In honor of Holy week...Matthew 22:1-14

 Parable of the Wedding Banquet

 The parable of the wedding banquet symbolizes a joyous and festive occasion for the King's son. A first invitation is given and the original invited guest refuse to come. The King then sends out a 2nd invitation and makes it even more enticing. But the original invitees refuse, ignore and turn violent against the Kings men. This symbolizes the Jews refusal and ultimate murder of JESUS.
 
The King then sends armies to destroy them for their blatant refusal. This is the image of what is to come for those who refuse the LORD.

The King will not deny his son a wedding feast, so he opens up the invitation to all that would come, good or bad and soon the banquet hall was filled. GOD has opened up the invitation to the Kingdom of Heaven to anyone that will come to him and obey him. It doesn't matter what you have done before, whether you are good or bad, GOD will accept you if you accept the love of his son.

When the King can to see the guest he noticed one that did not have on wedding attire. He asked the man, "Friend, how did you get in with out the proper attire?" The man was speechless and could not answer. The King had him bound and thrown out in to the darkness. This refers to the preparation that we all must undertake to be a part of the kingdom.

-true repentance for sin and faith in Christ, and then a commitment to love and obey the Lord as evidence of saving faith-

 There will be some who claim to be a part of the kingdom but will be rejected because they have no properly prepared themselves by submitting fully to the will of GOD. They too will be destroyed and sent to the depths of darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Indeed many are invited but few are chosen!

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

22 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. ³ He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

⁴ “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

⁵ “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. ⁶ The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. ⁷ The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
⁸ “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. ⁹ So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ ¹⁰ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹² He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.
¹³ “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
¹⁴ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

References:
http://bible.org/seriespage/parable-wedding-banquet-matthew-221-14
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2022:1-14&version=NIV