"There was a man," said Jesus, "who owned a vineyard. He needed men to work in his vineyard; and one day, early in the morning, went out to hire them. Some men met him and agreed to work for him at fifteen cents for each day's work; so he sent them out to his vineyard. At about nine o'clock he was walking through the market place, and seeing some other men standing around, waiting for work, he said to them:
"'You go to work in my vineyard, and whatever is fair, I will pay you.'
"He went out again at noon; he found men wanting work and sent them also into his vineyard, saying to them, 'Whatever are fair wages, I will pay you.' Again at three o'clock, he found other men and sent them, too, making them the same promise. He went into the market place at five o'clock, almost at the end of the day, and found some men standing there. 'Why do you stand here doing nothing?' he said to these men. They answered him:
"'We would be glad to work; but nobody is ready to hire us.'
"'You go into my vineyard, too,' he said, 'and I will pay you whatever is right.'
"When the evening came, the master of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Now call the workers together and pay them their wages. Begin with those who came to work last, then pay those who went into the vineyard at three o'clock, and so on, ending with those who went to work earliest.'
"So those came up first who had been hired last, and had worked only one hour; and to each of them was paid fifteen cents, the wages of a full day's work. When the first came, they supposed that they would be paid more, because they had worked longer; but each was paid his fifteen cents, as had been agreed upon. These men complained to the master of the vineyard.
"'Those men who came in last, when the day was almost ended,' they said, 'have been made equal to us, who have borne the hard work and the heat of the day. That is not fair!'
"'My friend,' said the master to one of these men, 'I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me to work for fifteen cents a day? Take up your wages and go. I choose to give to this last man the same as to you. Haven't I the right do so as I please with what belongs to me? Are you jealous because I am generous?'
"So," said Jesus, "there are last who will be first; and there are first who will be last."
This parable shows how God gives his rewards differently from men. Men pay only for work that is done; but God gives his pay to those who are willing to work for him, whether they are able to work or not; for while men look at the deed, God looks at the heart.
Every day Jesus was drawing nearer to Jerusalem, and his twelve disciples with all the multitude of those who were following him, fully expected that in Jerusalem Jesus would reign as the King of Israel. He had told them before, and more than once, that he was going up to Jerusalem to die there; but their minds were so fixed upon thrones and kingdoms and worldly power that they could not understand his words.
Now Jesus called together his twelve disciples, apart from the crowd.
"Listen!" he said, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and there everything that is written in the books of the prophets about the Son of Man shall come to pass. He will be given up to his enemies, the chief priests and the scribes, the teachers of the law; and they shall sentence him to be put to death, and shall hand him over to the Romans to be mocked and beaten and nailed to a cross to die; and on the third day after, he will rise from the dead."
But the disciples did not understand what these words meant. They were just as certain as they had been before, that he was going up to Jerusalem to take the throne and rule, and they even talked among themselves about the chief offices in his kingdom and who should have them.
When they were drawing near to Jerusalem, but still in the land of Perea, a woman came to Jesus with her two sons. This woman was named Salome; and she was the wife of Zebedee, and the mother of James and John, two of the leading disciples of Jesus. She bowed low even to the ground before Jesus, and begged him to grant her a favor.
"What is it that you want?" said Jesus to her.
"I want you to promise me," said Salome, "that in your kingdom these two sons of mine shall sit, one on your right hand and the other on your left."
"You do not know what you are asking," answered Jesus. "Can you drink of the cup that I am to drink? Can you receive the same baptism that is coming to me?"
"Yes," the two men said, "we can!"
"You shall indeed drink my cup, and be baptized with my baptism," said Jesus. "But it is not mine to say who shall sit on my right hand and on my left. Those places shall be given to those whom my Father has chosen for them."
By his cup and his baptism, Jesus meant his sufferings and his death; but this James and John did not know. When the other ten disciples heard of this they were very angry with the two brothers for trying to get ahead of them. But Jesus called them to him and said:
"You know that in the nations of this world their rulers lord it over them, and their great men make the people serve them. But it must not be so with you. Whoever among you has the will to be great, let him be a servant to the others; and whoever would be first, let him be even as a slave. For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give up his life that he may save many."
More than a thousand years before Jesus stood beside the river, the Israelites had walked across it to enter the land; when God held back the water. Jesus could have walked on the water if he had chosen to do it; but he never caused a miracle for himself, though often he did for others. At that time some of the people going up to Jerusalem waded across the river, holding their clothes on their heads, while others crossed in a ferry-boat. We are not told in which way Jesus went across the river.
