Of all the parables I’ve seen abused and twisted, this one seems to get it the most. We find in Matthew 22:1-14 Jesus is yet again hammering the Jewish leadership. Whether this story came on the same day as the events recorded in chapter 21 doesn’t matter. For Matthew, the incident is connected to those events in the previous chapter by continuing the same message. It was Jesus’ answer to their attempt to arrest Him, whether given immediately, or sometime later.
In the Ancient Near East, the wedding of the king’s son was typically combined with vesting him for co-regency. Royal weddings, like other festal occasions for which kings might make specific invitations, would be published twice. First, when the date is determined, there is something of a royal decree. The invitation is really a summons, since only under extreme circumstances would those worthy of the king’s company dare to decline such a high duty. Second, the king would send messengers to each on the hour when they should depart for the palace. The messenger was a guide and escort, among other things, to insure none dared hinder the guest for frivolous reasons. They were on the king’s business.
That anyone should dare to ignore this summons in going about their daily business is more than an insult; it was treason. This was both a wedding and vestment of heir ceremony. They were obliged to present their allegiance to the new ruler. Refusing to appear would justify the offender’s imprisonment or execution, and confiscation of all their property. Daring to beat or kill the royal messengers was an even greater provocation.
Jesus was plainly saying He was God’s Son, and the Father had invited the Jews to the wedding and coronation of the Messiah. Don’t get hung up on the image of the Bride of Christ, because that does not figure in here. She is not even mentioned. The image is one where the Jews are summoned to honor their Lord. They were summoned by various messengers called prophets. The Jews ignored some, persecuted some, and killed others. Educated Pharisees would have caught this immediately. They seemed to have remained sensitive to the accusation they had inherited the guilt of their forefathers for rejecting the very prophets now honored. These prophets foretold the coming of the Messiah. When the time finally arrives for them to enter into this new Kingdom, they refuse.
Obviously, the King — God Almighty — was furious at this rejection of His Son. Here, Jesus makes an outright prophecy: The Lord would send an army to do His bidding, and destroy once and for all the Temple and Jerusalem. In AD 70, the Roman general Titus descended on Zion and laid siege. The precipitating cause was the Jews had rebelled against Rome. After breaking through and taking control, the Temple was dismantled stone by stone, and the rubble was scattered around the various valleys near the city. Everything that could be burned was reduced to ashes, and all the golden furnishings of the Temple were paraded as plunder through the streets of Rome.
The Father had set the time for His Son to be revealed. Since His own people had rejected the invitation to honor Him, the Father sent His messengers to the rest of the world — “into the highways.” It mattered not whether they were openly sinful or upright, the Father’s invitation of grace is extended to all. Suffering from the same racist nationalism as the young prophet Jonah, the Jewish leaders despised Gentiles, and bristled at the idea God would take anything from His People and give it to other nations. That such an offer also meant no longer having to pass first through the Law was an even greater insult.
It was an ancient tradition for a king to provide proper attire to anyone entering his presence. When we read the story of Joseph in Egypt, we see this in action (Genesis 40:14). “Put on the new man” Paul tells us (Ephesians 4:24), for that is the proper attire for the New Kingdom of Christ. In many places throughout the New Testament, we are told the Lord provides for us the proper raiment for His presence. That there might be a guest at the Wedding who lacks proper clothing is yet another insult to the King, for He had abundantly provided. Those who refuse His offer are not welcome. They may attempt to join in the festivities by joining themselves to a church, but that will not provide the haven they seek. There is no defense for not standing fully robed before the Father:
“So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.
“Then the king said, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'” (Matthew 22:12-13)
What better description could Jesus give for eternity in Hell?
He ends with one of His favorite sayings: “For many are called, but few are chosen” (verse 14). This refers to the Roman military conscription practice. They would invite a given town to put forward their best young men, and the Roman commander would select only a few. Calvinists often make too much of this verse. Here it is simply stated: While the invitation is open to all humanity, most will not meet the terms. Those who do are referred to as “chosen.” That’s it; there is nothing else to be made of that verse regarding Election.
The main point of the whole parable is the Jews cannot claim to be The Chosen simply because they are Jews, the Children of Abraham. In another place, Jesus reminds the Jewish leaders God could make stones into Children of Abraham (Matthew 3:9). Perhaps He had, since some of those children were so hard-headed. God had indeed chosen them to be the People of the Covenant, but they had repeatedly violated that covenant. When He was ready to wipe the slate clean, by sending His Son to author a fresh covenant in His own blood, they became the ones who shed that blood. When Jesus told this parable, the end was fixed for them. Their identity as His Covenant People, all that they held to as proof of that status, was about to be removed: the Temple, their city (the conquering Titus forbid them to ever enter again), and their freedom to live together (they were scattered, driven out of Judea by persecution).
Not only would the Jews lose their place, but it would be taken by others. In the previous chapter Jesus had said: “Therefore I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it” (Matthew 21:43). That nation would be drawn from every race of mankind. They would become a nation by virtue of citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven. Their identity would be bound up solely in their bearing the fruit of that Kingdom. Thus, there was to be a new Chosen People.
