A King Gives a Wedding Banquet

Eighteenth Sunday of Pentecost

Matthew 22: 1 - 14

Luke 14: 15 - 24

Isaiah 25: 6 - 10

Banquets and feasting are images of heaven throughout the Old Testament, from the banquet of Isaiah 25 through the table of Psalm 23.

Jesus tells a parable in which the kingdom of heaven is like a wedding feast. Which characters in this story do we recognize?

1. Who is the king in the story?

[God is the king in the story.]

2. Who are the servants in the story?

[The servants are the prophets who brought the message of God to the children of Abraham.]

3. Who are the guests in the story?

[The guests are all the people God invited into his kingdom.]

4. Who are the other people in the story?

[The other people in the story are the rest of us, who are not descended from Abraham.]