Matthew 22:1-14
This week in The Gospel Project®
for Kids, preschoolers will learn about the parable of the wedding
feast. Jesus’ parable of the wedding feast is more than a simple story
about a king’s rude guests. The parable reveals the King (God the
Father) who seeks to honor His Son (Jesus) with a banquet. Though many
people are invited to the kingdom of heaven, few will choose to come.
When
Jesus told this parable, He had been teaching for three years. Many
people who heard Jesus opposed Him, including the religious leaders. It
was to this audience that Jesus told such a shocking story in which the
attitudes and actions of the people who rejected the king’s invitation
clearly paralleled those religious leaders.
In
the parable, the religious leaders are represented by the guests who
refused to come to the wedding banquet. They had been invited, but when
the king’s servants told them the feast was ready, they did not want to
come. Instead, they went about their lives—to their farms and
businesses. Some of them even killed the king’s messengers!
What
an insult to the king! These people had turned down an invitation to
the most wonderful and joyous event anyone could imagine. The king would
have given his best to honor his son, and the king reacted justly. He
punished those who rejected him and invited others instead—those not in
the city, both the good and the bad.
Likewise,
God invites Gentiles (non-Jews) into His kingdom. No one is refused
based on his or her economic or social standing. The King Himself
provides the required attire—robes of righteousness, like those given to
Joshua the high priest. (See Zechariah 3:3-4.) The King rejects those
who try to come by their own merit—in their own clothes—as the man
without wedding clothes did.
Salvation
is a free gift. We can’t earn our way into heaven. Jesus did all the
work when He died for our sins on the cross. This story reminds us that
we need to be clothed in Christ's righteousness. Jesus invites us to
join Him in heaven—the great wedding feast. When we accept His
invitation, Jesus gets us ready by clothing us in His righteousness.
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