I'd like to share something that I enjoy studying – parables. Other religious teachers used parables but Jesus was the master parable maker. Two Old Testament examples showing this form of teaching was used before Jesus can be found in Jotham's story of the trees picking a king found in Judges 9:7-15 and Nathan's parable to David about the rich man and the sheep in 2 Samuel 12:1-6. Jesus used this form of teaching many times. Depending on how you count them, there are somewhere between thirty and sixty parables in the four gospels.

A parable is sometimes defined as "an earthly story with a heavenly meaning". That definition is okay but perhaps a better one would be "a story of familiar things representing unfamiliar things". In understanding the unfamiliar things we have to be careful not to make too much of the details as sometimes they may just be there to make the story more real. However, at other times, they may have a deep allegorical point. To confuse things more parables may have layers and a detail at one level of understanding may have meaning but not at a second level.

The understanding of parables must be balanced. To understand them you must first look at the context and answer these basic questions. What was going on at the time? To whom was Jesus speaking? Why was he talking to them? Sometimes the gospels answer all these questions and other times the parable is presented on its own without clues on context.

Jesus may have told the crowds or his opponents a parable for one purpose but told the same parable to his disciples for another purpose. As an example, the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15:4-10 is told to the scribes & Pharisees to answer criticisms of his work but is viewed as part of the disciple's instruction in Matthew 18:1,12-14. This implies that parables have layers. To me it seems that they often have three layers.

1. The present, or immediate, layer is the understanding meant for those he was talking to at the moment. At this level, the parable may just be a story with a moral.
2. The prophetic, or historic, layer has a deeper meaning for a later audience. It may be looking years into the future of the immediate audience, the world, or the church.
3. The personal individual layer is the layer that applies to people individually and universally - not just the original audience but also any audience.

With that information in mind let's read and examine Matthew 22:1-14 – The Parable of the Wedding Feast.

Matthew 22:1-14
1 And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
14 For many are called, but few are chosen.