The Parable of the Wedding Feast

1293 words long.

Published on 2024-05-13

This analysis of the Parable of the Wedding Feast was published originally as part of the chapter "A Minute Look at Matthew" from Peace, like Solomon Never Knew. Matthew contains many parables in which Jesus speaks prophetically about the missionary task to send the Gospel to the whole earth. Each parable (and one Psalm) deals with a different aspect of the mission:

Missions Timeline: Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
Church Growth Plan: Parable of the Talents
Role of Women: Parable of the Ten Virgins
Geographic Direction: Psalm 107
Condition of the Missionaries: Parable of the Wedding Feast

By overlaying all of these prophecies, we see that Jesus (or the Psalmist) gave us a detailed account of the church's future missionary activity. The timeline tells us precisely when each of the five major waves of missions would begin. The growth plan tells us how fast the church was targeted to grow in each era, not just qualitatively, but quantitatively as a series of doublings. The geographic direction tells us in which compass direction the church would expand and consolidate its strength. And the condition of the missionaries? That is what we shall learn from this parable...

Text of the Parable

And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying,

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king

who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants

to call those who were invited to the wedding feast,

but they would not come. 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.”’

But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm,

another to his business, while the rest seized his servants,

treated them shamefully, and killed them.

The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed

those murderers and burned their city.

Then he said to his servants,

‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.

Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast

as many as you find.’

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.

- Matthew 22:1-10

The rich young ruler refused to follow Jesus. Each missionary era, young men and women by the tens of thousands left everything to take the gospel to the world. They did sell their belongings and they did follow Jesus. What was their fate?

The fate of the servants

At this point in my writing, I did a quick check for prophesies I may have overlooked and was rewarded with a startling one: the Parable of the Wedding Banquet. Just as the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, this parable addresses the five missionary eras. However, instead of laying out a timetable, it sheds light on the political situation in each era and the fate of the servants dispatched by the king.

The parable has seven parts: preparation, five episodes involving servants, and a final judgment in which a false convert is expelled from the banquet. Those five episodes correspond with the five eras of missions.

#1 - The Apostolic era. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. (Matthew 22:3, NIV) These servants were initially sent to the Jews (the invited people), who refused to come.

#2 - The Roman era. “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.’” (Matthew 22:4, NIV) The oxen and cattle indicate wealth, the days when Rome and its opulence was the center of Christianity.

#3 - The Byzantine Era. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. (Matthew 22:6, NIV) After the early successes in evangelizing Bulgaria, Russia, and much of Eastern Europe, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks. One third of Christendom was destroyed and millions of Christians were enslaved, oppressed or killed.

#4 - The Colonial Era. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. (Matthew 22:7) Instead of sending ordinary servants - missionaries - this time God sent armies. They destroyed almost all the nations of the world. The General crisis of the 17th Century, in which scores of millions perished in hundreds of wars across the planet, was God’s wrath on full display. It was the second bloodiest century in World history and touched every corner of the globe.

#5 - The World Missionary Era. “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 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.” (Matthew 22:8-10) God sent missionaries into the whole earth and sent them to all sorts of people. The prophecy lends a democratic air to this final sending out of the king’s servants, in keeping with the times.

The details found in this prophecy match history in a stunning fashion. By this point we have overlaid multiple prophecies regarding the missionary enterprise. Dates, compass directions, the emphasis of the message, the fate of the servants and God’s response, when women would enter the picture… I daresay even more details of the enterprise are to be found by the careful Bible scholar beyond what I have seen. I am astonished. I trust you are, too.

The analysis above proposes a staggering conclusion that will offend many, Christian or otherwise. The worldwide devastation caused by the Christian colonial empires, such as Spain, Portugal, France and England, was part of God's plan. He anticipated the hostile response of the world to his missionaries being sent out and planned a counter-attack. When God, who is the king in this parable, said that he was furious at how his servants were treated and would burn down cities to make his point he meant it and he did it. You may not like this interpretation of the Gospel as I present it, but it happened. It didn't just happen, it happened when he said it would, if you line this parable up with the others. Yes, God judged those Christian empires and eventually stripped them of their colonies, but they were his instruments of judgment against the world. Colonialism was God's idea and it accomplished His purposes.