Matthew 22:3Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Can you discern the distinction between the Son and the servants in the earlier parable compared to this one? Do you recognize both the profound similarities and significant differences between these two parables? This narrative illustrates God's patience and His immense care, as well as the wickedness and ingratitude exhibited by the Jews. However, this parable conveys more than the previous one: it foreshadows the apostasy of the Jews and the incorporation of the Gentiles, while also demonstrating the correct path of righteousness and the consequences that await the indifferent. It is fitting that this parable follows the one preceding it. After declaring that "It shall be given to the nation that bringeth forth its fruits" (Matt.

All faithful individuals are aware of the prince and the banquet he has prepared. The feast set by the Lord is accessible to all who partake in a worthy manner. It is essential for each person to consider their approach to this feast, even though they are not excluded from attending. Sacred Scripture informs us that there are two gatherings of the Lord: one attended by both the righteous and the unrighteous, while the other is absent of the wicked. In the banquet mentioned in the Gospel reading, both virtuous and sinful guests were present. Those who declined the invitation were evil, yet not everyone who accepted it was good. I now speak to you, the virtuous attendees of this feast.

Certainly, it is unmistakably Moses who served as the vessel through which God delivered the law to the chosen ones. Nevertheless, should we interpret the term ‘servants’ as it appears in several accounts, it becomes necessary to direct this reference towards the prophets, for those who were summoned by them turned away from the call with disdain.

The earlier parable highlighted the events leading up to the sufferings endured on the cross: God's care for the Jewish people, their mistreatment of the prophets, and ultimately, the crucifixion of the Savior. In contrast, the current parable reflects on what follows the suffering of the Cross, referring to the kingdom of heaven as belonging to God the Father, and depicting the wedding feast as the profound union between the Son and the community of believers, the Church. This union can be understood in two aspects: the one realized in this life through faith and good works, and the other that will be fully realized in a more divine manner in the age to come.

He, referred to as the Bridegroom, emerged from His heavenly realm when the incarnate God entered the world through the virgin's unadorned womb, destined to unite with the Holy Church. In preparation for this union, He sent forth His messengers to call His friends to the wedding. He sent them once and then again, initially through the Prophets and subsequently through the Apostles, to proclaim the Lord's Incarnation. Thus, He extended an invitation on two occasions: first through the Prophets, who foretold the future coming of the Only Begotten, and then through the Apostles, who shared the fulfillment of that promise. However, those initially invited chose not to attend the wedding banquet, prompting the second invitation which announces, ‘Behold, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and whatsoever is fattened and slaughtered, and all things are ready.’

