In this week’s comments on the Gospel reading, in which we hear the parable of the guests invited to the wedding banquet, I argue that the key to interpreting this parable, and its parallel in Luke, lies in understanding the importance of relations between patrons and their clients in first-century Mediterranean cultures. The benefits we receive from God and others create an obligation to honour those who are our benefactors. Once again, Jewish leaders are held to account by Jesus for behaving towards God in ways they would never tolerate from those who are their own clients. Right to our own day, benefits and obligations go hand in hand, and our greatest obligation as Christians is to honour God who has been so generous towards us through Christ.
Howard Pilgrim