Parable of the Wedding Feast

The Parable of the Wedding Feast is one of the parables of Jesus and appears in the New Testament in Luke 14:7-14. It directly precedes the Parable of the Great Banquet in Luke 14:15-24.[1][2] In Matthew's Gospel, the parallel passage to Luke's Parable of the Great Banquet is also set as a wedding feast (Matthew 22:1-14).[3]

The Gospel of Luke, Minuscule 2444, 13th century

In New Testament times, a wedding was a very sacred and joyous thing. Some even lasted up to or more than a week. When Jesus told this parable, many people were able to understand the picture he was trying to create because he used a Jewish Wedding - specifically, a Seudat Nissuin - as the setting of the story.[4]

Luke 14:11 says "Every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted"; this saying is also found in Luke 18:14 and Matthew 23:12. It is similar to Matthew 18:4.[2]

Narrative

He spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the best seats, and said to them, “When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, don’t sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone more honorable than you might be invited by him, and he who invited both of you would come and tell you, ‘Make room for this person’. Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you make a dinner or a supper, don’t call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back. But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind; and you will be blessed, because they don’t have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous.”

— Luke 14:7–14, World English Bible

See also

References
  1. J. Dwight Pentecost, 1998 The parables of Jesus: lessons in life from the Master Teacher ISBN 0-8254-3458-0 pages 85-86
  2. Luke by Sharon H. Ringe 1995 ISBN 0-664-25259-1 page 195
  3. Aland, Kurt, ed. Synopsis of the Four Gospels: Completely Revised on the Basis of the Greek Text of the Nestle-Aland, 26th Edition, and Greek New Testament, 3rd Edition, English Edition. 1st ed. United Bible Societies, 1982. Print. pericope 216.
  4. Bauckham, Richard (Autumn 1996). "The Parable of the Royal Wedding Feast (Matthew 22:1-14) and the Parable of the Lame Man and the Blind Man (Apocryphon of Ezekiel)". Journal of Biblical Literature. 115 (3).
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