Mat 22:8 Then he said to his servants, The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.
Mat 22:9 Go therefore into the highways, and as many as you can find, invite to the wedding.
Mat 22:10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.

Remember, this parable is about the kingdom of heaven, the universal law, which is coming to us all. Here, the message from the king finally finds an audience. The invited guests couldn't head that message because they were too busy with their business lives. In Christ's use of symbols, both a message, that is, words, and business, that is, money, belong to the realm of the mind. When your mind is filled with thoughts of business, which depends on the existing order, you cannot get the message about a new, possible order.

Who can get that message? In these verses we find out.

Why does the king send his servants to the highways? The translation is a little confusing. The diexodos was the area just outside a city's gates where the road ended. This is where a variety of people gathered: people from the countryside coming to the city, people looking for work, people waiting for a caravan, and so on. These people were transients, going or coming from somewhere else, or just people who had nowhere to go looking for an opportunity. They camped outside the city by the road because it was cheaper than staying in the city.

The terms used for "good" and "bad" are closer in meaning to "productive" and "worthless." The "worthless" were those that were by the highway because they had nothing else to do and nowhere else to go. The "productive" were those who had jobs and homes but who were simply in transition.

So, those who can hear the message are those caught in between one thing and another. This includes both those looking for a situations in life and those whose lives are in transition, from one thing to the next. These people are open to hearing something new, something different because they are already unsettled and not focused on what they "should" be doing.


"Worthy" is from axios, which means "having weight," "counterbalancing," and "worth" in the sense of one thing balancing another.

"Highways" is from diexodos, which means "outlet," "passage," "roads out of town," and "way out from." Literally, it means "through exit."

"Bad" is from poneros and "good" is from agathos. As we discuss extensively in this page, these terms mean "worthless" and "good" in the sense of doing good deeds respectively. "Good" is from agathos, which "good" and, when applied to people, "well-born," "gentle," "brave," and "capable." When applied to things, it means "serviceable," "morally good," and "beneficial." Agathos is not the usual term translated as "good," in the Gospels, which is kalos, meaning "beautiful."