Passion Week ~ Tuesday (continued)

In our last post, we examined the final days of Yeshua’s life and ministry. In this post, we walk with Yeshua as He returns to Yerushalayim for the final time. As we will see in this and several more posts, Tuesday is hectic.

Religious Leaders Angered

⁴⁵ As the head cohanim and the P’rushim listened to His stories, they saw that He was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ But when they set about to arrest Him, they were afraid of the crowds; because the crowds considered Him a prophet. ~Mattityahu 21:45-46.

Parable of the Wedding Banquet

¹ Yeshua again used parables in speaking to them: ² “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son,

Festivities for such an event would have lasted several days. In this parable, Yeshua alludes to the great end-times feast (compare 8:11), when God’s people will enjoy fellowship with the Messiah in His fully inaugurated Kingdom (compare Revelation 19:6–10).

³ but when he sent his slaves to summon the invited guests to the wedding, they refused to come.

Refusing such an invitation from the king was a shocking insult. These invited guests represent those who respond to the message of the Kingdom of Heaven with indifference (v5) and hostility (v. 6).

⁴ So he sent some more slaves, instructing them to tell the guests, ‘Look, I’ve prepared my banquet, I’ve slaughtered my bulls and my fattened cattle, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding!’ ⁵ But they weren’t interested and went off, one to his farm, another to his business; ⁶ and the rest grabbed his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. ⁷ The king was furious and sent his soldiers, who killed those murderers and burned down their city.

Verse 7 foreshadows the Romans’ destruction of Yerushalayim in 70 CE.

⁸ “Then he said to his slaves, ‘Well, the wedding feast is ready; but the ones who were invited didn’t deserve it. ⁹ So go out to the street corners and invite to the banquet as many as you find.’ ¹⁰ The slaves went out into the streets, gathered all the people they could find, the bad along with the good; and the wedding hall was filled with guests. ¹¹ “Now when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who wasn’t dressed for a wedding; so he asked him,

This man accepted the king’s invitation but, on his terms, – which the king found improper. Kings sometimes give banquets for their subjects and invite them all, regardless of status, providing suitable clothing for those unable to afford it. Therefore the one not wearing what the king had provided was without excuse.

¹² ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him outside in the dark!’ In that place, people will wail and grind their teeth, ¹⁴ for many are invited, but few are chosen.” ^[1]

Verse 14 summarizes the theme of the preceding parables (21:28–22:14). God invites many people into His Kingdom, as seen in this parable Yeshua has just told. However, as the man thrown out of the wedding feast illustrates (vv. 11–13), not all who consider themselves part of God’s Kingdom are genuine members (compare 7:13–14, 21–23). Those who hear and respond favorably to God’s invitation can join Him in celebration (compare 25:31–46).

In our next, we continue to follow Yeshua into Yerushalayim for His Crucifixion by the end of the week.

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^[1] Mattityahu 22:1–14.