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The wedding banquet

Matt 22:1–14 · Passion week in Jerusalem

Scripture

Matthew 22:1–14

nd Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, 2The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, 3And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. 4Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. 5But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: 6And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. 7But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. 9Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. 10So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. 11And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: 12And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13Then said the king 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 are chosen.

King James Version · public domain

Mateu 22:1–14

dhe Jisuj upërgjeq përsëri e u tha atyre me paravolira, dyke thënë, 2Mbretëri’ e qiejvet gjan me mjë njeri mbret, i-cili bëri dasmë për të birr’ e ti; 3Edhe dërgoj shërbëtorët’ e ti të thërresën’ ata që qenë ftuarë ndë dasmët, po nukë deshnë të vinjënë. Përsëri dërgoj të-tjerë shërbëtorë, 4dyke thënë, thoj-u-ni atyre që janë ftuarë, Ja tek bëra gati drekënë t’ime; demat’ e mi edhe berrat’ e-ushqyera janë gati; ejani ndë dasmët. 5Po ata përtuan’ e shkuanë, njeri n’arët të ti, e tjetëri ndë tregëtit të ti; 6Edhe të-tjerëtë zunë shërbëtorët’ e ati, e i shanë, e i vranë. 7Po mbreti kur dëgjoj uzëmërua; edhe dërgoj ushtërit’ e ti, edhe prishi ata gjaksorëtë, edhe dogji qytetn’ e atyre. 8Atëhere u thotë shërbëtorëvet të ti, Dasma është gati, po ata që qenë të-ftuarë nuk’ ishinë të-vëjejturë. 9Shkoni pra ndëpër të-dalurat të udhëvet, edhe sa të gjeni, t’i ftoni ndë dasmët. 10Edhe ata shërbëtorëtë duallnë ndëpër udhët, e mblothnë gjithë sa gjetnë, të-liq e të-mirë; edhe dasma umbush me njerës që rrininë ndë mësallët. 11Edhe mbreti kur hyri të shohë ata që rrininë ndë mësallët, pa atje një njeri që s’kishte veshurë rrobë dasme. 12Edhe i thot’ ati, Mik, si hyre këtu pa pasurë rrobë dasme? Po ay mbëçeli gojënë. 13Atëhere mbreti u tha shërbëtorëvet, Lidh-e-ni atë prej këmbësh e prej duarsh, edhe ngri-e-ni, edhe hidh-e-ni ndë errësirët të-përjashtësme; atje dotë jetë të-qarët’ e të-kërcëlliturit’ e dhëmbëvet. 14Sepse shumë veta janë të-thirrurë, po të-pakë të-sgjedhurë.

Kristoforidhi, Dhiata e Re Toskërisht 1879 · zotërim publik

Summary

A king makes a marriage feast for his son: the Fathers read the bridegroom as Christ and the bride as the Church, or human nature itself which the Son weds to himself. This parable follows hard upon the parable of the vineyard, and the Fathers see it carrying the same indictment further. The repeated sending of servants shows the long patience of God, who calls first by the prophets and then by the apostles; the refusal, and even the murder of the messengers, is the rejection that ran from the prophets to the apostles. The king's armies that burn the city the tradition reads as the destruction of Jerusalem, the visible seal upon a calling refused.

The gathering of guests from the highways, both bad and good, is the calling of the nations: the feast is not left empty, and the Gentiles are brought in to fill the room the first-called would not enter. The Fathers note that the servants gather all they find, for the Church on earth holds the worthy and unworthy together until the king himself comes to look upon the guests.

The man without a wedding garment is the gravest word of the parable, for he is already within. The Fathers read the garment not as faith alone but as the life that must clothe it: the robe of grace put on in baptism, kept bright by love, mercy, and good works, the "new man" befitting the feast. To enter the Church and remain unclothed by such a life is to be found at the King's table yet a stranger to it. His silence is his own sentence, the speechlessness of one who has no defense; and so the saying seals the whole: "Many are called, but few are chosen."

In their own words

That thou mightest learn God's tender care, His yearning towards us, the cheerfulness of the state of things, that there is nothing sorrowful there, nor sad, but all things are full of spiritual joy.

St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of St. Matthew, Homily LXIX, section 1 (NPNF1 Vol. 10)

The Wedding Banquet (Matthew 22:1–14)

Public-Domain Patristic Commentary

A king makes a marriage feast for his son and sends his servants to call those who were invited; but they will not come. He sends more servants, saying his dinner is ready, his oxen and fatlings killed; but they make light of it and go their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise, while the rest seize the servants and kill them. The king is wroth, sends his armies, destroys those murderers, and burns their city. Then he tells his servants the wedding is ready but those invited were not worthy: "Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage." The hall is filled with guests, both good and bad. But when the king comes in to see them, he finds a man without a wedding garment: "Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?" The man is speechless, and is bound hand and foot and cast into outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. "For many are called, but few are chosen."

This parable is found only in Matthew, distinct from the great supper of Luke 14. The Fathers read it as the whole history of salvation in miniature: the king is God the Father; the son is Christ; the marriage is the union of Christ with the Church; the servants are the prophets and then the apostles; those first invited who refuse are Israel; the burning of the city is the fall of Jerusalem; the call into the highways is the calling of the Gentiles; the guests good and bad are the mixed Church; and the wedding garment, worn or lacking, is the life that answers the call. Gathered below are five Fathers, two from the East and three from the West, each quoted verbatim from a public-domain translation.

