Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.  He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

“Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

“But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business.  The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.”

Matthew 22:1 – 7

Another parable to illustrate the Kingdom of Heaven. A king prepared a wedding feast for his son and invitations were sent to invited guests.  All those invited refused to attend.  I find that almost unbelievable.  Not a friend among them?  Looks like it.  So, the king sent out his servants to personally appeal to them to attend this feast.

For some reasons, not given, the invitees not only refused to come to the feast but turned on the king’s messengers even killing some of them.  As we read this we are left with a question, “Why did the invitees refuse to attend the feast?”  We are given no answer. Maybe that is a major point in the parable.   Why were the prominent Jews and Jewish parties so vehemently against Jesus Christ?  One would have expected some Jewish party to embrace Jesus Christ.  None did, not one.

In any case the king was so enraged by the way his messengers were treated, some even killed, that he sent his army to kill those who mistreated the messengers.

Is Jesus implying that the invited Jews, those who were listening to him there in Jerusalem during the Holiest Week, were refusing the kind offer of the king for them to come to his prepared banquet to honor his son?

Jesus spoke again of the kingdom he came to establish.  The invitation is gracious, free, promising and more.  But, wait, the invitation is uniformly rejected by the Jews, the very people who we would have expected to rush to the feast.

That describes Jesus’ kingdom.  Those for whom it was prepared refused the generous invitation for no good reason at all.  The reason is not given.  That is just the way it is.