Six miles from the river Jordan, on the west, stood Jericho, toward which Jesus came with a great crowd of people around him. As he drew near Jericho, a blind man was seated beside the gate, begging for the small coins of those who passed by. This blind man's name was Bartimeus, a word which means "the son of Timeus." Hearing the tramping and the voices of a crowd, he asked why so many people were coming. They said to him:
"Jesus the Nazarene is passing by."
Bartimeus had heard of Jesus and his good works, curing many that were blind and lame and lepers. He had often wished that Jesus might pass his way and cure him. Now, when he heard that Jesus was really coming, he shouted out at the top of his voice:
"Jesus, son of David, have pity on me! Jesus, son of David, have pity on me!"
The people who were in front told him to be quiet; but he felt that this was the chance of his life, and he kept on calling, "Jesus, son of David, have pity on me!"
Jesus stopped, and said to those near, "Go, and bring this man to me."
Then they said to Bartimeus, "Be of good cheer; get up and go to Jesus, for he is calling you!"
Bartimeus was in such a hurry to get to Jesus that he sprang up, flung aside his cloak, and left it on the ground, while they led him to the Lord. When he came near, Jesus said to him:
"What would you have me do for you?"
"Lord," he answered, "let me have my sight again!"
"Have your sight," said Jesus, "your faith has made you well."
And at once his sight came back to him; and he joined the crowd following Jesus, giving praise to God with a loud voice. And all those who saw this wonderful work added their praises to God.
When Jesus came opposite to the tree, he stopped, looked up and saw Zaccheus, and said to him:
"Zaccheus, make haste and come down; for I must stop at your house today!"
He was surprised and glad that the great Teacher should choose his house, out of all the homes in Jericho, to stay in. He came down and walked with Jesus to his house. But all the people began to find fault, saying:
"He has gone to visit at the house of a man who is a sinner!"
For they took for granted because many of the tax gatherers were wicked men and robbed the people, that all of them were bad.
Zaccheus knew how they were feeling and what they were saying; so he came forward, and stood before Jesus and said:
"Hear me, Master! I will give half of all that I own to help the poor; and if I have robbed or cheated anyone, I will pay him back four times as much as he has lost!"
"Today," said Jesus, "in this house a man has been saved from his sins; since even Zaccheus here is a true son of Abraham our father. For the Son of Man has come to look after the lost ones and to save them."
As the people were listening, he went on and spoke a parable to them; for he knew that as he was going up to Jerusalem, they were looking for the kingdom of God to be set up at once. This was "The Parable of the Pounds."
"A certain prince," said Jesus, "was going to a city far away, to be made a king, and then to come back and rule over his own land. Before leaving, he called ten of his servants, and gave to each one five hundred dollars, and said to him, 'Trade with this until I come back.' Then he went away.
"But the people of his land hated him, and sent messengers to follow him to the distant city and to say, 'We will not have this man as our king.'
"However, the prince was made king and came home to reign over his land. Then he sent for his servants to whom he had given the money, so that he might learn how much each one had made by buying and selling. The first servant came and said:
"'My lord, the five hundred dollars which you gave me has gained five thousand dollars.'
"'Well done, you good servant,' said the king, 'because you have been so wise and faithful with a small amount, I will make you the governor over ten cities in my kingdom.'
"Then came another servant, who said, 'My lord, your five hundred dollars has made five times as much as you gave me. Here are twenty-five hundred dollars.'
"'Very well,' answered the king, 'you may be the ruler over five cities.'
"Soon one of the servants came, saying, 'My lord, here is your five hundred dollars, just as you gave it to me. I have kept it safe for you, wrapped up in a napkin. For I was afraid of you; you are such a hard, selfish man. You pick up what you never put down; and you reap what you do not sow.'
"'You worthless servant!' answered the king, 'out of your own words will I pass judgment upon you. You knew, did you, that I was a hard man, picking up what I never put down, and reaping what I did not sow! If you knew this, why then did you not put my money into the bank? Then when I came home I could have gotten interest upon it, the money gained by lending it.'
"Then he said to those standing by, 'Take away from him the five hundred dollars, and give it to the one who has five thousand dollars!'
"'My lord,' they said, 'why, he has five thousand dollars already! Why give it to him?'
"'That is the very reason why he should have it,' said the king. 'I tell you, that to him who has, more shall be given; and as for him who has not, even the little that he has shall be taken away from him.'"
"'And now, for these enemies of mine,' the king went on, 'those men who sent word that they would not have me for their king, seize them, and bind them in chains and bring them here. Let them be slain in my sight!'"
With these words Jesus went onward up the mountain road leading to Jerusalem.
It was on Friday, just six days before the Passover was to be held, that Jesus came to Bethany. There, at the house of a man named Simon, a supper was given in honor of Jesus. This Simon had been a leper, but had been cured by Jesus, so that he had his own reason for showing love and honor to Jesus. At the supper, the guests sat leaning on couches, with their heads toward the table and their feet away from it; and those who waited at the tables passed the food and drink around to the guests. Among those who were serving at the table was Martha, the sister of Lazarus.
On the couch standing at the head of the table was leaning in the middle Simon, who gave the feast. On his right hand, in the place of honor, was Jesus; and on his left was Lazarus. On the side tables were lying the disciples of Jesus and other guests.
Suddenly, into the room came Mary, the sister of Lazarus. She carried in her arms a jar made of marble, of the kind called alabaster. Its cover was sealed; but Mary broke the seal, and at once a rich perfume arose in the air and floated not only through the dining hall, but the whole house, for the jar was filled with a very fragrant and costly oil. Mary walked up the aisle between the tables and the couches whereon the guests were lying. She came opposite to Jesus, and poured some of the oil upon his head; then walked around the couch, poured the rest of it upon his feet and wiped them with her long hair, hanging loose upon her shoulders.
Everybody in the room was surprised at Mary's act; and one of the disciples of Jesus said aloud:
"What a waste this is? Why, that jar of perfume was worth at least fifty dollars! It might have been sold and the money given to the poor!"
The one who said this was Judas Iscariot, the wicked disciple who was already planning to give up his Lord to his enemies, the chief priests and rulers. Judas was the treasurer for Jesus and his twelve disciples. They all lived as one family, kept their money in one purse, and in addition whatever money was given to Jesus by his friends. Judas kept this purse; but he was a thief, and stole some of the money, that he might use it for himself. When Judas saw all the precious oil poured upon the head and feet of Jesus, he was angry, for he looked upon it as so much money that he might have kept.
"Why do you find fault with this woman?" said Jesus. "It is a beautiful thing that she has done to me. You will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. As she poured this perfume on my body, she did it for my burial, which is soon to take place. I tell you, wherever in the whole world my gospel shall be preached, the act of this woman will be told, and she will be remembered on account of it."
All the friends of Jesus were expecting him soon to go to Jerusalem and set up his kingdom and rule. They did not understand his words about dying and rising from the dead. But Mary, among them all, knew that Jesus was soon to die, and it was not only to show her love toward him for bringing her brother to life, but in a very tender way to put into an act what she would not say in words, that her Lord would soon die and be buried.
After this supper, Judas Iscariot, the disciple who had spoken against Mary and her gift, quietly made up his mind to give Jesus over to his enemies. He saw that Jesus would not be such a king as he wished him to be, and he had begun to fear that his stealings were known, or at least suspected. He went secretly to the chief priests and the rulers and said to them:
"What will you pay me if I will give Jesus into your hands?"
They were glad to hear this, and said to him, "We will give you thirty pieces of silver."
This was a little less than twenty dollars in our money, and it was the price paid for a slave. Think of it, for the value of a slave, the Lord of all the earth was sold by one of his own chosen followers!
Judas was sharp in his dealing with the priests. He was afraid that, after he had given Jesus up to them, he might be cheated out of his money. So he said:
"Pay me the money now; and when the right time comes, I will show you how to make Jesus of Nazareth your prisoner."
They gave Judas the thirty pieces of silver; and from that moment Judas was looking for the chance to put Jesus into the hands of his enemies.
"If we are to prevent these people from making Jesus of Nazareth their king, it will not be enough to kill Jesus; we must first kill Lazarus, for on his account many are following Jesus."
On the morning after the supper at Simon's house, Jesus decided to go into Jerusalem. He called two of his disciples and said to them:
"Go into the next village on the road to Jerusalem, and just on the edge of it you will find an ass tied, and with it a colt on which no one has ever ridden; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing that?' tell him, 'The Master needs them; and will send them back soon;' and he will let you take the ass and the colt."
