Jesus tells a story about a marriage party
1 Jesus continued to use stories to teach the people. 2 He said, ‘This is what the kingdom of heaven is like. A king prepared a special meal for his son's marriage. 3 He asked many people to come. When the meal was ready, he sent his servants out to tell those people to come. But they refused to come.
4 So the king then sent out other servants. He said to them, “Tell this message to all those people that I have asked to come. Tell them that the master says, ‘My servants have prepared the meal. They have killed my large oxen and some fat young cows to eat. Everything is ready. Now come to the marriage party!’ ”
5 But the people did not think that the king's message was important. They went away to do their own work. One man went to his farm and another man went to his business. 6 Other people took hold of the king's servants. They hurt them and they killed them. 7 The king was very angry. He sent his soldiers to the city where those people lived. They killed the people who had murdered the king's servants. They destroyed their city with fire.
8 Then the king said to his other servants, “The meal for my son's marriage is ready. But the people that I had asked to come did not deserve to come. 9 So go out now to the town's streets where people meet together. Ask all the people that you find there to come to the marriage party.” 10 Then those servants went out into the streets. They brought to the king's house all the people that they met. Some were good people and some were bad people. Very many people came. The room for the marriage party was full!
11 Then the king came into the room to see all the people. He saw one man who was not wearing the right clothes for a marriage. 12 The king said to the man, “How did you come in here, my friend? You are not wearing the right clothes for a marriage.” The man could not answer the king.
22:12At that time, there was a special meal when a man married. People who came to the meal also had special clothes to wear.
13 The king said to his servants, “Tie his hands and his feet. Take him and throw him into the dark place outside. There, people will cry and they will bite their teeth together.”
14 God asks many people to come to him. But he only chooses a few people to be there with him.’
