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I know it annoys people when I say “Religion got it wrong.” Especially if someone is over-identified with their religion, denomination, church, or institutional power. These three parables are Jesus revealing to religion that “they got it wrong.” In the parable of the two sons, Jesus showed religion doesn’t believe or practice the way of righteousness. In the parable of tenants, he revealed how religion is oppressive and doesn’t know the scriptures, thus it doesn’t know God. If the biblical revelation remains true, then saying the same things to religion today, would certainly cause offense, and a reaction to dismiss or eliminate such claims. After this third parable, the religious leaders conspire to kill Jesus.

I have never heard the parable of the Wedding Feast taught within the context of Easter, though that is the scriptural context. Furthermore, I’m convinced this parable has been grossly misinterpreted by placing it into the cultural eschatology of pre-trib, premillennialism. What I’m endeavoring to show you is that these parables are revelation, not a hidden message. To prepare you for the shift in your thinking that such illumination brings, I’ll first ask: “Are you familiar with the verse: ‘Many are called but few are chosen’? Secondarily, who are the chosen? If you answer “The Jewish people” or “The elect of God” then buckle up.

And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, ² “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son,³ and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. ⁴ Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ ⁵ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, ⁶ while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. ⁷ The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 

Jesus’ Heaven is here now. Eternally present. He uses the metaphor of a wedding feast, a joyous celebration of many guests who gather as a family for divine union. This parable starts with our common assumption that religion (Judaism in Jesus day-All religions in ours) should know better. These should be closest to God and the most able to see and join his Kingdom.

This parable reveals the opposite. This first group of people are the religious (invited) who are more focused on personal endeavors (farm, business, religion, etc…). These were apathetic, disinterested, indifferent to the King-like those in the previous parable. Hebrew history tells of “God raising up adversaries” (1 Kings 11:14) to punish Israel, but I think the historical, textual, and cultural context of this passage points to Jesus foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome in AD 70. We saw last week, that Jesus is divorcing Israel. (see also Revelation 5:7-“scroll”-biblion– certificate of divorce)

⁸ Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.⁹ Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ ¹⁰ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

The second group of people are all the outsiders, beyond the well lit and safe walls of the city. The “main roads” are thoroughfares where foreigners, those most culturally and religiously diverse would travel. These are the (èthnos/èthan-nations/heathens) from the last parable (21:43), who are given the kingdom after it was taken from the religious.

The kingdom of Heaven is full of both (poneroús-wicked, worthless, guilty, bad, sick) and (àgathoús-moral, valuable, good, generous). The bondservants invited all comers, and all comers came. There was no barrier to entrance, anyone who wants divine union and festival joy is free to enter. The exclusion criteria of religion has been removed.

Let this sink in… Heaven is full of both the wicked and the moral. Religion still gets this wrong.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. ¹² And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 

It was customary for the Master of the house to provide a clean wedding robe for guests. This wedding garment was a shared dress for all comers, eliminating the distinctions of ones occupation, and work attire. The garment was a new identity, that of the King, and not of one’s vocation, race, religion, or culture. A tax collector, prostitute, Samaritan, farmer, or wealthy person would be unidentifiable under the wedding garment.

Some traditions teach these garments to be the “righteous deeds of the saints” (Revelation 19:8-church, 22:14). I also agree that the text of Revelation in using a wedding metaphor in describing the culmination of the Kingdom, but I don’t see these as co-extensive…they are similar, but not exactly the same.

The King questioned the (ètaîros-companion, friend) about how he (eìsẽrxomai–entered, happened, begin to experience) not wearing a robe (v.12) and he was silent. The question is really, “Why would you prefer your identity from the main road to the identity and intimacy of my wedding?” or “Do you not want divine union?” Another key is that this text (v. 12) employs the plusquam perfect tense (just as the sacrificed animals in v.4) which means these are ongoing states of being, continually being sacrificed and continually being Not in a robe.

This time the King’s servants are (diakónois-deacons) not (dulos-slave, bondservant), most likely referring to Angels, not faithful people. These bind the man hand and foot, constrict how he walks and what he does. I think this ties into Jesus teaching from Matthew 12:28-29, and opens up the understanding for us.

“But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out (èkbàllo) demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?”

I think this “friend” (sarcasm) is not a person, but an angel of Satan, perhaps a demon, a being who never has been, is not, and never will wear the wedding garment. So the King’s angels remove him and throw him out into “outer darkness”. This (èkbállo –throwing out, casting out, removing) is a theme in much of Matthew’s writing and it comes up again for the “unrighteous” who are sent to a place (eternal fire) prepared for the devil and his angels. (Matthew 25:41).

I’ve taken the time to develop all of this so you can see how Jesus flips this entire Kingdom on the heads of the religious. In the same way, I’ll contextualize it into the modern religious mind.

¹⁴ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Going back to my question about who is called and who is chosen…we must look closer now. The (kletós-invited, called) are (polũs-many, great, vast, very much), but (òligos-few, slight, very little) are (èklektós-picked, chosen, selected).

I apologize to all my reformed friends, but those “picked out” in this parable seem to be the demons without wedding garments being taken out (èkbállo) of the kingdom of God. These are not people who somehow got to heaven but now Jesus is sending into Dante’s Hell. This isn’t a proof text for a limited atonement, but quite the opposite, it’s a parable about heaven being full of both good and bad, wicked and moral, Jew and gentile, tax collectors, prostitutes, all undeserving, all who will exchange their identity in this world for the identity/robe given by God. The only ones not in this festival joy, are the religious who have been destroyed and who have lost the kingdom because they have no love for God, and the demons, who thought they could stow away in the attire of the others.

It’s no wonder that religion wants to get rid of Jesus. Religion rejects self-criticism and kills its prophets.

Please reflect on this parable and its implications. Now that Jesus has revealed who is in his kingdom NOW, how does this reshape your understanding of heaven?