The two disciples went to the village, and found in the street in front of a house an ass and a colt tied just as Jesus had said. They were untying them when the owner, who was standing by, said:
"What are you doing, untying the ass?"
"The Master needs it," answered the disciples; and when the man heard this, he allowed them to take the ass and the colt. They brought them to Jesus at Bethany; and on the ass-colt they laid their cloaks, to form a cushion for Jesus; and he sat upon the colt, which never before had been ridden upon. Then the crowd, seeing that Jesus was riding toward Jerusalem, walked with him, some going before and some following after. Those in front spread their clothes upon the road before Jesus; others threw on the ground leaves from the field; while many waved branches of palm taken from the trees beside the road.
And before they came to the top of the Mount of Olives, which was between Bethany and Jerusalem, another crowd of people met them, coming from the city to see Jesus. And all the multitude shouted together:
"God save the King, the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the Lord's name! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David! Praises be to the Lord!"
For all this crowd of people believed that now, at last, the kingdom of God was to be set up, with Jesus as Christ and King. But in the multitude were some Pharisees, enemies of Jesus, who became very angry as they saw the crowd waving the palm branches and cheering for Jesus as King. These men came up to Jesus as he was riding and said to him:
"Teacher, tell your followers to stop this noise!"
"I tell you," answered Jesus, "that if these men should keep still, the very stones would cry out!"
Soon they came to the top of the Mount of Olives, and then the Temple and the city of Jerusalem were in sight before them.
As Jesus looked upon the city, the tears came into his eyes and he said:
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! If only you might know, even now, while yet there is time, what would give you peace! But no, it is hidden from your sight! The time is coming when your enemies will build walls and forts around you, and shut you in on every side; and trample you down into the dust, and your children with you. They will not leave in you one stone standing upon another—and all because you would not understand when the Lord was visiting you."
Jesus rode down the Mount of Olives, and across the valley of the brook Kedron. At the gate of the Temple he got off from the back of the colt, and sent it with the ass back to its owner. As he came into the city and the Temple there was a great stir, the people everywhere flocking to meet him.
"Who is this?" they said; and the crowds answered, "This is the Prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee!"
The Pharisees said to each other, "We can do nothing! The whole world has gone after Jesus!"
Everybody, both the friends and enemies of Jesus, looked to have him take control of the city and act as a king. But Jesus only went into the Temple and walked around it. By this time it was evening, and Jesus returned with his disciples to Bethany.
Forty years after that time, the terrible things that Jesus declared were to fall upon Jerusalem, did come to pass. The Jews rose against the Romans and made war upon them. A mighty Roman army came, and swept over all the land, bringing ruin and death everywhere. The Romans laid siege to Jerusalem, and built a strong wall around it, so that no one could come out or go in. The people fought desperately, until they were starved and could fight no more. At last the Romans broke into the Temple, and set the city on fire. Both the Temple and all the city were utterly destroyed; untold thousands of the people were slain, and many thousands more were sold as slaves. And from that time, seventy years after Jesus was born, and forty years after he died on the cross, the Jews have not had of their own a land or a city.
The laws of the Jews allowed any person passing by a field which was not his own, to take as much fruit or grain as he wished to eat, but not to carry any away; so that Jesus had a right to go to this tree and help himself to its fruit. Jesus knew that it was not quite the time for ripe figs, for they do not become ripe in that country before May or June, and that day may have been in March. But on the sunny slope of the Mount of Olives figs often ripen early in the season and as the figs always come before the leaves, wherever the leaves were abundant, there might be among them some ripe figs.
But when Jesus came to the fig tree, and looked at it closely, he found that upon it was no fruit, either ripe or green, but only leaves. Then a thought came to Jesus, and in the presence of his disciples he spoke to the fig tree.
"From this time let no fruit ever be picked from this tree forever!" he said.
This was not because Jesus was angry with the poor tree, which could not help not having fruit. It was because he saw in that tree a parable or picture of the Jewish people. They made a show of serving God, and were like trees covered with leaves; but they did not bring forth the fruit of good lives, of love to God and their fellow-men. They were fruitless trees, and trees which have been planted and kept for fruit are of no use without fruit.
The twelve disciples who were with Jesus around the fig tree heard those words, and soon had cause to remember them.
