Parable of the Wedding Feast: Bible Story
And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” ’ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them [a]spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.
“But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, [b]take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ “For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:1-14)
Meaning of the Wedding Feast Parable
The following is a transcription from the video below of Jerry Marcellino explaining the meaning of the Wedding Feast parable:
I'll begin at the end as we begin, and that is with Jesus in Verse 14 of Matthew 22. He said, "Many are called, few are chosen." The calling, He's referring to is that God's people are to carry the gospel into the highways and byways. The reason for that the Gospel going to the gentile nations was because of Israel's rejection of Christ overtures in His earthly ministry. This now, this parable begins to remind Israel then that they are indifferent to God, they are apathetic toward His calling to salvation.
They have other things to do. They have to go bury people, they have to go work this business over here it says in the parable. They have other things more of a concern to them that God's kingdom and doing God's will. So, the king sends out others to invite those less fortunate; the lame, the maimed, others that would be unfit sacrifices if they were to be offered in the temple.
As a result, we see that they came, and some of them came with the improper clothing. Now, the clothing they needed was the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He invited everyone out of every kindred tribe, people and nation, He purchased with his own blood. Men out of every kindred tribe, people and nation. This is a calling then, to all people to come to the wedding feast, to come to heaven, to come by faith in Jesus Christ.
In Acts 17, Paul on Mars Hill in Acts 17: 32-34, we read there that there were three responses to Paul's preaching. That is, some mocked, some hesitated and said, "We'll hear you again," or they delayed, and some actually believed. We see this happening also in this parable. We see again, a mockery by indifference, we see delaying, people got other things to do, and then we also see the chosen responding. Many are called, few are chosen.
This also reminds me that not every human being will get the opportunity to hear the gospel. Men are made right with God by grace obviously, but the phrase many are called, few are chosen again, reminds me that not every human being will get the opportunity to hear the gospel. They're already on their way to hell because of their sin in Adam. Unless God has mercy, they perish. So, if a man has an opportunity to hear, he must respond to the Gospel. God is just either way.
So then, this is a call to the religious and the irreligious of all nations, to not take lightly the privilege you have of hearing the word of God, hearing the Gospel. Jesus is inviting all men, all women, all peoples to come to His feast. An interesting story relating to this parable was when the famous British preacher from the 19th century, Charles Spurgeon, in when she was preaching his sermon called Compel Them to Come. It was a powerful message, maybe one of the greatest he'd ever preached, and the greatest amount of souls that were saved from that message.
But, one of the most profound stories about that was that that track, that Penny Pulpit that was printed through his ministry was used with British soldiers in a battle in North Africa. The general read that track right before they went to war, 300-plus men, and at the end he asked them to bow and to receive Christ. Every man was converted and hours later, they were all killed. It's again, a powerful reminder that there's hope. Right now you're being compelled to come into the kingdom, so respond to opportunity.
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