What is this sacramental union of marriage? The Holy Gospel describes it, saying, “The kingdom of heaven shall be likened unto a man king, who marries his son” (Matthew 22:2). Who is referred to as King in this context? It is none other than God Himself and His Father. For whom else did the Father establish marriage but for His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ? Which royal daughter did the Lord, the Master of all, choose as a bride for His Son? Typically, when a man seeks a bride for his son, he looks for someone from a family of greater nobility and wealth. Yet who could God possibly find that bears any resemblance to Himself to offer as a bride to His Son? The scriptures tell us that this King is the one who stretches the heavens like a canopy and regards those who inhabit the earth as nothing (Isaiah 40:22), the eternal God who orchestrates the ends of the earth (Isaiah 40:28) and whose foundations were laid upon nothing (Job 38:6). Whose daughter did such a King take as a bride for His Son? The magnitude of God's humility overwhelms me. I scarcely know how to express it. Yet, inspired anew by His goodness, I boldly acknowledge that He chose the daughter of a man who sinned against Him, one who committed adultery and murder; He took as His Son’s bride the daughter of a fornicator and a murderer. Can you see the goodness and unparalleled condescension? Can you grasp the boundless love of God for humanity? After recognizing this, let anyone who considers himself significant learn humility from this narrative and never despise another—even if that person is a king or the richest of men. Let him consider the Lord, the Holy One of Holies, the blessed God who resides in the unapproachable light, and witness how He humbly chose the daughter of an adulterer and a murderer to be united with His only begotten Son, the Sovereign and Creator of all, for your benefit and salvation. But who was this sinful man? It was David, the son of Jesse, who killed Uriah and took his wife. His daughter is Mary, the pure and holy virgin, whom He chose to be the bride of His Son. I declare her immaculate and pure in comparison to us, her servants; yet, when compared to her Bridegroom and His Father, I identify her as human, unique among women, holy and blessed above all, faultless and most pure across generations. Thus, He chose the Virgin Mary to unite with His Son. How did this transfiguration occur? Listen attentively. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ dispatched His servant, the Archangel Gabriel, from the splendor of heaven to convey a message to the Virgin, proclaiming, “Rejoice.” He descended promptly to earth and became the minister of the sacrament, saying to her, “Rejoice, O favored one, the Lord is with you.” With this proclamation, the entire hypostatic Word of God, consubstantial with the Father, entered the womb of the Virgin, and by the impulse and assistance of the Spirit, who is also consubstantial with Him, assumed flesh from her pure blood, becoming a complete man in body and soul. Behold, the ineffable unification! Behold the divine marriage! This is how the New Testament union of God with humanity was realized: He took on flesh and bestowed divinity. The pre-existent, pre-eternal God became inseparably one with our frail and impoverished human condition. The Virgin conceived and bore a Son who is both perfect God and perfect man, our Lord Jesus Christ, who neither diminished His mother’s virginity nor departed from His Father’s presence. Guided by the words of the Holy Gospel, we can contemplate additional mysteries that consistently occur among the sons of light. Why is it not stated, “Thou shalt not marry thy Son,” but rather about marriages? What is the reason for this? It is because a similar sacred union transcends every faithful child of light. God, too, engages with us in a pure and undefiled union and brings forth a certain sacrament within us that exceeds any human capability. What does He accomplish within us? Pay close attention to understand: After the Son of God became flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin and was born of her, as previously mentioned—a perfect man and perfect God—being both God and man inseparably—when we, along with the Son of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, believe and receive this truth into our hearts and verbally confess it, repenting sincerely of all past sins, then the Word of God enters us just as He entered the womb of the Most Holy Virgin. We welcome Him, and He dwells in us like a seed. Concerning this profound sacrament, be in awe, but accept it with faith and certainty. In this manner, we also conceive Him, not physically as the Virgin Mary did, but spiritually and essentially. We possess in our souls the One she bore, as the Apostle Paul affirms: “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). This expression clarifies that He, the Word, essentially enters into us. The meaning of the Apostle’s statement becomes evident in the continuation: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Corinthians 4:7). He refers to the Son of God as the treasure, wherein we are clothed in the grace of the Holy Spirit and retain Him in our hearts. Therefore, when we believe wholeheartedly, repent sincerely, and accept the Word of God in our hearts as did the Virgin, we also maintain our souls in purity. Just as the divine fire did not scorch the Blessed Virgin because of her purity, so too does it not consume us when our hearts are clean, but instead becomes within us a heavenly dew, a Source of living water, a stream of eternal life. That we may similarly receive this divine fire, listen to what the Lord proclaims: “I came to cast fire upon the earth” (Luke 12:49). What other fire exists but the Spirit, who is consubstantial with the Godhead, along with whom the Son and the Father also dwell within us? Since the Son of God incarnated once through the Virgin and was born of her, beyond comprehension, and since He cannot incarnate again and be born again bodily within each of us, what then occurs? The very Immaculate Flesh that He received from the Most Blessed Mary and in which He was born of her is given to us in the sacrament, so that when we partake of it, every worthy communicant possesses the complete Incarnate God, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who sits at the right hand of God the Father. As He said, “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (John 6:56). Yet, upon dwelling in us, He is not recognized as existing in a corporeal manner, as the fruit of the Virgin’s womb, but He is in our beings incorporeal, uniting with our existence incomprehensibly, making us co-body with Him, being of His flesh and bones. This is the majestic outcome of our Lord's ineffable creation and condescension toward us! This is a significant sacrament, of which I write with reverence! Yet God wishes His love for us to be clearly revealed, so that we may reflect upon His immense goodness and feel compelled to reciprocate that love. Therefore, I have felt motivated to share this sacrament in writing. I do not intend to imply that anyone is comparable to the Blessed Virgin who bore the Lord, as this aspect of her unspeakable childbirth is unique. That cannot be so, as there exists a distinction between the incarnate birth of God the Word from the Blessed Virgin and the spiritual birth that occurs within us. In that incarnate birth, the Most Holy Theotokos delivered the Son of God, leading to the re-creation and salvation of humanity encapsulated in our Lord and God Jesus Christ, who reconciles the distant natures—God and man—and bears the sin of the world. This spiritual birth realizes in us the renewal of our souls through the grace of the Holy Spirit that unites us with the incarnate Son of God, through whom we received life anew. My declaration serves to manifest the inexpressible love of God for us, so that, should we so choose, we too can, in the manner described, become mothers of Jesus Christ, and His siblings, like the disciples and apostles—not for their stature, nor for the labor they undertook in preaching the Gospel, but simply by the grace of God, which He abundantly bestows on those who believe in Him and follow Him, without wavering. For Christ openly affirms, “My mother and my brethren are these who hear the word of God, and do it” (Luke 8:21). Do you see how He elevates all who heed His word and act upon it to the position of His mother and considers them His brothers and kindred? Yet, in this, His Mother is the Blessed Virgin Mary, who ineffably bore Him incarnately, while all the saints embrace and carry Him in their souls by grace. From His immaculate Mother He received pure flesh, and in exchange, He bestowed divinity for the flesh she provided. Oh, the marvelous exchange! He does not take flesh from the saints, but instead grants them His glorified flesh. Reflect on the depth of this sacrament! The divine fire of our Savior and God emanates from the essence of the Father, while His flesh is not derived from it, but from the pure and blessed flesh of the Theotokos, taken from her untainted blood. He took that flesh, made it His own, and sanctified it, according to the Gospel that states, “And the Word became flesh” (John 1:14). Now He offers this flesh to His saints—He, the Son of God and of the Father and the Blessed Virgin Mary. From the essence and nature of His Father, He dispenses the grace of the Spirit—that is the Godhead—as stated by the Prophet Joel, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh” (Joel 2:28), meaning all believers, and from the nature and essence of His Mother, He grants the flesh He acquired from her. As from His fulfillment—the Godhead—we partake, so we also partake of His pure flesh from His Mother. Just as Christ and our God became Her Son and our brother, so we, in this profound love of humanity, are made children of the Theotokos and brothers of Christ and our God. From her, the Son of God was incomprehensibly born, and from Him, all the saints have come into being. The Mother of God grasped the Word of God as a seed, conceived, and bore Him—the one born of the Father before ages—and incarnate in the last days. Only she gave birth to Him, and every day He begets those who believe in Him and uphold His commandments. The seed of a mortal husband produces corruptible offspring, while the immortal and incorruptible incarnate Word of the immortal God begets the immortal. As He was first born in the Holy Spirit from the Most Holy Theotokos, all the saints are born from Him; thus, the Mother of God is the Mother of all saints, the Lady, the Queen, the Sovereign, and all saints are Her servants, for she is the Mother of God. They are also Her children, as they partake of the pure flesh of Her Son. This statement holds truth, since the flesh of the Lord is the flesh of the Theotokos. When we partake of the Lord's deified flesh, we affirm and believe that we receive eternal life, unless we take part in it unworthily, leading to our own condemnation. Thus, the saints are related to the Mother of God for three reasons: firstly, they share a body from the same earth and a soul from the divine breath; secondly, they share communion through the flesh that Christ received from her; and thirdly, by the sanctification and grace of the Spirit resting upon them, they receive and contain within themselves the God of all things, just as the Most Holy Mother of God did. Although She bore Him in a bodily sense, it is clear that She possessed Him spiritually in every aspect and has Him inseparably even now. This is the mystery of matrimony that God the Father established for His only begotten Son, equal, co-substantial, and co-eternal, to which many were invited. He sent His prophets to invite those called to the wedding, yet they refused to attend. Who were those emissaries? The prophets. And who were those invited? The Jews.

