Parable on the Guests to a Wedding Banquet.

(Mat. 22:1-14).

By its content and basic thought, this parable is similar to the parable on guests invited to a banquet, outlined in Luke’s Gospel chap. 14:16-24). However, these parables were undoubtedly pronounced at different times. The parable on those invited to a banquet was narrated by the Lord on Saturday in a Pharisee’s house, long before His triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Whereas this parable was enunciated by the Lord after His entry into Jerusalem, in all probability, on Tuesday. The main thought in the first parable is that because of earthly cares, many will refuse God’s Kingdom. The parable on the wedding feast is associated with the parable on the wicked vinedressers. Both parables, one immediately following the other, speak of servants, some of who were subjected to abuse while others killed, and also the nasty demise of the offenders and killers. Here, as in the first parable, the invited guests must be understood to be the Jewish people, while the king’s servants, as the Old Testament Prophets. The extermination of the killers and the razing of their town, must essentially be understood as the ruin of the Jewish people and Jerusalem’s destruction. Inviting all those that are met along the way, means the call into God’s Kingdom to all those that followed, at a time when the Jews rejected the Apostolic sermon (see Acts 13:46). All are invited to the wedding — God’s Kingdom: the good and the wicked, because to enter it doesn’t require piety or merit: they are called to God’s kingdom, not for their deeds but by the mercy of the Host.

The judgment that will resolve the difference between the good and wicked, the worthy entrants into God’s Kingdom and the unworthy, will be determined later. Consequently, those that are called, should bear themselves worthy of their calling — to be clothed in “wedding” attire. In ancient times, kings and princes had a custom of giving special attractive attire to invited guests, which they had to wear to the feast. Likewise, everybody that is called to God’s Kingdom, is given bright clothing of spiritual purity at his or her baptism. Neglecting this clothing and entering into the spiritual feast in attire that has been sullied by sin, deserves condemnation and punishment. According to Saint Chrysostom’s explanation, “to enter in dirty clothing means to have an unclean life, loss of grace. That’s why it narrates: “he was speechless”…Not having anything with which he could defend himself, he had judged himself and became subject to extreme punishment.” Those who refused to dress in the attire given by the king, were driven outside of the brightly-lit pavilion of the king’s feast and into the outside (hellish) gloom, where they ground their teeth through grief and cold. Likewise, those unrepentant sinners that had sullied their spiritual attire with their sins, will be ejected from the saved assembly in Christ’s Church on Judgment Day. The common concluding thought of this parable with that of Saint Luke’s: “Many are called, but few are chosen” — means that many are called into Christ’s Kingdom that have responded to the sermons of the Gospel. However, the true members of this Kingdom are not everyone that was called, but only the chosen ones. Thus, all the Jews were called into Christ’s Kingdom, but only a few entered Her: in exactly the same way, although all the other peoples were called, there were only a few and will continue to be a few genuine Christians among them.

Having listened to all this and being humiliated by the Lord, the members of the Senhadrin began consulting among themselves as to what measures to take against Him. They devised a plan to send some individuals who would be able to catch Him in His words, so that it would be easier to accuse and commit Him to trial.