THE PARABLES OF JESUS

Parable of the great banquet

The Parable of the Great Banquet or the Wedding Feast or the Marriage of the King's Son is found in Matthew 22:1-14 and Luke 14:15-24

Jesus answered and spoke again in parables to them, saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king, who made a marriage feast for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast, but they would not come. Again he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "Behold, I have prepared my dinner. My cattle and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the marriage feast!"' But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise, and the rest grabbed his servants, and treated them shamefully, and killed them. When the king heard that, he was angry, and sent his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited weren't worthy. Go therefore to the intersections of the highways, and as many as you may find, invite to the marriage feast.' Those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good. The wedding was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who didn't have on wedding clothing, and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here not wearing wedding clothing?' He was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness; there is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.' For many are called, but few chosen." Matthew 22:1-14

Here the second invitation includes the extension of the original invitation (to Jews) to also include Gentiles. In Luke, the invitation is extended particularly to the "poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame"  evidencing explicit concern for the "poor and the outcasts.
The targets of the parable are the already religious who have no time for God; they are represented by the people who accepted an invitation, but when the food is ready claim they are too busy to turn up.






The wedding banquet was one of the most important and joyous occasions in Jewish life and could last for up to a week. In Matthew 22:1-14, Christ compares heaven to the wedding banquet that a king had prepared for his son. Certainly, a royal wedding would far surpass that of a commoner. The mention of the oxen and fattened cattle having been butchered in verse 4 indicates that this will be a royal feast where the best of everything is available and plentiful. Indeed, Christ’s first public miracle was at a wedding feast in Cana, where He supplied an abundance of the best wine (see John 2:1-11).

To the Pharisees, the sending of the first servants would have spoken of the Old Testament prophets, while the sending of the second set of servants is representative of John the Baptist, the first prophet in over four hundred years, and also Jesus’ disciples, mentioned in the tenth chapter of Matthew. It is also representative of God’s longsuffering nature toward man. The invitation is an invitation to salvation, first offered to the Jews, who, for the most part ignore it, and then to the Gentiles.

Parable of the great banquet