Man's ill-grounded wilfulness.
"And they would not come." There is nothing more to be said about it. They had no reasons. They offered no apologies, and no excuses. They were just wilful, stubborn, stupid; they had taken up with some unreasoning and unreasonable prejudice, and they "would not come." Dods points out that the "object of this parable is still the same (as of the previous parables), to set in a vivid light the guilt of the Jewish leaders in rejecting Christ, and the punishment which in consequence was to fall upon them." Our Lord had used a similar figure of a feast before, but then he represented those who declined the invitation as having more or less reasonable excuses. One was engaged over a farm, one over his oxen, and one over his marriage; and they were not disposed to put these aside in order to fulfil their engagements with their host. But here there are no excuses, only sheer wilfulness, which is ready to run even into rebellion and insult (see Matthew 22:6).
I. THE OPPOSITION OF THE MERELY WILFUL. Every parent knows the extreme difficulty of training a stubborn child. You cannot reason with him; you cannot persuade him. It does no good to chastise him. Many a parent is at his wits' end to know what to do with a wilful child. And what could any one hope to do with those stubborn Jerusalem officials, who had made up their minds that Jesus was an impostor, and so would heed no evidences, listen to no arguments, and yield to no persuasions? They too were invited to the gospel feast. They loudly professed their readiness to respond whenever God called. The call came; Christ brought it, and then up went their backs; "they would not come." If you trouble them with any importunity, they will turn dangerous, and insult the messengers; as these officials afterwards did Stephen, Peter, James, and Paul, All Christian workers understand the hopelessness of dealing with the stubborn and wilful. No force seems to reach them. Labour is in vain. Opposition may be overcome. Unintelligent wilfulness is hopeless.
II. THE TREATMENT OF THE MERELY WILFUL. They have to be let alone, and left to suffer, and to learn by suffering. It is a hard school, and it must be a hard school, in which such persons have to learn. Our Lord even intimates that there must be a specially awakening severity of dealing with them, because that stubbornness is not mere natural disposition; it is a product of self-conceit, pride, and prejudice. It is sin, and must be punished.—R.T.