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Parables of the Great Supper and the Wedding Feast.

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Luke 14:16-24
The Great Supper		 Matthew 22:1-14
The Marriage Feast
16And He said to him, A certain man made a great supper and invited many. 17And he sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, Come, for all things are now ready. 18And all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said to him, I have bought a piece of ground, I must go and see it. I beg you, have me excused. 19And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I beg you, have me excused. 20And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. 21And coming up that servant reported these things to his lord. And the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and the maimed, and the lame and the blind. 22And the servant said, Lord, it is done as you have commanded, and still there is room. 23And the lord said to the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. 24For I say to you that none of these men who were invited shall taste of my supper.
MKJV
 1And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables, and said, 2The kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king who made a marriage for his son. 3And he sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they would not come. 4Again he sent out other servants, saying, Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the marriage. 5But not caring, they went their ways, one to his field, another to his trading. 6And the rest took his servants and treated them spitefully, and killed them. 7But when the king heard, he was angry. And he sent out his armies and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8Then he said to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they who were invited were not worthy. 9Therefore go into the exits of the highways, and as many as you shall find, invite them to the marriage. 10So the servants went out into the highways and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good. And the wedding was filled with reclining guests. 11And the king coming in to look over the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12And he said to him, Friend, how did you come in here without having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13Then the king said to the servants, Bind him hand and foot and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 14For many are called, but few chosen.
MKJV
Insights
  • I put these parables together because they both have the same theme and were both spoken to the religious leaders. Whereby the second parable of the wedding feast is more definitive and foretells of a harsher outcome. I view one as building on the other and see the reason for the differences to be the timing within His ministry when Jesus spoke them.
    • Jesus spoke the parable of the Great Feast during the mid or early latter part of His ministry. The setting is that Jesus went into one of the chief Pharisees house to eat bread on the Sabbath day and there He healed a man with dropsy. After being questioned by the lawyers and Pharisees as to, if it was right to heal on the Sabbath, Jesus then spoke to them the parable of Selecting Places of Honor. Then one at the table said to Him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God, and thus followed the parable of the Great Feast.
    • The parable of the Wedding Feast was spoken after Jesus' triumphal procession into Jerusalem, just days before His Crucifixion. Jesus cleansed the temple and said, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. Then being questioned by the chief priests and elders, as to by what authority He does these things. Jesus then speaks the parable of The Reluctant Son to them, followed by the parable of The Vineyard & the Wicked Servants and then the parable of the Wedding Feast.
    • Both parables are about either the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, having the same theme. We can see that in the last days of Jesus' ministry leading up to His Crucifixion, that the parables that He spoke to the religious leaders became more direct and to the point. The parable of the Great Feast may not have the detail that the parable of the Wedding Feast has, but I believe this was done because at the time when He spoke the one, the urgency to share the details of the end results were not required or even needed.
    • Since the two parables do not have contradicting issues between them, from here on, I will present the meaning of the parables, that could apply to either one or both.
  • The invited guests are analogues to the Israelites.
  • The servants who called the guests, are as the prophets of the old Testament, that they either ignored, mistreated or killed.
  • The second group of invited guests symbolize people of the Gentile nations, or simply as it says; the poor, the lame, the blind, the maimed, both bad and good.
  • The man not having a wedding garment on, (that was provided), symbolizes a man not walking in the righteous that Christ has provided for us, Romans 5:17, but was walking in his own self-righteousness, This man was cast out into outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called, but few are chosen.
  • The only way we can achieve God's kingdom, is through the blood and the righteousness of His Son Jesus Christ, there is no other way. And be found in Him, not having our own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: Philippians 3:9 .