Thematic Bible: Gospel invitation to, illustrated by the parables of


Thematic Bible



And continuing, Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man--a king--who gave a wedding celebration for his son. And he sent his slaves to summon those who had been invited to the wedding celebration, and they did not want to come. read more.
Again he sent other slaves, saying, 'Tell those who have been invited, "Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened [cattle] have been slaughtered, and everything [is] ready. Come to the wedding celebration!" ' But they paid no attention [and] went away--this one to his own field, that one to his business. And the others, seizing his slaves, mistreated [them] and killed [them]. And the king was angry and sent his troops [and] destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, 'The wedding celebration is ready, but those who had been invited were not worthy. Therefore, go out to the [places where] the roads exit the city and invite to the wedding celebration as many [people] as you find.' And those slaves went out into the roads [and] gathered everyone whom they found, both evil and good, and the wedding celebration was filled {with dinner guests}. But [when] the king came in to see the {dinner guests}, he saw a man there not dressed [in] wedding clothes. And he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here, not having wedding clothes?' But {he could say nothing}. Then the king said to the servants, 'Tie him up {hand and foot} [and] throw him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!' For many are called but few [are] chosen."


"For the kingdom of heaven is like a man--the master of the house--who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. And [after] coming to an agreement with the workers for a denarius per day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace. read more.
And to those [people] he said, 'You also go into the vineyard, and I will give you whatever is right.' So they went. Going out again about the sixth and ninth hour he did the same [thing]. And about the eleventh [hour] he went out [and] found others standing [there] and said to them, 'Why are you standing here the whole day unemployed?' They said to him, 'Because no one hired us.' He said to them, 'You go also into the vineyard.' And [when] evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last up to the first.' And [when] the ones [hired] about the eleventh hour came, they received a denarius apiece. And [when] the first came, they thought that they would receive more, and they also received a denarius apiece. And [when they] received [it], they began to complain against the master of the house, saying, 'These last [people] worked one hour and you made them equal to us who have endured the burden of the day and the burning heat!' But he answered one of them [and] said, 'Friend, I am not doing you wrong. Did you not come to an agreement with me for a denarius? Take [what is] yours and go! But I want to give to this last [person] [the same] as [I gave] to you also. Is it not permitted for me to do whatever I want with [what is] mine? Or is your eye evil because I am generous?' Thus the last will be first and the first last."