Present the reading & Talk together
Matthew 22.1-14 - Two ways to tell the story, followed by ideas for discussion time
Jesus tells a parable about a wedding feast, where those who were invited refuse to attend. It teaches us about the importance of being ready to respond positively to God’s invitation.
Choose from these two ways of telling the story.
Tableaux
Read the story through once, then read it again, inviting the children to make a tableau at each point, as indicated in bold in the text. They will need to identify the characters, what they are doing, thinking and feeling, and organise themselves into a still picture that sums this all up. You could photograph each tableau to show them, but delete the pictures afterwards.
Draw the story
Split the children into small groups and invite them to draw a sequence of simple pictures on a large sheet of paper to illustrate the story as you read it slowly. Each group can retell the story to the others at the end.
Geoffrey Hays
Jesus told another parable to the people in the Temple. ‘Think of the kingdom of heaven like a wedding reception,’ he said, ‘organised by a king for his son’s wedding. The king sends his slaves to bring the wedding guests to the feast, but the guests refuse to come. (tableau 1)
So he sends them out again to tell the invited guests that he has laid on all the best food. But again the guests are not interested in attending: one is busy with his farm, another has too much to do running his own business, while the rest of the guests beat up the slaves and kill them. (tableau 2) So the king sends in his troops to seize them and burn down their city.’
Jesus continued, ‘Then the king says to his other slaves, ‘We have everything ready for the wedding, but as the people I invited are not worthy, go out into the streets and bring in everyone you can find, whoever they are, good or bad.’ The slaves did as they were told and soon the reception was full of people. (tableau 3)
‘But when the king came in to meet the guests, he saw that one of them was not properly dressed for a wedding. He said to him, ‘How did you get in without wearing the right clothes?’ The man was speechless. (tableau 4) So the king had him arrested and thrown outside into the darkness.’
Talk together
- If you are having a party, how do you decide who to invite?
- How do you think the king felt when the guests he invited did not come?
- Do you ever invite people to church?