Articles
Parable of the Marriage Feast
Jesus entered Jerusalem with the multitudes bowing in reverence to their King and shouting, “Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest!” Within that very same week, they would shout “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” This epitomizes the truth that most people are shallow. Crowds can be won over by a persuasive figurehead and bad decisions can corrupt undisciplined minds. Small wonder that Jesus uses parables in His last week of instruction to answer this superficiality. Soon after entering Jerusalem in that fateful week, Jesus taught in several parables, one of which verbalizes the constraints of entering the Kingdom – the Parable of the Marriage Feast (Matt. 22:1-14).
In using this medium of teaching, Jesus is sorting out the wheat from the chaff; those who truly, conscientiously, and zealously desire to enter the kingdom are those who will find citizenship (cf. Matt. 13:13). Although the Jews had certain privileges, many would stubbornly refuse God’s guiding hand (Acts 13:46). Despite the fact that God longs to save all men, free will requires that we may choose to reject Him, and sadly, many of the Jews did just that.
The basic plot of the parable is that God appoints a feast for His Beloved Son. At this feast, Jesus’s bride (i.e. the church) would also be present. The bride though is composed of all those redeemed by Jesus blood and therefore are those who responded in the affirmative to the invitation granted by the King. The invitation is first extended to the Jews, but they continue in blasphemy and murder. The result? God destroys these rebels. This obviously typifies that the message would first be proclaimed to Jews, but after their rejection, the message would be preached to the Gentiles. The Gentiles are sought out by the King’s messenger and are welcomed gladly into the feast. Before the feast commences, the King (i.e. God) reviews the candidates and finds a man who is unworthy. The unworthy one is bound and thrown to the fires of Hell.
Several applications stand fairly evident:
1. Just as Craig Matthews mentioned in his invitation Wednesday evening, we must search the highways and byways for everyone who could receive the message of the gospel.
2. “Many are called, but few are chosen” (v. 14). We must be careful to understand that God chooses who is to partake in the feast, not us. Unfortunately, very few will make the cut.
3. God lavishly provides for us. Who are we to be ungrateful? (v. 4).
4. Those who reject the pure message of the gospel, will suffer the penalty of eternal expulsion from God (vv. 7, 13).