The union of the magnificent and radiant Son of the Sovereign is depicted in the Gospels (Matthew 22:1-14) by the Bridegroom Himself, who embodies a purity and goodness surpassing all humanity. In His own being and through His own actions, He has perfectly fulfilled all that is associated with the Sacrament of Marriage.

The sovereign prepares a banquet for his son and calls upon his guests, reaching out to them not just once but twice; however, their preoccupation with earthly matters leads them to decline the invitation—one is absorbed in domestic responsibilities and another in business affairs. A fresh call goes out to different circles, and soon the banquet hall is filled with those who take their places at the table. Yet among them is an individual who is not properly attired for the celebration, resulting in his removal from the gathering. The message of this parable is evident. The banquet symbolizes the kingdom of heaven, while the summons represents the proclamation of the gospel.

In the era of Abraham, God summoned the Hebrew nation to recognize Him and prepared them through symbols and prophetic revelations to embrace faith in Christ. He initially instructed Abraham with the words, "Depart from thy land, and from thy seed, and from thy father's house, and go into the land which I will show thee. And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will exalt your name, and you shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:1-2). Abraham, filled with joy, longed to witness the coming of the Lord Jesus, and upon seeing Him, "he rejoiced" (John 8:56). This demonstrates that the calling of the Hebrews by God occurred even prior to the arrival of the Prophets.

Once everything was prepared, the king dispatched his servants to summon the guests to the wedding banquet. These individuals had previously received invitations; they were aware that the king would host a wedding feast at a designated time and would be notified when it was ready. Yet, these guests showed indifference to the king's summons and chose not to attend. Long ago, God called the Hebrews to this celebration within the heart of the Church of Christ; He summoned their patriarch Abraham, who eagerly accepted the invitation, desiring to witness the arrival of Christ. He both saw it and rejoiced. God also called their ancestors through Moses, who provided them with the Law that directed them towards faith in Christ, and through the prophets, who unveiled God's intentions.

To summon those who had previously been invited implies that they had already received notice about the king's upcoming wedding banquet at a specific time, and they were encouraged to partake in it. The servants' invitation now represents a call to join the prepared feast. The Jewish people were indeed alerted by the law and the prophets regarding the forthcoming kingdom of the Messiah, and they were invited through their messages to engage in it once that kingdom was unveiled. They were called to partake by John, who directed everyone to Christ, proclaiming, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Subsequently, they received the invitation directly from the Son Himself, as He declared, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt.