Saturday, June 27 09

14. THE PARABLE OF THE KING AND HIS WEDDING FEAST

THE Kingdom of Heaven or God’s Kingdom is like a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son. He sent out his helpers and servants to invite many important guests for the royal wedding feast. But those who were invited said to themselves: ‘Why should we go to a royal wedding feast? We feel better at home and then we owe no one any gratitude.’ And for this reason no one of those who were invited wanted to come to the royal wedding feast. [2] When the king received the message that the guests who were invited first did not want to come, he sent out again other helpers, telling them beforehand: ‘Tell the guests: Look, I have prepared my wedding feast. My oxen and fat cattle are slaughtered and everything is ready. So come all of you to the wedding feast.’ [3] The helpers left and told it faithfully to the guests they had to invite. But again those who were invited ignored the invitation and despised it. One went to his field, the other started another work, and again others seized the helpers, scorned them, and even killed some of them.

[4] When the king heard that, in his justified wrath he immediately sent out his armies and killed all those murderers, burned their city and leveled it with the ground.

[5] After that, the king spoke again to his helpers: ‘It is true that the wedding feast is well prepared but the invited guests were not worthy of it. Therefore, go now to all the common streets and alleys, and invite anyone to the wedding that you will find.’ [6] The helpers left and brought all those they could find, the bad and the good ones. And look, the tables were all occupied.

[7] Now when the tables were occupied in this manner, the king came into the large dining hall to see the guests. There he saw someone who by far was not wearing a garment that is fit for a wedding feast, while all the others, at the time they were invited, went quickly home to make them look as nice as possible for the wedding.

[8] Then the king asked the helpers: ‘Why did this man over there not dress himself nicely for the wedding, to refresh my eyes and not to give any offence to the many other guests?’

[9] And the helpers said: ‘O mighty king, he is one of those who was invited first and who did not want to come. Now when we went to invite people for the third time, we also met him in the street, invited him once more and advised him to dress himself also nicely for the wedding. But he said: ‘Ah why? I am not going to make all possible effort because of the wedding. I will go to it as I am.’ And as we met him in the street, he also went together with the other guests to the wedding, and we did not stop him since we have no right to do this.’

[10] When the king heard this from the helpers, he went to the one who did not have a wedding garment and he said to him: ‘How could you come here without putting on a wedding garment? Look, the tables are now fully occupied with poor people, of whom a part of them were bad and only a small part good, but all of them dressed themselves so nicely that my eyes can find true pleasure in them. You were invited already the first time and you did not want to listen to the invitation, and now on the third general invitation you decided to come in, but without a wedding garment, while you still are wealthy enough to possess a wedding garment. Why then did you put me to shame?’

[11] After these questions, the man became very unwilling to the king. He also did not even want to apologize or ask the king for forgiveness but he kept silent and gave no answer at all, although the king at first addressed him as a friend.

[12] This evil stubbornness irritated the king so much, that he said to his servants: ‘Since this man is so stubborn, and rewards my great kindliness and friendliness only with a bad mood, anger and contempt, you must bind his hands and feet (loving will and wisdom) and throw him out (into matter) into extreme darkness (pure worldly reason)! There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (worldly quarrellings over justice, truth and life).’

[13] However, with this I am telling you that by His awakened helpers God also invited and called many of you to the true Kingdom of God, but only few are chosen, because the first time they did not want to listen to the invitation at all. After that, they resisted against it – just like it is the case now – and when for the third time all the gentiles were invited to the wedding, dressed themselves and came to the wedding, there was only one of those, who was invited first, who came in a dress that was not fit for the wedding feast, and this one is the image of your stubbornness of spirit which will throw you into the deepest darkness and distress of the world. And therefore, among those who were called since the beginning, only few will be chosen, and so the true Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and be given to the gentiles. But you, you will search in your deepest worldly darkness, and you will quarrel and fight and not find the Kingdom of God anymore which you have lost and which has left you until the end of the world.

[14] The true and living Kingdom of God however, does not come in and does not consist of outward appearance, but it is in the deepest of man, because if man does not have it in himself, it does eternally not exist anywhere else in the whole of infinity. [15] And the Kingdom of God in man consists of this: that he keeps the commandments of God and that from now on he believes in Him who was sent to you in Me.

[16] In truth, I say to you: he who believes in Me and acts according to My word, has eternal life in him, and together with that he will also have the Kingdom of God. For I Myself am the Truth, the Light, the Way and eternal Life.

[17] The one who will either hear it from My mouth or from the mouth of those whom I am already sending out now as My real and true witnesses – and that I will send out even more in the future – and will not believe that this is so and cannot ever be otherwise, will not enter the Kingdom of God, but will remain in the night of his own worldly judgment. This I have said to you now. Blessed is the one who will take it to heart.”