Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 22:4

"Again he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them that are bidden, Behold, I have made ready my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come to the marriage feast." — Matthew 22:4 (ASV)

The King was patient and gave the disloyal people a further opportunity to come to the wedding feast. Again, He sent out other servants. He wished to make every allowance for those who had refused His invitation so that they might be left without excuse if they persisted in their refusal.

Possibly there may have been something in the servants that repelled instead of attracting them, or they may not have put the King’s message in the best possible form. Perhaps the invitation was not given clearly enough, or perhaps, after thinking over the matter, those who “would not come” might regret their hasty decision and long for another invitation to the feast.

So the King sent out other servants, and to ensure there would be no mistake about the message they were to deliver, He said to them, “Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.”

Jesus here seemed to glance into the near future and to foretell what would happen after His death. The apostles and the immediate disciples of our Lord went throughout the land, declaring the Gospel in all its fullness, freeness, and readiness.

At first, they kept to the Jews, according to the King’s word, “Tell them which are bidden.” At Antioch, in Pisidia, Paul and Barnabas said to the Jews who contradicted and blasphemed, “It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you” (Acts 13:46).

The apostles at first seem to have regarded their mission as restricted to the Jews, but they certainly did preach the Gospel to them. They told them that, by the death of Jesus, the preparation of salvation for men was fully made, according to the King’s words, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner.”

They preached a present salvation, one which displayed the riches of divine grace: “My oxen and my fatlings are killed.” Indeed, they proclaimed grace all-sufficient, meeting every need of the soul: “All things are ready.” And then they uttered the King’s proclamation: “Come unto the marriage.”

In His name they invited, urged, and even commanded the “bidden” ones to come. They began at Jerusalem and called to the feast the favored seed of Abraham, whose honor it was to be the first invited to the royal banquet.

Again he sent forth other servants—

Perhaps, in the kindness of his heart, he thought that the first servants, whom he sent, were somewhat offensive in their manner; and that, therefore, the guests would not come. Just as it may be that some of you will never receive the gospel from one minister, for you have a prejudice against his way of putting it; so the Lord may, in the greatness of his mercy, send you his Word by the mouth of another. I am quite sure that any of us, who are the King's servants, would be very glad for somebody else to take our place if he could succeed better with you than we can. This king, in his wisdom and kindness, sent forth other servants—