From the Mount of Olives they walked, as on the day before, across the valley of the brook Kedron, and again came into the Temple. You remember that two years before when Jesus visited the Temple, he then drove out from its court all the people that he found buying and selling and changing money. But in the two years that had passed, they had all come back, and the Court of the Gentiles was again a place of business and of confusion. All around were oxen lowing and sheep bleating; their owners calling upon the people passing by to come and buy them; cages full of pigeons and doves were standing on every side; and from a row of tables might be heard the chink of silver, as the money of foreign lands was changed for that of Judea.
When these traders saw Jesus standing before them, some of them could remember how two years before he had driven them out of the Temple, and all saw in him the man whom only yesterday the people had welcomed as the coming King of Israel. There was a look upon the face of Jesus which made all these wrongdoers afraid of him; and when he spoke in the hearing of them all, "God's book says, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you are making it a den of robbers,'" with one accord they rushed out of the court before him, driving out the sheep and oxen, carrying away the cages of doves, and even upsetting the tables of the money-changers.
Jesus saw that people who were coming from outside the wall were carrying goods and jars of water and of oil through the Court of the Gentiles as the nearest way to the city, so that the court was becoming merely a street between the city and the country. He put a stop to this carrying of loads through the Temple courts; and would not allow even a jar of water to be taken by way of the Temple into the city. This building in all its parts was the house of God, and Jesus as the Son of God gave commands that everywhere it was to be used only for the worship of his heavenly Father.
After casting out all these evil things from the outer court, Jesus walked up the steps to the inner court, called the Treasury. There he sat down, and for the rest of the day taught the people who crowded around him.
While he was in the Treasury, they led to him the blind, and he gave them sight by a word; and the lame came in on crutches, or were carried in by their friends to his feet, and he gave them power to walk. Boys too were marching around the Temple and shouting everywhere, "May God save the Son of David!"
All these things made the priests and the rulers very angry; for they were only waiting for a chance to find Jesus alone and make him their prisoner, and they could do nothing while such crowds were around him, all believing that he was the promised Son of David and King of Israel. But these enemies of Jesus could not keep quiet amid all these praises.
"Do you hear," they said to Jesus, "what these boys are shouting? Why do you not tell them to be still?"
"Yes, I hear them," answered Jesus, "and have you never read what is said in the book of Psalms, 'Out of the lips of little children, even of babies in their mothers' arms, thy praises have been made perfect?'"
Jesus stayed in the Temple teaching until the evening drew near. Then he went with his disciples back to Bethany for the night. There among his friends he was safe.
"Master, look!" said Peter, "the fig tree to which you spoke those words yesterday is all withered!"
"Have faith in God," answered Jesus. "I tell you in truth, that if any one of you should say to this mountain before us, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and should not have in his mind a doubt, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it shall be done. So I say to you, whatever you pray God for, believe that God gives it to you, and it shall be yours. But keep this also in mind, whenever you stand up for prayer, if there is anything that you have against anybody, forgive him. Then, and then only, will your Father in heaven forgive you your sins against him."
Again they came to Jerusalem, and walked across the Court of the Gentiles now quiet and free from the confusion of the morning before, no buying, no selling, and no carrying of loads through it to the city. They went into the Treasury, where Jesus had taught and cured on the day before; and they found it already full of people who had come together, hoping to listen again to the words of the great Teacher.
But not only were there in the Temple people friendly to Jesus, and eager to hear him; the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the members of the great council, were also there, ready to do all in their power against him. These men were very angry at Jesus for what he had done on the day before. They pushed their way through the crowds up to Jesus, and said to him, with an air of lordship:
"What right have you to come here and act as a ruler? Who gave you the right to do what you did yesterday?"
"I will ask you a question," answered Jesus promptly, "and if you will answer that, then I will tell you who has given me the right to do what I have done here in the Temple. What do you say about John the Baptist—did he speak the words of God as his messenger? Or did he speak his own words only, without authority or power from God? Answer me that question!"
They were taken aback at this answer of Jesus; and began talking together, while the crowd around looked on.
"What shall we say?" they whispered to each other. "If we say, 'John the Baptist spoke from God,' he will ask, 'Then why did you not believe his words and obey him?' No, let us say, 'He spoke only as a man, without authority or power from God.' But then, if we say that, the people will stone us, for they all believe that John was a true prophet of God."
So after a time these men said to Jesus, "We cannot answer your question. We don't know whether John spoke the words of God or his own words."
Then said Jesus, "No more will I tell you who has given me the power to do these things."
