OUR FATHER WHO CALLS MANY BUT CHOOSES A FEW

Matthew chapter 22 verses 11 - 14 is an addendum to the parable that Jesus told in the temple about the wedding feast that a king arranged for his son, only to have the invitees decline to attend.

In the parable, the king responded to the absence of attendees sent out his servants to invite the marginaized people from the highways and byways and they came to attend the feast.

At the feast, the king entered the banquet hall to see the guests and he picked out a person who was not dressed for the occasion and he asked him why he did not dressed appropriately. The man had no answer and the king ordered his servants to tie the man up and eject him into the outer darkness in a state of anguish.

This addendum, extraordinarily difficult to interprete, reads as follows.

11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12 So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

To try to understand what was being conveyed, letˋs deconstruct the story by identifying the various people and elements that appear.

• The king is God the Father
• The guests were those called to join the feast after the original invitees delined
• The man was an attendee who had invited in from the streets or the gentile realms
• The status of this man as per the king was  ˋfriendˋ or a believer in Jesus
• The missing wedding garment was the abscence of the garment of praise or the garment of righteousness which are both referenced in Isiaah 61 verses 10 - 11,

10 I delight greatly in the Lord;

     my soul rejoices in my God.

     For he has clothed me with garments of salvation

     and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,

     as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,

     and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up

     and a garden causes seeds to grow,

     so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness

     and praise spring up before all nations.

• The servants are the prophets of God who can bind and loose 
• The ejection from the feast into the outer darkness is a removal from the light and presence of God
• Weeping and gnashing of teeth is anguish and regret over missed opportunities

The conclusion that Jesus offers to the addendum to the parable is that many are called, but few are chosen.

This points to a sobering reality where people, hearing the gospel, believe it and are saved and they make it to the marriage supper of the lamb of God but when they get there, the lives they lived on earth are missing the praise and righteousness needed to form an appropriate garment. That garment reflects the individualˋs life of the pursuit of an intimate connection with the God. 

The ones who sought a sincere and humble love relationship with God will find that they are clothed with the garments appropriate for a wedding feast and that God reciprocates intimacy with intimacy. Those who forfeit their own lives even unto death for the sake of the kingdom of God out of love for God, will be  included in the ongoing life of God in the same way that a new bride and groom embark on a shared journey and even adventure in their lives going forward together.

Those without the garment are the ones who accepted salvation and recieved it but having been saved, did not inquire into the one who paid so great a price to save them and did not voluntarily pursue a relationship with Him out of their own love for the one who loved them while they were yet sinners.

Those who did not pursue intimacy with God while on earth got eternal life because they believed in the ressurection of Jesus and they were saved by the blood of the lamb but they will then, going forward live apart from Godˋs private presence and always regret that they missed out on being included in Godˋs inner circle because they loved only themselves.

Many are called to share in the goodness of God but when decisions are made to find the ones who genuinely loved God before they knew of His riches and glory, only a few will be chosen to be part of the inner life of God.

Have mercy on us O God.

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