The scariest parable Jesus ever told

Sometimes what I read in the Bible scares me, and I mean it literally sends a shiver down my spine where I physically twitch. How about you?

It happened again just the other day as I was reading through Matthew’s Gospel. I came to chapter 22 and the parable of the marriage feast, which I’m telling you is, hands down, the scariest parable Jesus ever told.

Let’s walk through it together and I’ll show you why it floors me every time.

Why parables?

Before we start, let’s understand what Jesus’ parables really were. They weren’t sermon illustrations or a friendly type of sage-driven storytelling, but rather a form of judgment handed down after Israel’s religious leaders formally rejected Christ and equated His work with the devil. You can read about it in the 12th chapter of Matthew, which is the book’s “hinge” chapter. You also see the same thing in Mark 3.  

After Jesus’ rejection comes the parables and their reason: “The disciples came and said to Him, ‘Why do You speak to them in parables?’ Jesus answered them, ‘To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand’” (Matt. 13:10–13).

Let’s now dive into this particular one, which can be broken up into three distinct sections: 1. the rejected invitation and its consequences (verses 1–7); 2. the gathering of the other wedding guests (verses 8–10); and 3. the improperly clothed guest (verses 11–14).

God’s promises go both ways

Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. Again he sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.’ But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire” (vv. 1–7).

Given what we know now, the first part of the parable isn’t difficult to interpret. The idea of the marriage feast draws a straight line to the one associated with Christ’s eschatological triumph — the marriage supper of the Lamb found in Rev. 19:7–9.

We first see the grace and patience of the king [God] in sending multiple messengers calling people to the event. The first envoys represent the Old Testament prophets sent to Israel, while the second group likely denotes John the Baptist, Jesus and his disciples, and those afterward like Paul. This brings to mind what Jeremiah was inspired to say to ancient Israel: “Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets, daily rising early and sending them. Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear but stiffened their neck” (Jer. 7:25–26).

And what happened to those who “stiffened their neck” at God? This is where things first start to get scary.

Scripture tells us repeatedly that there is a limit to God’s patience (Gen. 6:3; Prov. 29:1; Dan. 5:22–31; Matt. 21:40–44; Luke 13:9; Rev. 2:21, 22). We talk a lot about God keeping His promises about salvation, but we can forget He is also a promise keeper when it comes to His judgment.

You don’t need a more terrifying illustration of this than 70 AD, which proved that God's judgment does fall, just as Jesus promised in the parable. The historian Josephus says this about the destruction of Jerusalem, which Jesus was referencing: “While the sanctuary was burning … neither pity for age nor respect for rank was shown; on the contrary, children and old people, laity and priests alike were massacred” (VI.271).

It’s believed that more than a million Jews perished and afterwards, Israel ceased to exist as a significant nation. God indeed “was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire,” just as Jesus stated.

And if He kept His promise of judgment for them, what about us? Scary to think about? You bet.

God’s general call

Next, we read:

Then he [the king] said to his slaves, “The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.” Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests (vv. 8–10).

I doubt this part is hard for you to figure out. When Israel stiff-arms Christ, others are brought to Him, mostly from the Gentiles (cf. 8:11, 12; 21:41), though other Jews can’t be excluded. This is what Jesus talked about in John when He said, “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd” (John 10:16).

This part of the parable isn’t frightening at all but is instead comforting to read: “…and the wedding was filled with guests.” But it isn’t over; don’t miss the fact that those who were brought in were “both evil and good”. Let’s see what happens next.

Speechless before God

But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, “Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?” And the man was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, “Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” For many are called, but few are chosen (vv.11–14).

This part really gets to me.

The third section can be thought of as another parable, making this a double-edged statement, which may be why the chapter opens with Matthew saying Jesus spoke to them again “by parables” (plural).

Suddenly, the king (God) appears to look over the guests, an act representing the omniscient inspection of every professed believer in Jesus that will occur one day. The fact that “both good and evil” are present at the feast is something seen in another parable — the dragnet — found in Matthew 13:47–50.

The king finds a man who isn’t properly clothed for the event and stands “speechless” before the king, who promptly casts him out of his wedding event’s light and into darkness. But wait a minute — why is the king upset that the guy isn’t appropriately dressed? Weren’t all the guests quickly hurried to the feast as they were?

Near East historians tell us it was customary for prominent hosts of major events to provide suitable garments for their guests. 2 Kings 10:22 details one such occurrence done even at pagan affairs: “He said to the one who was in charge of the wardrobe, ‘Bring out garments for all the worshipers of Baal.’ So he brought out garments for them”.

The only way the man would be without such a provision and still in his own clothes is if he declined the king’s garment. Just like the original guests who turned down the king’s initial invitation and met with terrible consequences, we have a dreadful repeat.

The lesson? You don’t come into the presence of the King of kings clothed in your own righteousness. Instead, you want to say with Isaiah: “I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (Is. 61:10).

Paul tells us, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Gal. 3:27). And we don’t do this ourselves because, like the parable says at the end, “many are called, but few are chosen” (vs.14).  

Salvation, then, in the final analysis, is not a human accomplishment but the gift of God’s sovereign grace. To those of us clothed by God, we will hear “Enter into the joy of your Master” (Matt. 25:21). But those who refuse the righteousness offered them will have a different fate: “I will punish the princes, and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel” (Zeph. 1:8).  

There’s that shiver down my spine again.

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus didn’t use a parable to get His point across, but plainly said: “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Matt. 7:22–23).

May we never hear those words. Take the King’s robe now if you haven’t already.