Matthew 22:6

My Notes

What Does Matthew 22:6 Mean?

"And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them." In the parable of the wedding feast, the king sends servants to invite guests. The guests refuse. The king sends more servants. And the response escalates: the remnant (the ones who didn't just ignore the invitation) seize the servants, abuse them, and kill them. The invitation to a feast produces murder. The generosity that should produce gratitude produces violence.

The parable represents Israel's treatment of the prophets: God sends messengers with an invitation, and the recipients kill the messengers. The violence isn't provoked by the message. It's provoked by the invitation itself — the demand that they respond to grace offends them more than being ignored would.

Reflection Questions

• 1.Why does an invitation to grace sometimes produce violence rather than gratitude?
• 2.Where have you 'killed the messenger' — rejected or mistreated someone who brought you an invitation from God?
• 3.What makes the demand to receive grace offensive to self-sufficient people?
• 4.How does the parable's escalation (indifference → violence) mirror stages of rejecting God's invitation?

Devotional

They killed the messenger. Not because the message was threatening. Because the message was an invitation. The king invited them to a wedding feast — the most generous, celebratory offer possible — and they murdered the people who delivered it.

The parable's progression reveals the escalation of rejection: first group ignores the invitation (v. 5: "they made light of it"). Second group kills the messengers (v. 6). The indifference becomes violence. The shrug becomes murder. And the provocation is identical in both cases: an invitation to a feast. The same message that produces indifference in some produces rage in others.

Entreated them spitefully. The abuse isn't quick. The servants are mistreated — insulted, humiliated, physically harmed — before being killed. The violence is personal and prolonged. The invited guests don't just decline the invitation. They torture the people who delivered it. The generosity of the king produces the cruelty of the guests.

This is the pattern of prophetic ministry throughout the Old Testament: God sends. Israel kills. Jeremiah beaten and imprisoned. Isaiah sawn in half. Zechariah stoned in the temple court. Every prophet was a servant carrying an invitation. And the response was spite and death. Not because the feast wasn't real. Because the invitation demanded a response that the invited weren't willing to give.

The invitation to grace offends more than you'd expect. Because grace demands something: attendance. Participation. The admission that you need the feast. And for people whose identity is built on self-sufficiency, the invitation to receive what you can't earn is the most offensive message possible. Offensive enough to kill for.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture