Matthew 22:1-14 - The Invitation You Don't Deserve
- Chad Werkhoven
- May 26
- 5 min read
You've received the invitation of a lifetime; How will you respond?
Matthew 22:1-14 (NIV)
22 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.
13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
Canons of Dordt
Point 2 - Limited Atonement
Article 6: Unbelief, a Human Responsibility
However, that many who have been called through the gospel
do not repent or believe in Christ
but perish in unbelief
is not because the sacrifice of Christ offered on the cross
is deficient or insufficient,
but because they themselves are at fault.
Article 7: Faith God’s Gift
But all who genuinely believe and are delivered and saved
by Christ’s death from their sins and from destruction
receive this favor solely from God’s grace—
which God owes to no one—
given to them in Christ from eternity.
Summary
Once again, as we see so often in the gospels, Jesus spoke to them in parables. It's often thought that Jesus spoke using stories and analogies rather than cold, hard theology because He knew the people would understand them so much better. As He related what are often referred to as 'heavenly stories with earthly meanings,' people would easily get the point and change their life accordingly.
But again, we're reminded here that Jesus really didn't have accommodation in mind as He spoke parabolically. He wasn't just trying to repackage the commandments into more palatable bites to improve day to day life. That's why so many parables begin as this one does, announcing what the kingdom of heaven is like..., not 'here's how to improve how you're living. Parables are better understood as 'shocking stories with spiritual meanings.'
And this parable certainly shocks! The thought of people so callously blowing off an invitation from their benevolent king?? And for reasons as silly as field work or another day in the office? It's unthinkable! And the people are not only rude, they become belligerent by seizing the king's servants, mistreating and ultimately killing them. What kind of people would behave so badly?!?
But so it is with the kingdom of heaven. As Jesus concludes, many are invited... . Paul would later write, God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of truth (1 Timothy 2:4). Peter adds, the Lord is patient, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). But Jesus' parable makes clear that many people couldn't care less about the invitation they've received from the King and even reject it violently.
Dig Deeper
The banquet hall ends up filled with undesirables that in any other circumstance would never be thought of as worthy of an invitation to a royal feast. By God's grace, you and I are on this part of the guest list.
But Jesus adds another twist to the parable to show that it's not enough to just give lip service to the King's invitation and carelessly show up. As the king mingles with his guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. There are few events even in our own day and age that people are expected to really dress up for, but a wedding feast is one of them - and that Ancient Near Eastern culture had that same expectation.
Commentator RT France explains the implications of this shocking situation:
The clothing expected at a wedding was not a special garment but decent, clean white clothes such as anyone should have had available. In that case the man’s fault is that, even though invited to a royal wedding, he had not gone home to change into his best; to turn up in ordinary, dirty clothes was an insult to the host. The symbolism is of someone who presumes on the free offer of salvation by assuming that therefore there are no obligations attached, someone whose life belies their profession: faith without works. Entry to the kingdom of heaven may be free, but to continue in it carries conditions. Even though this man belongs to the new group of invitees, he is one who produces no fruit, and so is no less liable to forfeit his new-found privilege than those who were excluded before him.
The benevolent king, who addressed this man as friend, reacts to this insult in the same violent manner as he responded to those who rejected his invitation and killed his servants: He orders the man to be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Keep the words of Jesus' shocking parable in mind as you live your life responding to the undeserved invitation you've received from the King.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the King, who has invited us to the wedding banquet of His Son;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will neither brush off this all important invitation nor respond to it with casual indifference;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Romans 8
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