Parable of the Great Banquet: Difference between revisions
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The longer version of the parable is in Matthew: |
The longer version of the parable is in Matthew: |
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{{quotation|Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. 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.' But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.<br/><br/> |
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"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 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, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.<br/><br/> |
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But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' For many are invited, but few are chosen."|Matthew 22:1-14, [[New International Version]]}} |
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==Interpretation== |
==Interpretation== |
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Revision as of 20:55, 25 September 2010
The Parable of the Great Banquet or the Wedding Feast or the Marriage of the King's Son is a parable told by Jesus in the New Testament, found in Matthew Matthew 22:1–14 and Luke Luke 14:15–24. A version of the parable also appears in the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas (Saying 64).[1]
Narrative
The longer version of the parable is in Matthew:
Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. 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.' But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 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, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' For many are invited, but few are chosen."
— Matthew 22:1-14, New International Version
Interpretation
The eschatological image of a wedding also occurs in the parable of the Faithful Servant and the parable of the Ten Virgins. Here it includes the extension of the original invitation (to Jews) to also include Gentiles.[2] In Luke, the invitation is extended particularly to the "poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame" (Luke 14:21), evidencing explicit concern for the "poor and the outcasts."[2]
The targets of the parable are the already religious who have no time for God; they are represented by the people who accepted an invitation, but when the food is ready claim they are too busy to turn up.[3]
In Matthew, the parable immediately follows the parable of the Wicked Husbandmen, to which it is linked.[4] This connection helps to explain the treatment of the man without wedding clothes.[4]
Augustine suggested that the wedding clothes or garment in this parable were provided by the host, but this is unlikely to be the intended implication.[3] He also interpreted the garment as symbolising love,[5] an interpretation not widely accepted even in medieval times.[6] Martin Luther suggested that the garment represented Christ himself.[7] John Calvin alluded to other interpretations in commenting:
As to the wedding garment, is it faith, or is it a holy life? This is a useless controversy; for faith cannot be separated from good works, nor do good works proceed from any other source than from faith.[8]
In the Gospel of Thomas, the parable "becomes an exhortation against the affairs of business and a life of gain."[4]
Art and hymnody
The parable has been depicted by artists such as Bernardo Cavallino, Jan Luyken, and John Everett Millais.
A number of Christian hymns have been inspired by the parable, such as "All is ready" by Fanny Crosby,[9] and "All Things are Ready" by Charles H. Gabriel, which begins:
“All things are ready,” come to the feast!
Come, for the table now is spread;
Ye famishing, ye weary, come,
And thou shalt be richly fed.[10]
References
- ^ Gospel of Thomas: Lamb translation and Patterson/Meyer translation.
- ^ a b Robert H. Stein, An Introduction to the Parables of Jesus, Westminster John Knox Press, 1981, ISBN 0664243908, pp. 82-91.
- ^ a b R. T. France, The Gospel According to Matthew: An introduction and commentary, Eerdmans, 1985, ISBN 0802800637, pp. 312-313.
- ^ a b c Bernard Brandon Scott, Hear Then the Parable: A commentary on the parables of Jesus, Fortress Press, 1989, ISBN 0800624815, pp. 161-168.
- ^ Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 45 on the New Testament.
- ^ David Paul Parris, Reception Theory and Biblical Hermeneutics, Pickwick Publications, 2008, ISBN 1556356536, p. 250.
- ^ John Nicholas Lenker, The Precious and Sacred Writings of Martin Luther, 1905 (reprinted by BiblioLife, 2009, ISBN 1115363646, p. 234).
- ^ John Calvin, Commentary on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2.
- ^ The Cyber Hymnal: All is Ready.
- ^ The Cyber Hymnal: All Things are Ready.