The Parable of the Banquet
Jesus speaks again in parables to the people before him.
O1nce again, Jesus spoke to them in parables:
The kingdom of heaven is compared to a king who prepares a wedding banquet for his son.
2“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.
The king sends servants to summon the invited guests, but they refuse to come.
3He sent his servants to call those he had invited to the banquet, but they refused to come.
The king sends other servants with news that everything is ready and the banquet is prepared.
4Again, he sent other servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
The invited guests ignore the summons and return to their fields and business.
5But they paid no attention and went away, one to his field, another to his business.
Some guests seize the servants, mistreat them, and kill them.
6The rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.
The enraged king sends troops to destroy the murderers and burn their city.
7The king was enraged, and he sent his troops to destroy those murderers and burn their city.
The king declares the banquet ready, but the first invitees were not worthy.
8Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited were not worthy.
The servants are sent to the crossroads to invite as many people as they can find.
9Go therefore to the crossroads and invite to the banquet as many as you can find.’
The servants gather everyone they find, both evil and good, and the hall fills with guests.
10So the servants went out into the streets and gathered everyone they could find, both evil and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
When the king enters, he notices one guest who lacks wedding clothes.
11But when the king came in to see the guests, he spotted a man who was not dressed in wedding clothes.
The king questions the man about entering without wedding clothes, and the man is silent.
12‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’
The king orders the man bound and thrown into outer darkness, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.
13Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Many are called, but few are chosen.
14For many are called, but few are chosen.”