Matthew 22:3 (DBY)

Passage

and sent his bondmen to call the persons invited to the wedding feast, and they would not come.

Nearby Context

Matthew 22:1 And Jesus answering spoke to them again in parables, saying,

Matthew 22:2 The kingdom of the heavens has become like a king who made a wedding feast for his son,

Matthew 22:3 and sent his bondmen to call the persons invited to the wedding feast, and they would not come.

Matthew 22:4 Again he sent other bondmen, saying, Say to the persons invited, Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fatted beasts are killed, and all things ready; come to the wedding feast.

Matthew 22:5 But they made light of it, and went, one to his own land, and another to his commerce.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "sent", "bondmen", "call", "persons", "invited", "wedding", "feast", and "come". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "sent" and "bondmen", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "The kingdom of the heavens has become..." into verse 4's "Again he sent other bondmen saying Say...", so "sent" and "bondmen" belong inside that flow. In Matthew context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "sent" and "bondmen" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.