For Jesus well knew that if these men had not believed when John the Baptist said, "Thus saith the Lord," they would not believe him saying, "I do only what my Father tells me to do."
"What do you think of this?" said Jesus. "There was a man who had two sons. He went to the older son, and said to him, 'My son, go and work in the vineyard today.' 'Yes, sir,' said the young man. 'I will go.' But although he had given his promise to go, he broke it, for he did not go.
"Then the father spoke to his second son, as he had spoken to the first. 'My son, go and work today in the vineyard.' This one said to his father, 'I will not go.' But afterward he was sorry, and went into the vineyard to work. Now tell me, which of these two sons did as his father told him to do?"
They answered him, "The second."
"I tell you truly," said Jesus, "that the tax-gatherers and the bad women are going into the kingdom of God instead of you, who believe yourselves to be better than others. For John the Baptist came and showed you how to live, and you would not believe him nor do as he said. But the tax-gatherers and the bad women believed him and turned from their evil ways to God. And even when you saw them turning from evil to good, you would not seek God after them and follow the words of John."
Then Jesus spoke to these rulers another parable, called "The Parable of the Wicked Vine-dressers."
"Listen to another parable," he said. "A man who owned some land planted upon it a vineyard of grape-vines. He put a fence around it, dug a wine-vat inside it, and built a tower in the middle of the vineyard, so that a watchman might be on the lookout against thieves. Then he let it out to vine-dressers, to take care of it, and at the time of ripe grapes to send him his share of the fruit or its worth in money. After leasing the vineyard, he went away to another country.
"When the time for the vintage drew near, the time for gathering the grapes, he sent his servants for his share of the fruit. But instead of giving him what belonged to him, the vine-dressers seized his servants. One servant they flogged and drove away, another they killed, and a third they stoned. A second time the owner sent some other servants, more than before; and the vine-dressers treated them in the same way. And so it was with many others; some they beat and some they killed.
"The owner of the vineyard had one son, a young man, whom he loved very dearly. Last of all he sent this son to them, saying to himself, 'They will surely respect my son, and will not treat him as they have treated the servants.'
"But those men said, as soon as they saw him, 'This is the one who is to own the vineyard when his father dies. Let us kill him, and then the vineyard will be ours.' So when he came, they seized him and killed him, and flung his body outside the vineyard.
"Now, I will ask you," said Jesus, "when the owner of that vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-dressers?"
They answered, "He will utterly destroy those vile, cruel men, and will lease his vineyard to other vine-dressers, who will give him every year his share of the fruit."
"Have you never read this verse," said Jesus.
"I tell you," added Jesus, "that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a people that brings to God its fruits. Yes, and he who falls on this stone shall be dashed to pieces; and whoever this stone falls on shall be ground to powder!"
As the chief priests and Pharisees and rulers heard these parables, they knew at once that they were spoken against them. They were eager to seize Jesus, but were afraid of the crowds around, for all the common people looked upon him as a prophet speaking God's word.
Jesus gave a third parable: that of "The Marriage of the King's Son." This, given in the Temple, was in some parts like another, "The Parable of the Great Feast," which he had already given in Perea; but other parts of it, as we shall see, were different from that parable.
"There was a certain king," said Jesus, "who gave a great supper at the marriage of his son. He sent out his servants to those who had been invited to the feast, but they would not come. Once again he sent some other servants, and told them to say to the guests:
"'Here is my supper all ready, the oxen and fat cattle have been killed; everything is ready; come to the feast.'
"But they paid no attention to his words, and went off, one to his farm and another to his shop. And some seized his servants, ill-treated them and even killed them. This made the king very angry. He sent his army, put those murderers to death and burned up their city.
"Then the king said to his servants, 'The marriage feast is ready; but those who were the invited guests were not fit for it. Go out into the streets of the city and the roads in the country, and ask everybody whom you meet to come to the wedding.' The servants went forth into the roads, and brought to the feast all whom they met, both the bad and the good. So the marriage supper had plenty of guests.
"When the king came in to meet the guests, he saw a man among them who was not wearing a wedding robe. For as each guest came to the house, a beautiful robe was given him, to be worn at the supper.
"'My friend,' said the king to this man, 'how was it that you came in here without a wedding robe?'
"The man stood silent, for he had nothing to say. Then said the king to his servants:
"'Tie this man hand and foot, and throw him out of doors into the darkness. There men will wail and gnash their teeth. For I tell you that many are invited, but few are chosen.'"