Called and chosen

 

Reflection 11^th October 2020 Matthew 22: 1 - 14

 

The parable of Jesus we are thinking about today is perhaps one of the more difficult to understand and it also uncomfortable to think about.

For those hearing the parable, it was a reminder that God (“the king” in the parable) had initially invited the people of ancient Israel to be God’s people. God chose a people who had begun as nomadic wanderers (see the story of Abraham) and who ended up being slaves in Egypt (see the story of Moses.) God did so in order to demonstrate how much God can bless people and how God can place people highly if they are willing to honour his will and his word above all else.

The coming of Christ into the world, the parable goes on to suggest, was now the big even that God had been preparing for. This is the moment God had invited his special guests (the people of Israel) to join. But by ignoring Jesus, by being hostile to him and, ultimately playing a part in Jesus’ death, the special guests had turned down the invitation.

There are three things we need to think about regarding this parable:

1. Everyone Is Invited to the King's Reception.

The parable demonstrates that when God’s chosen people rejected his invitation, God extended the invitation to other people.

⁸ ‘Then the king said to his servants, “The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. ⁹ So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.”

This was the real difference Jesus’ ministry made. We know of the stories where Jesus related to sinners (tax collectors for example), we know how he related to women, (the woman at the well, John 4) we know how Jesus related to people who weren’t Jewish (again the woman at the well, and in Luke 7, a Roman centurion’s servant.) These and more show that Jesus’ ministry extended God’s invitation to people not on the original guest list. And this is the example the apostles adopted in the early church - taking the message of Christ’s salvation to all, “Jew and Gentile slave and free” – Galatians 3:28

2. Not Everyone Will Respond to the King's Invitation.

Although the invitation has been given to all people, still some will not respond.

 

God offers the invitation, but he allows people to respond or not. We are his children and just like any parent God wants us to be loved, he wants us to feel loved which is why he invites us to the best wedding reception ever! But he allows his children to make the choice of whether to come or not. Of course, the parable suggests that God is angry with those who reject his invitation. And who knows, God may well deal with them on another occasion? (Though God’s grace and love is beyond our comprehension and our standards.)

 

 

3.  The King Chooses Who Can Stay.

 

Perhaps the most perplexing part of the parable is found in verses 11 – 14.

 

In his Gospel, Luke relates much the same parable, but Luke does not include these verses.

 

Who is this guest without the correct wedding garment? After all, if he’s just been brought in from the street how could he have the correct attire? Given that this guest only seems to have infringed the dress code why does the king tell the attendants

 

“Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 22:13

 

These few verses seem totally at odds with the idea that the invitation has been extended to everyone. Especially as the one being thrown out has at least responded to the invitation.  And to confuse matters further we have verse 14

 

¹⁴ For many are called, but few are chosen.’ NRSV or as NIV has it ¹⁴ ‘For many are invited, but few are chosen.’

 

The called or invited we can understand. That relates to the invitation. But what does the chosen bit mean? Clearly our fellow who is not wearing the right clothes has been called but is not chosen.  Why?

 

Living out the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus, only begins with the invitation. Although many are called, only those who respond AND start living in a different way (putting on the wedding clothes if you like) will be chosen. In chapter 3 of the Book of Colossians Paul taps in to the imagery of clothes and putting on the right clothes:

⁵ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. …. ⁸ But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator…. 

¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience…. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

God invites everyone to share with him. All he asks that in accepting the invitation to be part of his kingdom we put aside our sinful nature and instead seek to live in a new way, to live a life in Christ.