Matthew 22:6 - Printer Friendly

ESV: while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.

NIV: The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.

NASB: and the rest seized his slaves and treated them abusively, and then killed them.

CSB: while the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.

NLT: Others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them.

KJV: And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.

NKJV: And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.

In Jesus' parable, the chosen citizens of a kingdom are actively refusing their king's invitation—really, a command—to come to a wedding feast for his son. Some have simply ignored the servants who delivered the message from the king, continuing to go about their daily lives (Matthew 22:1–5). Now Jesus pictures others as defiantly refusing the invitation. This group abuses the messengers and then kills them. They have gone beyond simply refusing to honor the king; they have started an active rebellion by murdering His servants.

This brings the meaning of Jesus' parable into sharper focus; it closely follows the pattern of the previous story (Matthew 21:33–44). In that parable, those renting a vineyard not only refused to pay the rent to the owner in the form of a share of the crops, they mistreated and killed the servants sent by the owner to collect his share.

Once again, Jesus pictures the prophets sent to Israel with the message of God as these servants of the king. Like the servants, those prophets were often mistreated and killed by the leaders and people of Israel (Acts 7:52). The issue being rejected, in this case, is the son of the king. God had invited Israel's religious leaders to welcome His Son, Jesus, as the Messiah. Not only had they rejected that invitation by rejecting Jesus; they would soon kill God's Son, as well (Matthew 16:21–23).

In the last parable, Jesus asked how the landowner would react to the murder of his servants and his son (Matthew 21:40). The obvious response was that he would respond in terrible judgment (Matthew 21:41). Here, Jesus will not pause to ask about the response. He will simply state the obvious (Matthew 22:7).

Matthew 22:1–14 contains Jesus' parable of the wedding feast. Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a king who threw a banquet for his son. The king's chosen guests refuse to come, to the point of violence against his messengers. So, the king fills the wedding hall with common people he finds out and about; some bad, some good. One guest is thrown out into the darkness, though, for trying to attend the feast without wearing a wedding garment. Jesus summarizes the message with the famous phrase, "Many are called, but few are chosen." This parable touches on Israel's rejection of the Messiah and salvation by grace. This touches on very similar themes to those of the parable of the great banquet (Luke 14:12–24), but with critical differences.

Continuing a dialogue with hostile religious leaders, Jesus tells a parable comparing the kingdom of heaven to a wedding feast which ends up being attended by those not initially invited. He answers trick questions about taxes, marriage, resurrection, and the Law of Moses. These responses are the source of common English idioms such as "render to Caesar…" and "many are called but few are chosen." Finally, Jesus asks how the Messiah can be both the son of David and the Lord of David. None can answer Him, so they stop challenging Him in public.

This chapter extends an exchange between Jesus and several groups of religious leaders in the temple. The previous chapter concluded with two parables about the failures of the religious leaders. This chapter begins with a third parable, about chosen guests who refuse to attend a wedding feast. Jesus then fields questions from several religious groups, who fail in their attempts to trip Him up. His wise and profound answers silence all of them. At this point, Jesus launches into a full-throated condemnation of the Pharisees in chapter 23.

The Gospel of Matthew clearly shows the influence of its writer's background, and his effort to reach a specific audience. Matthew was one of Jesus' twelve disciples, a Jewish man, and a former tax collector. This profession would have required literacy, and Matthew may have transcribed some of Jesus' words as they were spoken. This book is filled with references to the Old Testament, demonstrating to Israel that Jesus is the Promised One. Matthew also includes many references to coins, likely due to his former profession. Matthew records extensive accounts of Jesus' teaching, more than the other three Gospels.