast. And O, think who it is that invites you. It is God, and not man: the
voice, though the voice of a feeble worm like yourselves, is as truly God’s, as if it
came in thunder, or in audible sounds from heaven. And will you turn a deaf ear to
him? to him who needs not you, and who invites you only that he may make you a
partaker of his own blessedness and glory? Think also to what a feast you are called.
In comparison of that, all that this world can give is but as the husks that the swine
eat of — — — Think yet further, how vain all your excuses are. What have you to
do that can be put in competition with the seeking and securing the salvation of the
soul? — — — Think too how bitter your regrets will soon be. Soon you will behold
the company that is set down at the marriage supper: but you will behold them at an
unapproachable distance: and these reflections will then irresistibly force
themselves upon your mind: ‘There I also might have been a happy guest, if only I
would have accepted the invitations given me, and obeyed the call of Almighty God:
but here am I, banished from the Saviour’s presence, and without a drop of water to
cool my tongue. O! wretch that I am! I in vain look to rocks and mountains to fall
upon me: they cannot perform for me that friendly office; they cannot hide me from
the wrath of my offended God.’ Lastly, Think how painful must be both your state
and mine in the day when I shall give up my account of my present labours. To save
your souls alive is now the one object for which I minister, and for which I live. And
in that day I must give an account of my ministry. But O! what an account will it
be? ‘Did you deliver my message to them? Did you invite them to the wedding-feast?

Matthew 22 commentary

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Matthew 22 commentary