For many are called, but few are chosen

 And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said:  "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.  Again, he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready.  Come to the wedding." '  But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.  And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.  But when the king heard about it, he was furious.  And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.  Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.  Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.'  So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good.  And the wedding hall was filled with guests.  But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.  So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?'  And he was speechless.  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.'  For many are called, but few are chosen." 

- Matthew 22:1-14

Yesterday we read that Jesus taught another parable in the temple, addressing the chief priests and elders who had questioned His authority:  "There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower.  And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.  Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit.  And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.  Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.  Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'  But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.'  So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.  Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?"  They said to Him, "He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons."  Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures:  'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.  This was the LORD's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?  Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.  And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder."  Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them.  But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.

  And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said:  "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come."  My study bible comments that, like the preceding parables (see the readings from Tuesday and Wednesday, above), this one is also a proclamation of the transfer of the Kingdom from the faithless Jews to the Gentiles.  It is set as a joyful wedding banquet (see also 25:1-13).  Christ is often called the Bridegroom (9:15, John 3:29).  St. Paul also uses a marriage analogy for the Kingdom (Ephesians 5:21-33).  In this parable, the king repeated sends out servants to call those invited to the wedding.  This repeated call shows the Father's great desire to have His people with Him in the kingdom.  This first group called is interpreted to be Moses and those with him.

"Again, he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready.  Come to the wedding." ' "  This second set of servants is by tradition considered to be the prophets who call the people back to God.  Together with the first sent out to call people invited to the wedding feast, they call those initially invited, the Jews.  The oxen, my study bible says, represent the sacrifices of the Old Covenant.  The fatted cattle represent the eucharistic bread of the New Covenant.  The word in the original Greek text can be translated as "wheat-fed" or more literally as "formed from wheat."  Therefore, in the wedding of Christ and Christ's Church, both the Old and the New Covenants are fulfilled. 

"But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.  And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.  But when the king heard about it, he was furious.  And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city."  That their city was burned up is, according to St. John Chrysostom, a prophesy by Christ of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70.   Thereby its destruction becomes attributed to an act of God rather than that of human beings.  Nonetheless, God shows patience by waiting approximately 40 years from the time of Christ, giving an entire generation a chance for repentance.

"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.  Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.'  So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good.  And the wedding hall was filled with guests."  This third sent of servants assigned to call and invite "as many as you find" on the highways, both bad and good, is considered to be the apostles sent out to all the nations.  That is, to those who were not initially invited, but are now called. 

"But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.  So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?'  And he was speechless.  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.'  For many are called, but few are chosen."   By tradition, the wedding garment would have been provided by the king; therefore there is no excuse for the man not wearing one.  Thus, he's speechless.  The refusal to wear the provided garment is an illustration of those who refuse the hospitality of God, or who want God's Kingdom on their own terms, according to my study bible.  More specifically, this garment refers to the baptismal garment, and through its extension to a life of faith, repentance, virtue, and charity.  Without these, my study bible says, a person will ultimately be cast into outer darkness.  For many, as we've noted in other passages, is an Aramaic expression used to mean "for all."

What is the difference between being called and chosen?  This can be quite puzzling.  But one thing we can learn from this parable given by Christ in the temple to the religious leadership:  everyone is called.  The Greek word for "called" is κλητός/kletos.  It literally does mean "called" as in being summoned or invited.  As used in the New Testament, it indicates a call from God.  As such, we can understand that all who were part of the kingdom of Israel were called to God's wedding banquet, and subsequently the apostles are sent out (the literal meaning of the word apostle is one who is "sent out") to call all the world to this feast.  They go out onto the highways of the world -- again, in their own time, quite literally, as the Romans had built highways for transport and trade across the Empire.  In the language of the text, there's a double emphasis that these servants are sent out to the crossroads or thoroughfares, the places where roads meet outside of cities.   In the Greek, they are told to invite all whom they meet on the "road" -- and this second word for road is the same one Jesus uses which is translated as "way" in "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).  Therefore we might understand a double meaning here for the apostles:  on their own journey of faith along the "way" of Christ, their job is to be those sent out to call those whom they meet, to invite them to this wedding feast of the Kingdom.  But to be chosen is another matter, and Jesus distinguishes these two things of calling and being chosen -- and not for the first time, either.  He used the same expression in the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard which He told to the disciples regarding their own work and calling, and the equal reward promised to all who answer the call to labor in God's vineyard (see 20:16).  To be "chosen" forms a sort of play on words by Christ, something that dots His speech in the Gospels, and makes it more clear to His original listeners what a brilliant mind He had in the use of language, of words.  While "called" is kletos, "chosen" is eklektos/ἐκλεκτός.  It literally means to be selected, or chosen out, and implies preference or favorite.  Perhaps it gives us a hint of the meaning to Jesus' words following the parable in chapter 20, in which He tells the disciples that the places on His right and left will go to those for whom it's been prepared by the Father (20:23).  In today's parable, we get a sense of being "chosen" as a kind of self-selection.  That is, the chosen are those who wear the garment prepared by the Father, who have accepted the place to which they are called to be citizens of this Kingdom, and who live it -- even embodying that calling.  This "self-selection," so to speak, echoes the meanings of judgment found in the parable of the Wicked Vinedressers in yesterday's reading (see above), in which the worthy vinedressers to come will be those who render the fruits of the harvest.  In other words, those who can accept and bear the spiritual fruit nurtured wisely and well by a properly tended vineyard of God's people.  In these parables we can obtain a sense of a kind of organic movement from within that constitutes being "chosen."  That is, who will bear the proper fruit of the harvest and return it to the Father.  Who can truly embody and wear that wedding garment, bearing graciously the fullness of citizenship in this Kingdom?  There is, somewhere along the line, an internal "yes" to that grace and its process in us.  It indicates a type of cooperation with God -- for why are we "called" if it is not so that we will respond in ways that others have failed to do?  Let us remind ourselves at once and marvel that it is indeed the whole world that is called to this banquet.  There is not one left out:  neither Jew nor Gentile, rich nor poor, master and servant, nor any distinction in this world.  The highways of the world -- including those of internet communications -- are those used to issue out this call, as we continue to do today.  Those of us who respond must bear the responsibility for wearing that wedding garment and assuming the duties and responsibilities that go with it, those things contained in the word of Christ for us -- for each of us.  Let us remember that garment is not of our own making, and will be provided for us.  We don't start all from scratch.  Our job is to respond to the grace which gives us everything we need.