The Sonship Parables - Matthew 21:28-22:14
While in deep conflict with the Jewish leadership Jesus told three parables using stories about sons. Each of these sonship parables escalate in significance and pronounce judgment on the Jewish leadership for not being faithful and fruitful toward God.
His father's will – Matthew 21:31
Did his
father's will. The point of this parable is that merely saying that you are going to be obedient is not the same thing as obeying God's will from a humble and repentant heart (see Matt. 12:50).
Tax collectors and prostitutes – Matthew 21:31
Tax
collectors and
prostitutes. Jesus used two categories of notoriously sinful people to shame the Jewish leaders who look righteous and claim to be righteous but who do not repent and do God's will (Matt. 21:32).
Vineyard, hedge, winepress - Matthew 21:33-46
Vineyard …
hedge …
winepress. These words come from an earlier parable of judgment against unfaithful Israel from Isaiah's day (Isa. 5:1-7). By using the same words Jesus connected his words with Isaiah's prophetic authority.
The heir – Matthew 21:38
Take over the
inheritance. The wicked servants thought that if they killed the only remaining heir of the absent landowner that they could take full possession of the land and its produce.
A fruitful nation – Matthew 21:43
Given to a
nation that
produces its
fruits. A recurrent theme in Matthew is that the true people of God are now defined by Jesus as any person (Jewish or Gentile) who repents and does the will of God that is revealed by Jesus (Matt. 8:5-13; 12:46-50)
Parable of the King and the Wedding Feast for His Son - Matthew 22:1-14
Even though this parable begins a new chapter in our verse numbering, it is really the third and climactic story in a series of three parables Jesus taught using the image of sons. This parable is the most direct and pointed of the three, with Jesus presented parabolically as the Son of the King who has been spurned by his own people and therefore will be punished. The result of Jesus teaching these three parables was that the Pharisees determine a plan to kill Jesus (Matt. 22:15).
Matthew 22:2
marriage feast. The idea of a marriage feast that a king has for his son is an important Christian image representing Jesus, the bridegroom becoming fully united with his people at the end of the age (Eph. 5:25-32).
Matthew 22:6
Treated them
shamefully and
killed them. This dishonorable and wicked response to the king's invitation was similar to the people who killed the landowner's son in the previous parable (Matt. 21:38-39). The king was just in bringing punishment upon these evildoers.
Matthew 22:12
Wedding clothes. The wedding clothes here represent the whole-hearted righteous behavior that marks the disciple of Jesus. It may be compared elsewhere in Matthew to the fruit that corresponds to repentance (Matt. 3:8; 7:16).
Matthew 22:14
Many people are
called but
few are
chosen. This saying explains the somewhat mysterious "
wedding clothes" (Matt. 22:12) part of the story: Not everyone who appears to be righteous truly is; there are some wolves who appear to be sheep (Matt. 7:15). See
WCF 10.4;
WLC 61, 68.
Related Resources
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
International License.
