Is it possible that this story of the kingdom is what happens when the kingdom of God is among us and so a story of what the world does to the one who does not wear a masque for the ball as it were? And so in the person whom the king casts bound into outer darkness is the one who sees the truth and names it? Could the kingdom be present in the victim? If so, then the way Matthew tells the story is no accident, no mere arrangement of the material by subject. If it is the whole story that reveals the kingdom and not a simple analogy then it becomes another prediction by Jesus of his own passion.