Parable of the Wedding Feast

Speaking  further  through  parables, Jesus said to them, “The kingdom of heaven  is like a king, who, wanting to give his son a wedding  feast, sent his servants to call on those whom he had invited; however, they refused to come. The king then sent other servants with orders to tell the invitees, “I have prepared the feast; I have slaughtered my cattle and what I have ordered to be fattened.  Everything  is ready; come to the wedding feast.” However, they were not concerned and one went to his house in the country and another to his business. The others seized his servants and killed them after having badly mistreated them. When the king found out, he was filled with anger, and having sent his armies, he exterminated  those murderers and burned their city.

He then said to his servants, “The wedding feast has been fully prepared, but those who had been invited  were not worthy of it. So go to the crossroads and call to the wedding  feast all whom you meet.” His servants then went into the streets and gathered all those whom they met, both good and bad. And the wedding hall was filled with people who sat at the table.

The king  then  entered  to see those who  were at the table, and noticing a man who was not wearing a wedding garment, he said to him, “My friend, why have you come in without a wedding  garment?” The man remained silent. Then the king told his servants, “Bind his hands and feet and cast him into outer darkness; there, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called but few are chosen.” (Mt. 22:1-14)

Disbelievers smile at  this  seemingly childishly naïve parable because they cannot understand why so many problems could arise regarding a feast, and even less why the invitees would extend their resistance to the point of massacring those sent by the master of the house. “Parables,” they say, “are of course figurative, but even so, they shouldn’t go beyond the limits of plausibility.”

The same can be said about all allegories as well as the most ingenious fables if one does remove their outer covering in order to find their hidden meaning. Jesus composed his with the commonest habits of life and adapted them to the customs and character of the people to whom he spoke. Most of his parables were meant to instill in the masses the idea of the spiritual life; their meaning often seems unintelligible only because they are not regarded from this point of view.

In this particular parable, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven – where everything is joy and happiness – to a feast. In speaking of the first invitees, he makes an allusion to the Hebrews, whom God called first to the knowledge of his Law. Those sent by the master are the prophets, who came to exhort them to follow the way of true happiness, but their words were listened to very little; their warnings were scorned; many were even massacred like the servants in the parable. The invitees who made excuses under the pretext of looking after their fields and their businesses symbolize persons of the world, who, absorbed by earthly matters, are indifferent toward heavenly matters.

Among the Jews back then, it was a common belief that their nation was to achieve supremacy over all others. Had not God, in fact, promised Abraham that his progeny would cover the entire earth? However, as always, taking the form for the substance, they believed in an actual, material domination.

Before the coming of Christ, and except for the Hebrews, all other  peoples were idolatrous and  polytheistic. If  a  few extraordinary individuals conceived of the idea of divine oneness, this idea remained in the state of a personal theory and was in no way accepted as a fundamental truth, except by a few initiates who hid their knowledge under a veil of mystery impenetrable by the masses. The Hebrews were the first to publicly practice monotheism. It was to them that God transmitted his divine law, first through Moses, then through Jesus. From this tiny focal point began the light that was to spread over the entire world, triumph over paganism, and give Abraham a spiritual progeny “as numerous as the stars in the firmament.” Although they had rejected idolatry, the Jews had neglected the moral law, adhering instead to the easier practice of outward forms. Evil had reached its peak; the nation had been conquered and was split by factions and divided by sects; disbelief itself had even entered the sanctuary. It was then that Jesus appeared. He was sent to remind them to observe the Law, and to open to them the new horizons of the future life. The first to be invited to the great banquet of universal faith, they rejected the word of the heavenly Messiah and put him to death. Thus, they lost the fruit they were to have reaped from their own initiative.

It would be unjust, however, to accuse an entire people for such a state of affairs. That responsibility fell mainly to the Pharisees and Sadducees, who sacrificed their nation due to the pride and fanaticism of the former and the disbelief of the latter. They are the ones whom Jesus compares above all to the invitees who refuse to come to the wedding feast. He then adds, “The Master, upon seeing this, ordered all those who could be found in the crossroads to be invited, both good and bad.” With this he wanted to say that the word would be proclaimed to all other peoples, both pagan and idolatrous, and that, upon believing, they would be admitted to the feast in the place of those who had been invited first.

Nevertheless, it is not enough simply to be invited; it is not enough simply to take the name Christian, nor to sit at the table to take part in the heavenly banquet. Before anything else and as an express condition, it is necessary to be dressed in a wedding garment, which means to have a pure heart and to practice the Law according to its spirit. This law is contained in its entirety in these words: Without charity  there is no salvation. Among all those who hear the divine word, however, how few there are who keep it and practice it! How few make themselves worthy to enter the kingdom of heaven! That is why Jesus said: Many will be called but few chosen.