Come to the Wedding Feast: Matthew 22:1-14 (Sermon)

Today, we are continuing our series in the book of Matthew. Our theme has been to follow the promised King into his kingdom. In our passage this morning, Jesus will describe a royal wedding feast. Are you hungry? What are you having for lunch? We usually do something simple at home. What is your favorite? My family probably knows: chips and salsa or PB&J (strawberry jelly and hearty bread). But, if I were invited to a wedding feast, I would look forward to the cake. I would also love to eat smoked salmon and beef tenderloin if they had it. How about you? What if it was a royal wedding? What would make your mouth water? You can imagine that a king wouldn’t hold back. Turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 22, starting at verse 1. Let’s see what Jesus was getting at in his story. I am going to have B. and J. D. read for us. We will be reading from the English Standard Version of the Bible. Will you please stand with me in honor of God’s Word, if you can? 

TEXT 

And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.” ’ But they paid no attention 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. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. 

“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. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:1–14, ESV). 

Prayer

Let’s pray. Dear God, may the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing to you. You are my rock and redeemer. In Jesus’s name, we pray, amen. You may be seated. 

Context 

Jesus was in Jerusalem for the holiday called Passover. There was a throng of people. The population expanded like a Thanksgiving waistline to the size of 180,000 people. This week was his last week of life before his crucifixion. He was staying in Bethany, a couple of miles from the temple. Each morning, he would head down the Mount of Olives and then up the temple mount to teach the masses. Today was no different, and the conflict between the religious leaders and him was getting more intense. They had come to Jesus and asked him about his authority. What right did he have to preach in the temple? Who said he could do that? To them, he was a carpenter’s son from a no-name town teaching heresy and possessed by the Devil. Yet, we know he had authority from God, and he told them roundaboutly. And how did they respond to that? Chapter 21, verses 45 and 46, tells us:  

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet. (Matthew 21:45–46, ESV) 

We read in John’s biography, chapter 11, verses 47 through 53. 

So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man [Jesus] performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” (John 11:47–50, ESV)

Hence, they made plans to kill Jesus. 

STRUCTURE AND MAIN IDEA AND INTENDED RESPONSE 

Chapter 22, verses 1 through 14, is part of Jesus’s response to these furious leaders. This was the third parable he spoke to them in the week. Each parable included a father and sons and people who do what is good and what is not. Our fourteen verses break down this way:  

• Introduction - Vs 1

• First Invite to the Wedding - Vss 2–3

• Second Invite - Vss 4–7

• Third Invite - Vss 8–13

• Summary - Vs 14

In verse 1, we get the introduction. In verses 2 through 3, we see the first invite to a wedding feast. Verses 4 through 7 are the second invite, and verses 8 through 13 are the third. Verse 14 is a summary. The passage looks back at Israel’s past, present, and future. It echoes God’s work in history, coming judgment, and grace. The main idea is that since many are called and few are chosen, accept the invitation to the feast. Let me say that again.

Since many are called and few are chosen, accept the invitation to the feast

PARABLE - VERSE 1 

Look at verse 1, and I will show you how I see this main idea here:

“And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying” (Matthew 22:1, ESV).  

Stop there. Let’s begin by defining a parable. It is a short, little everyday story with a punchy point. Jesus used them often in teaching. He talked about harvesting, parenting, agriculture, and now feasting. They all convey spiritual meaning. 

VERSE 2

Let’s dive into this invitation and see our main idea. Verse 2: 

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come” (Matthew 22:2–3, ESV).

Jesus talked a lot about the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew records the phrase thirty-two times. In Matthew, we read that this Kingdom is at hand and near. In chapters 5, 7, 18, and 19, Jesus described those who enter it. There is a sense that it is here in part and the future in a more complete way. Some enter, and some don’t. It is different from worldly kingdoms. In this parable, we have a king throwing a wedding celebration for his son and inviting many, but few are chosen. 

WEDDINGS 

To get an idea of what this party might be like, I read that the average wedding cost was $29,000 last year. Costs change over time. And indeed, some of us cannot afford anything near that price point. I recall deciding not to provide a meal to save money for my wedding. However, cost is not an issue for kings. Think Prince William and Kate. This would be a feast of feasts. The people back then celebrated for an entire week. Imagine going to the mailbox and getting their invite. They would have used the best embossed, gold-leafed, ornate, and decorative paper. Everyone who is anyone would be talking about it, though only some were invited. What would it take to refuse to go to a king’s wedding? Some in Jesus’s story did. Why? Let’s keep reading, and maybe we can figure that out.  

