The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

22 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables: ² “The kingdom of heaven^(A) is like a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.^{(B) 3} He sent his servants to summon those invited to the banquet,^(C) but they didn’t want to come. ⁴ Again, he sent out other servants and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: See, I’ve prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’^(D)

⁵ “But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own farm, another to his business, ⁶ while the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. ⁷ The king^[a] was enraged, and he sent out his troops, killed those murderers, and burned down their city.

⁸ “Then he told his servants, ‘The banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.^{(E) 9} Go then to where the roads exit the city and invite everyone you find to the banquet.’^{(F) 10} So those servants went out on the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding banquet was filled with guests.^{[b] 11} When the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed for a wedding.^{(G) 12} So he said to him, ‘Friend,^(H) how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.

¹³ “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot,^[c] and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

¹⁴ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”^(I)

⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man^(A) and drink his blood,^(B) you do not have life in yourselves. ⁵⁴ The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood^(C) has eternal life, and I will raise^(D) him up on the last day, ⁵⁵ because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.^{(E) 57} Just as the living^(F) Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live^(G) because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna^[a] your ancestors ate—and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”^(H)