St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)

From his Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew (Homily 69, on Matthew 22:1–14), NPNF translation. Public domain.

On what this parable adds to the one before it:

But this parable has something also more than the other. For it proclaims beforehand both the casting out of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles; and it indicates together with this also the strictness of the life required, and how great the punishment appointed for the careless.

On why the feast is called a marriage:

And wherefore is it called a marriage? ... That you might learn God's tender care, His yearning towards us, the cheerfulness of the state of things, that there is nothing sorrowful there, nor sad, but all things are full of spiritual joy. Therefore also John calls Him a bridegroom ... "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church."

On how the marriage after the death proclaims the resurrection:

Hereby He proclaimed the resurrection also. For since in what went before He had spoken of the death, He shows that even after the death, then is the marriage, then the bridegroom.

On the excuses, and how spiritual things must be set first:

They come not, but feign excuses, yokes of oxen, and pieces of ground, and wives. And yet the excuses seem to be reasonable; but hence we learn, though the things which hinder us be necessary, to set the things spiritual at a higher price than all ... for when spiritual things call us, there is no press of business that has the power of necessity.

On the burning of the city, foretold:

Since they were not willing to come, yea and also slew those that came unto them; He burns up their cities, and sent His armies and slew them. And these things He says, declaring beforehand the things that took place under Vespasian and Titus ... not straightway after Christ was slain did the capture take place, but after forty years, that He might show His long suffering.

On the wedding garment as life, and grace that must be kept:

For the garment is life and practice. And yet the calling was of grace; wherefore then does He take a strict account? Because although to be called and to be cleansed was of grace, yet, when called and clothed in clean garments, to continue keeping them so, this is of the diligence of them that are called ... For by having nothing to reply he condemned himself.

Origen (c. 185–254)

From his Commentary on Matthew, as compiled in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain.

On the feast filled, and the garments to be put on:

The marriage-feast of Christ and the Church is filled, when they who were found by the Apostles, being restored to God, sat down to the feast. But since it behoved that both bad and good should be called, not that the bad should continue bad, but that they should put off the garments unmeet for the wedding, and should put on the marriage garments, to wit, bowels of mercy and kindness.

St. Gregory the Great (c. 540–604)

From his Homilies on the Gospels (Homily 38), as compiled in the Catena Aurea on Matthew (Newman trans.). Public domain.

On the marriage feast as the Father joining the Son to human nature and to the Church:

God the Father made a marriage feast for God the Son, when He joined Him to human nature in the womb of the Virgin ... the marriage feast was made by the King the Father for the King the Son when He joined to Him the Holy Church in the mystery of His incarnation. The womb of the Virgin Mother was the bridechamber of this Bridegroom.

On why this is a wedding feast, not the last and eternal supper:

Here, by the wedding-feast is denoted the present Church; there, by the supper, the last and eternal feast. For into this enter some who shall perish; into that whosoever has once entered in shall never be put forth.

On the wedding garment, which is charity, lacked by faith without love:

What ought we to understand by the wedding garment, but charity? For this the Lord had upon Him, when He came to espouse the Church to Himself. He then enters in to the wedding feast, but without the wedding garment, who has faith in the Church, but not charity.

St. Jerome (c. 347–420)

From his Commentary on Matthew, as compiled in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain.

On the wedding garment as the commandments and works of the new man:

The marriage garment is the commandments of the Lord, and the works which are done under the Law and the Gospel, and form the clothing of the new man. Whoso among the Christian body shall be found in the day of judgment not to have these, is straightway condemned.

On the man called "friend," invited by faith yet shamed by his dress:

He calls him "friend," because he was invited to the wedding as being a friend by faith; but He charges him with want of manners in polluting by his filthy dress the elegance of the wedding entertainment.

On why the parable ends as it does:

And because in the marriage and supper the chief thing is the end and not the beginning, therefore He adds, "For many are called, but few chosen."

Blessed Augustine of Hippo (354–430)

From his Against Faustus, as compiled in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain.

On who it is that comes without a garment:

He goes to the feast without a garment, who goes seeking his own, and not the Bridegroom's honour.

Note on sources and other Fathers

On the body of the parable the Fathers speak with one voice, and on the wedding garment they offer a chorus of complementary readings. Chrysostom expounds the whole: the marriage is the union of "Christ and the Church," proclaimed even after the death so as to declare the resurrection; the burning of the city is the fall under Vespasian and Titus, delayed forty years in long-suffering; and the garment is "life and practice," for the calling is of grace but the keeping is of diligence. Origen reads the garments to be put on as "bowels of mercy and kindness." Then Gregory reads the marriage itself as the Father joining the Son "to human nature in the womb of the Virgin" and to "the Holy Church," and the wedding garment as "charity," for one "enters in to the wedding feast, but without the wedding garment, who has faith in the Church, but not charity." Jerome reads the garment as "the commandments of the Lord, and the works... of the new man," and marks the tenderness of a King who calls the man "friend," "invited to the wedding as being a friend by faith," even as He shames his filthy dress; and Augustine reads the lack as seeking one's own rather than the Bridegroom's honour.

Hilary of Poitiers also read the garment as the grace of the Holy Spirit, and Theophylact follows the Eastern line on the Matthean text; these are noted here rather than quoted.

Patristic sources

Read the sources: Chrysostom on Matthew (CCEL)