The Parable of the Great Banquet or the Wedding Feast or the Marriage of the King's Son is a parable told by

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

, found in and . It is not to be confused with a different Parable of the Wedding Feast recorded in Luke's Gospel.

Narrative

The version of the parable in the

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and form ...

is as follows: The version of in the

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-vol ...

is somewhat shorter, and refers only to a banquet rather than a wedding feast: The non-canonical

Gospel of Thomas The Gospel of Thomas (also known as the Coptic Gospel of Thomas) is an extra-canonical sayings gospel. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. Scholars speculate ...

also includes the parable as saying 64; its version is quite close to Luke's, although ends slightly differently with a conclusion that "Buyers and traders

ill ILL may refer to: * '' I Love Lucy'', a landmark American television sitcom * Illorsuit Heliport (location identifier: ILL), a heliport in Illorsuit, Greenland * Institut Laue–Langevin, an internationally financed scientific facility * Interlibra ...

not enter the places of my father."

Interpretation

The classical interpretation of Matthew's version of the parable is that the king is God; the king's son is Jesus himself; the original invited guests are the

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

; the king's servants who are attacked are God's prophets; and the new guests are the Gentiles and other "unworthy". The

eschatological Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or of the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that nega ...

image of a wedding used by Matthew also occurs in the

parable of the Faithful Servant The Parable of the Faithful Servant (or Parable of the Door Keeper) is a parable of Jesus found in Matthew 24:42-51, Mark 13:34-37, and Luke 12:35-48 about how it is important for the faithful to keep watch. In Matthew's Gospel, it immediately ...

and the

parable of the Ten Virgins The Parable of the Ten Virgins, also known as the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins or the Parable of the ten bridesmaids, is one of the parables of Jesus. According to , ten virgins await a bridegroom; five have brought enough oil f ...

. The original invitation to the Jews is extended to also include Gentiles.Robert H. Stein,
An Introduction to the Parables of Jesus
', Westminster John Knox Press, 1981, , pp. 82-91. In Luke, the invitation is extended particularly to the "poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame" (), evidencing explicit concern for the "poor and the outcasts." In

early Christianity Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewis ...

, the parable may have been taken more openly as a direct reference to Jews who did not convert to Christianity; in particular, the reference in Matthew to the king sending his armies, destroying the murderers, and burning their city seems to be a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 by Roman armies. Later Christian interpretations have adjusted the original guests more generally to be the already religious who have no time for God, including Christians: they are people who accepted an invitation, but when the food is ready, claim they are too busy to turn up.

R. T. France Richard Thomas France (1938–2012), known as R. T. France or Dick France, was a New Testament scholar and Anglican cleric. He was Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, from 1989 to 1995. He also worked for the London School of Theology. ...

,
The Gospel According to Matthew: An introduction and commentary
', Eerdmans, 1985, , pp. 312-313. Matthew's version additionally suggests that even some of the newly invited guests are not worthy of sitting at the table, if they are not wearing a proper wedding garment. What exactly the wedding garment symbolizes is not generally agreed on among Christian theologians. Some commentators suggest that the wedding clothes or garment in this parable were provided by the host, but this is unlikely to be the intended implication. Augustine of Hippo interpreted the garment as symbolizing

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * C ...

, an interpretation not widely accepted even in medieval times.

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...

suggested that the garment represented Christ himself. John Calvin felt these controversies in interpreting the meaning of the "wedding garment" were overblown:

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. Christ intended only to state that the Lord calls us on the express condition of our being renewed by the Spirit ... and that, in order to our remaining permanently in his house, we must put off the old man with his pollutions ... and lead a new life.

Other commentators focus on the role of clothing (or, in this case, the lack of appropriate clothing) in the New Testament (see Biblical clothing). Bernard Brandon Scott notes that the parable immediately follows the

parable of the Wicked Husbandmen The Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen, also known as the Parable of the Bad Tenants, is a parable of Jesus found in the Gospel of Matthew (), the Gospel of Mark () and the Gospel of Luke (). It is also found in the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas ...

in Matthew, and that the harsh treatment of the man without wedding clothes is related to the harsh treatment of the bad tenants in that parable: people hired or invited by the king (God) who do not perform their duties.Bernard Brandon Scott,
Hear Then the Parable: A commentary on the parables of Jesus
', Fortress Press, 1989, , pp. 161-168. In the Gospel of Thomas, the parable "becomes an exhortation against the affairs of business and a life of gain," reflecting Gnosticism's prizing of ascetic lifestyles.

Historicity

The parable appears in three major works, suggesting it was possibly in the

Q source The Q source (also called Q document(s), Q Gospel, or Q; from german: Quelle, meaning "source") is a hypothetical written collection of primarily Jesus' sayings (λόγια : ). Q is part of the common material found in the Gospels of Matthew ...

, a hypothetical theorized document or source of sayings of Jesus from the oral tradition of early Christians that later gospel writers drew on. Matthew's version and the version in Luke and Thomas do not entirely line up;

textual critics Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...

generally suspect it is more likely that it is Matthew's version that drifted from the original, as parts of it seem to be an explanation of the destruction of Jerusalem as divine punishment too closely. Matthew's version makes more sense for a church that has many more Gentiles in it than the one at the time of Jesus's death and additionally has knowledge of the outcome of the

First Jewish–Roman War The First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), sometimes called the Great Jewish Revolt ( he, המרד הגדול '), or The Jewish War, was the first of three major rebellions by the Jews against the Roman Empire, fought in Roman-controlled ...

Art and hymnody

The parable has been depicted by artists such as

Bernardo Cavallino Bernardo Cavallino (1616–1656) was an Italian painter and draughtsman. He is regarded as one of the most original painters active in Naples during the first half of the 17th century.Ann Percy. "Cavallino, Bernardo." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art ...

Jan Luyken Johannes or Jan Luyken (April 16, 1649 – April 5, 1712) was a Dutch poet, illustrator, and engraver.John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest ...

. A number of Christian

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hy ...

s have been inspired by the parable, such as "All is ready" by

Fanny Crosby Frances Jane van Alstyne (née Crosby; March 24, 1820 – February 12, 1915), more commonly known as Fanny J. Crosby, was an American mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer. She was a prolific hymnist, writing more than 8,000 hymns ...

, and "All Things are Ready" by

Charles H. Gabriel Charles Hutchinson Gabriel (August 18, 1856 – September 14, 1932) was a writer of gospel songs and composer of gospel tunes. He is said to have written and/or composed between 7,000 and 8,000 songs, many of which are available in 21st century hym ...

, 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.The Cyber Hymnal: ''All Things are Ready''

Music

The topic was the prescribed reading for the List of Bach cantatas by liturgical function#Trinity II, Second Sunday after Trinity and List of Bach cantatas by liturgical function#Trinity XX, Twentieth Sunday after Trinity. For the first occasion Bach composed Bach cantata, cantatas ''Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, BWV 76'' in 1723 and ''Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein, BWV 2'' in 1724. For the second occasion he wrote Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, BWV 180 in 1724.

References