The Parable of the Royal Wedding Feast
Put On Thy Strength, O Zion
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Parables are a defining feature of the Lord Jesus Christ’s masterful approach to teaching. Simply defined, the Savior’s parables are stories used to compare spiritual truths with material things and mortal experiences. For example, the New Testament Gospels are replete with teachings likening the kingdom of heaven to a grain of mustard seed,1 to a pearl of great price,2 to a householder and laborers in his vineyard,3 to ten virgins,4 and to many other things. During part of the Lord’s Galilean ministry, the scriptures indicate that “without a parable spake he not unto them.”5
The intended meaning or message of a parable typically is not expressed explicitly. Rather, the story only conveys divine truth to a receiver in proportion to his or her faith in God, personal spiritual preparation, and willingness to learn. Thus, an individual must exercise moral agency and actively “ask, seek, and knock”6 to discover the truths embedded in a parable.
Here Elder Bednar implies that there is just one meaning, but as becomes clear in his discussion of the parable of the wedding feast, parables have lots of meaning packed in tight. Because you have to think about them and feel them to get the meanings, parables are on the border line between messages delivered through experience and messages delivered through words.
Now lets talk about the parable of the royal wedding feast.
You know the story. The king throws a huge celebration for his son’s wedding but no one he invited will come. Instead, the king sends out his guards to bring in strangers passing by on the highway. He clothes them royally and calls them friends.
- Contrast gospel equality with secular equality. Secular equality is tearing everyone down to the lowest common denominator. Even equality of opportunity either results in very unequal outcomes—i.e., its not equality—or else folks decide that the opportunity is broken and adjust it until everyone gets the same bad outcomes. In contrast, as Elder Bednar explains, the custom at wedding feasts was for guests to all wear a simple standard outfit so there would be no distinctions among them. But the king’s guests were just traveling, they aren’t dressed that way. The king’s solution? Dress them all royally. They are all equally dressed now and appear of equal station because they all appear to be royal. The divine version of equality is raising everyone who will up to the highest possible level. Note that this kind of equality requires a superior being to do the raising, though. These people are all equal to each other because the king made them so.
- I have this feeling that the great and good of the world, especially of America, are the invited guests. They were called to glory and abundance and they have refused. Instead, the kingdom is given into the hands of schlubs like us. Mene men tekel upharsin. Their stewardship shall another take.
- The odd episode of the guest who doesn’t have a wedding garment—I don’t have a handle on it. Elder Bednar’s explanation, while true, doesn’t seem like the whole story. He is leaving stuff out.
Filed under: We transcend your bourgeois categories | No Tag
E.C.
November 30, 2022
We just went over this parable in my Institute class yesterday! My teacher is delightfully obsessed with the parables and basically anything related to Jesus, and his midrash of the guest without a wedding garment went something like:
We often try to clothe ourselves in all kinds of ways (think of that episode in Eden), in order to fit in with the world, while at the same time desiring to come to the wedding feast of our King. Often we have multiple layers of worldly thoughts, actions, and habits, but in order to sit down at the feast, we have to be willing to take all of that off. Otherwise, we are without excuse. It might be worse for those who try that trick than the ones who up front refuse to be part of the kingdom’s affairs.
You see, those who are invited to a Jewish wedding feast are friends and family – in this case, likely those who would be part of the government of the kingdom once the son takes his father’s throne. If you want to be part of that without adhering to the king’s customs, you’re saying that you don’t really want to be ruled by the king.
Of course, this is all ultimately just people thinking about a parable and coming up with different interpretations, but my Institute teacher did point out that we are preparing to live under a theocracy, and if we don’t like the commands and customs of the King, we certainly will not be part of His kingdom when it comes. Which is totally true.
He also referenced Isaiah 59:1-7, which he pointed out is like an anti-initiatory blessing, and also what happens when we try to take power and authority that isn’t ours in order to fulfill mortal instead of divine ends.
It was . . . quite a lesson. Most of the class left looking a little bit stunned. He indicted vast swathes of our culture and country without getting political or philosophical or even referencing anything in particular. He just let everyone reach their own conclusions, and from the looks of it, more people than just me left class rethinking their lives.
G.
December 1, 2022
Sounds like your institute teacher knows his job.
I think that’s a good over all understanding of the parable. People aren’t just being given a nice meal. The king is telling them that he is replacing the old elite with them–they are the Court now, in essence.
What gets me is the peculiar interaction where the king asks him kindly how he happened to be without a wedding garment, and the man is speechless. Him being speechless could be an interesting psychological detail of how this guy acts under stress, but we are dealing with a parable, not with interesting psychological details. One one level it may just be as simple as people being shocked to discover that they can’t be in and not in at the same time, committed but not committed, present but not dressed. However I do invite our friends to consider that there may be another level.
Zen
December 1, 2022
If you have ever spoken with an alphabet supporting progressive member, there is (often) no comprehension of having to choose between Babylon and Zion – they can only comprehend Babylon.
Speechless indeed, at learning their dual citizenship is emphatically rejected.
Eric
December 1, 2022
Reading this, I’m thinking that the man was made speechless in the parable because there really is no good answer to justify his failure to meet the host’s expectations.
If we put ourselves in the man’s position, his silence can always be filled in with whatever reason we have for not following the Lord’s standards, but that reason won’t ever be good enough to justify ourselves, regardless of what we say–or don’t say.
sute
December 2, 2022
The speechless thing is interesting, because when the Lord was confronted by his accusers he was often speechless. And he was certainly “punished” as well. That has to at least be some irony in that.
But we see the speechless person is in many ways all of us at times. We show up when called. But when asked to do something extra in putting on those robes of righteousness we don’t and we have no valid excuse. Gulp.
Ultimately, this feels similar in some ways to the sheep and the goats.
Ugly Mahana
December 2, 2022
Not sure that it is necessarily “another level”, but we should not only show up, but also look the part. Our appearance, demeanor, preferences, and even clothing should reflect our identity as disciples of Jesus Christ. Especially when in His house, or on His errand.
Zen
December 2, 2022
I hope we see more of these parable posts in the coming year. It is wonderful to delve into the deeper meanings of the parables.