Behold, I have prepared my dinner[1], my beeves and fatlings[2] are killed and all things are ready; come ye to the wedding.’[3] But they [4] neglected and went their ways, one to his farm and another to his merchandise. And the rest laid hands[5] on his servants, and having treated them contumeliously, put them to death.
“But when the king heard of it, he was angry, and sending his armies, he destroyed those murderers, and burnt their city[6]. Then he saith to his servants: Go ye, therefore[7], into the highways[8], and as many as you shall find, invite to the marriage. So his servants, going out into the highways, gathered together all that they found, both bad and good, and the wedding was filled with guests.
“Then the king went in to see the guests, and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding-garment[9]. He saith to him: ‘Friend, how earnest thou in hither not having on a wedding-garment. But he was silent[10]. Then the king said to the waiters: ‘Having bound his hands and feet, cast him into exterior darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth’. For many are called, but few are chosen!"
COMMENTARY.
The Parable of the Marriage-feast. The king signifies God the Father; and therefore his son is the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ.
- ↑ Dinner . The principal meal in the evening.
- ↑ Failings. Fatted poultry.
- ↑ The wedding. Which is fixed without any possibility of change.
- ↑ But they . “What does this marriage signify to us!” said they to themselves, and so saying, they went about their various occupations, although the date of the wedding had been fixed for some time, and they might have arranged their business accordingly.
- ↑ Laid hands. They looked on the king’s persistence in inviting them to a marriage of which he knew they did not approve, as a personal insult, and showed their resentment by ill-treating and murdering his messengers.
- ↑ Their city. It is evident that those invited lived in a town not far from the king’s palace.
- ↑ Therefore . In order that the meats may not be wasted.
- ↑ The highways. Where usually travellers and tramps are to be found. All were invited indiscriminately, no inquiry being made as to what sort of lives they had led previously.
- ↑ Wedding-garment. In the east kings used to provide their guests with wedding-garments, to ensure them all being suitably attired. This man ought to have clothed himself in his wedding-garment, as all the others had done.
- ↑ He was silent. For he had no excuse to offer.
