Isaiah 25:1; Isaiah 25:6-9; Matthew 22:1-14

1 Lord, you are my God; I will honor you and praise your name. You have done amazing things; you have faithfully carried out the plans you made long ago.

6 Here on Mount Zion the Lord Almighty will prepare a banquet for all the nations of the world - a banquet of the richest food and the finest wine.

7 Here he will suddenly remove the cloud of sorrow that has been hanging over all the nations.

8 The Sovereign Lord will destroy death forever! He will wipe away the tears from everyone's eyes and take away the disgrace his people have suffered throughout the world. The Lord himself has spoken.

9 When it happens, everyone will say, "He is our God! We have put our trust in him, and he has rescued us. He is the Lord! We have put our trust in him, and now we are happy and joyful because he has saved us."

1 Jesus again used parables in talking to the people.

2 "The Kingdom of heaven is like this. Once there was a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son.

3 He sent his servants to tell the invited guests to come to the feast, but they did not want to come.

4 So he sent other servants with this message for the guests: "My feast is ready now; my steers and prize calves have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!'

5 But the invited guests paid no attention and went about their business: one went to his farm, another to his store,

6 while others grabbed the servants, beat them, and killed them.

7 The king was very angry; so he sent his soldiers, who killed those murderers and burned down their city.

8 Then he called his servants and said to them, "My wedding feast is ready, but the people I invited did not deserve it.

9 Now go to the main streets and invite to the feast as many people as you find.'

10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, good and bad alike; and the wedding hall was filled with people.

11 "The king went in to look at the guests and saw a man who was not wearing wedding clothes.

12 "Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' the king asked him. But the man said nothing.

13 Then the king told the servants, "Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him outside in the dark. There he will cry and gnash his teeth.' "

14 And Jesus concluded, "Many are invited, but few are chosen."