VERSE 4

Again he sent other servants, saying, “Tell those who are invited, ‘See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.’” (Matthew 22:4, ESV)

The king sent out more servants and explained the greatness of this grand dinner. He wanted people to celebrate. It was going to be amazing. This story reminds me of the prodigal son who came back from living far away from home. His father killed the fatted calf, gave him his robe and ring, and threw a homecoming party. Parties like this are unique and don’t happen often. How did people respond to this second invitation? 

VERSE 5

Look at verse 5. 

“But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business” (Matthew 22:5, ESV).  

They left for work. Why? Couldn’t they get off for something so historically significant? Who would choose work over this party? Did they need the money? Were they afraid of losing their business? Was it political or just a smokescreen? We don’t know. But that is part of the surprise of the story, and it doesn’t end there. It gets worse. 

VERSE 6

Look at verse 6. 

“While the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them” (Matthew 22:6, ESV). 

Some didn’t go to work; instead, they seized the messengers, treated them shamefully, and killed them! Who would do such a thing? Why would they kill the servants? This is a visceral part of the parable, causing us to see the justification for what happens next. 

VERSE 7

Verse 7:  

“The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city” (Matthew 22:7, ESV).  

This story played out in a way in Israel’s history. In the Beatitudes, Jesus alluded to this and the future treatment of his messengers.  

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:11–12, ESV, italics mine)

“For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” In Israel’s history, they killed the prophets. Jeremiah was thrown into a well and left for dead because he proclaimed the truth to God’s king. Isaiah, tradition tells us, was sawn in two. God sent prophets to call his people back to faithful worship and obedience. In the same, God sent his one and only Son to save his people from their sins. The chief priests and Pharisees wondered what right Jesus had in teaching. He indirectly answered their question. In his story: 

• The king was God. 

• He was the Son. 

• The people were the religious leaders. 

• Scholars think the destruction of the city parallelled the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. 

• That would mean that the servants who would die represented the future trials and suffering of God’s servants mentioned in chapter 10 of Matthew.

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. (Matthew 10:16–22, ESV)

The good news for those who suffer is that the king will bring justice, mercy, and salvation. His kingdom will last forever, and so will his people. 

VERSE 8

Jump to verse 8.  

Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. (Matthew 22: 7–8) 

It was time to welcome everyone whom they could gather. 

BAD AND GOOD 

What did Jesus mean by welcoming the bad? Some versions use the word evil. Who would Matthew’s readers or Jesus’s listeners think of as bad? I believe that in this context, we see the tax collectors and the prostitutes (21:31) as “bad.” The tax collectors skimmed profits off the people. They were in bed with the enemy. They took advantage of the disadvantaged. If you are familiar with Zaccheus, he repented of what? His sinful theft. Prostitutes made a living off sin. They would not be viewed as law followers or holy. They were both “bad” in the mind of Jesus’s audience. We could also say this invitation reflects the inclusive call to the Gentiles for Matthew’s later audience. The bad and the good have an invitation too. This goes back to God’s covenant, which promised Abraham to bless all nations through his descendants. I think of Isaiah 55 from 700 years before, where everyone is invited to come to God: 

Come, everyone who thirsts, 

      come to the waters; 

                  and he who has no money, 

      come, buy and eat! 

                  Come, buy wine and milk 

      without money and without price. 

       Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, 

      and your labor for that which does not satisfy? 

                  Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, 

      and delight yourselves in rich food. 

       Incline your ear, and come to me; 

      hear, that your soul may live; 

                  and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, 

      my steadfast, sure love for David. 

       Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, 

      a leader and commander for the peoples. 

       Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, 

      and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, 

                  because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, 

      for he has glorified you. 

Seek the LORD while he may be found; 

      call upon him while he is near; 

       let the wicked forsake his way, 

      and the unrighteous man his thoughts; 

                  let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, 

      and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:1–7, ESV)

Remember the main idea: 

Since many are called and few are chosen, accept the invitation to the feast

God will have mercy and invite us to his table. However, that was not the end of Jesus’s story. 

VERSE 11

Look at verses 11 and 12. 

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. (Matthew 22:11–12, ESV) 

The king required a garment to enter his presence. This reminds me of a swim meet my family went to last week. You had to have a colored wristband to watch the race. We bought one for everyone each day. So, was this something the guys bought? I don’t think that fits with the context. What was Jesus getting at? When I was in India, they gave us shawls like this one as a sign of honor. We wore it for pictures. It would be rude not to wear it. Maybe in the same way, the guy chose not to wear this garment. Just like those who were invited and decided not to attend and those who decided to kill the servants chose it. So, what was the garment that he refused to wear? Scholars debate that. It could be the Pauline clothing of righteousness, an imputation of Christ’s perfection, and our justification in him. Paul wrote to the church in Rome:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. (Romans 3:23–25, ESV)

So the guests may be relying on their own righteousness, goodness, and justice, not Jesus’s. They may think they are good people and don’t need Jesus to die for their sins. Maybe they are even insulted that someone would suggest they need Jesus. That would be one way to explain the wedding garment. 

FAITH AND REPENTANCE 

However, we can force Pauline theology on Matthew, where there might be a more straightforward solution. Is there something in the text that syncs up with what God requires from the Pharisees that they are not evidencing? Yes, faith and repentance. They don’t believe in Jesus and his authority. They are not changing their hearts or minds. They don’t want to follow Jesus. They want to kill him.  

COMBINATION 

Those who read Matthew will read Paul, and Matthew relies on the Old Testament. We can see shades of both concepts in Isaiah 61: 

            I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; 

      my soul shall exult in my God, 

             for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; 

      he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, 

            as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, 

      and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10, ESV, italics mine)

Regardless of how you define the garment, it is a requirement. You want to wear it. What happens next, though, is puzzling. 

VERSES 13 AND 14

So Jesus ends the story getting rid of the man and summarizes his point:  

“Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:13–14, ESV). 

The garmentless man was bound and cast into darkness. His ending was like the others weeping and gnashing their teeth. In Matthew, the weeping and gnashing appear in chapter 8, verse 12. There are sons of the kingdom and sons of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus commended the faith of a Roman Gentile Centurion and contrasted the faithlessness of his people, aligning them with the sons of the kingdom who don’t get in and the Centurion as a son of the kingdom of heaven. In chapter 13, verses 42 and 50, we read that lawbreakers will be thrown out of the kingdom into a fiery furnace with weeping and gnashing of teeth. In chapter 24, verse 51, we will read that the wicked and hypocrites will be cut up in pieces and suffer this weeping and gnashing of teeth. What was Jesus saying? It warned the leadership and comforted those who were overhearing and suffering the injustice of the abuse of power. 

Since many are called and few are chosen, accept the invitation to the feast

QUESTION 

Let’s move on to a tricky part of Jesus’s summary statement. Jesus seems to be talking about the choice of the religious leaders who reject him and will reject his servants and even kill them. He seems to make an analogy between wearing the appropriate attire and not. It seems to be something that one group is doing wrong. They are responsible. Then, on the flip side, to be chosen out of the many and called seems like something a person has no control over. You might be reading this and trying to interpret what Jesus was getting at. A person could wonder, “Am I called and chosen?” How does this work? This is where interpreting Scripture with Scripture can be helpful and encouraging. Do we see this tension elsewhere in the Bible? Yes, we do. We see it in Philippians chapter 2, verses 12 and 13.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12–13, ESV)

We are to repent and believe. We are to turn from evil and follow Jesus. We are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Yet, it is God’s work. We work, and God works. How this happens is a puzzle. Don’t get hung up trying to discern God’s election; take responsibility for your sins, confess them, believe in Jesus’s work, turn from it, and follow the Bible. From our perspective, we should not sit idly by and be passive. From God’s perspective, all that we have is a gift. We are saved from the consequences of our sins by grace through faith in him. It is not something we muster or cognitively posit. 

APPLICATION 

Where are you with Jesus? Are you one who has ignored God’s invitation year after year? Do you hear him calling? He is inviting you to an extraordinary marriage supper. It is going to be tremendous. Revelation gives us a picture of it in chapter 19. 

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, 

                  “Hallelujah! 

                  For the Lord our God 

      the Almighty reigns. 

       Let us rejoice and exult 

      and give him the glory, 

                  for the marriage of the Lamb has come, 

      and his Bride has made herself ready; 

       it was granted her to clothe herself 

      with fine linen, bright and pure”— 

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” (Revelation 19:6–9, ESV)

You can join us at this feast in the future by humbling yourself, admitting your need for Jesus, and turning to follow him today. 

OPPOSED 

Have you opposed him? Have you ignored him? Repent before it is too late. Don’t presume you have time or can do this later. Claim God’s mercy as your only hope and find rest for your souls. 

DO YOU TRUST 

Are you securely headed toward this feast? Then, let’s remind ourselves of its greatness. Let us joyfully worship a God who gives good gifts now and forever. 

PRAYER 

Lord help us to follow you. Amen. 

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