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 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?'  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 

 

In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught to the chief priests and the elders, "Hear another parable:  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 vinedresers, 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 explains that, like the preceding parables (see Wednesday's reading, and yesterday's reading above), this one also proclaims the transfer of the Kingdom from the faithless Jews to the Gentiles.  This parable is set as a joyful wedding banquet (see also Matthew 25:1-13).  Christ is often known to us as the Bridegroom (Matthew 9:15; John 3:29), and St. Paul uses the analogy of marriage for the Kingdom (Ephesians 5:21-33).  The repeated sending out of servants shows the Father's strong desire to have His people with Him in the Kingdom.  This first group invited is interpreted to mean 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."'  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."  The oxen represent the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, while the fatted cattle represent the eucharistic bread of the New Covenant, my study Bible explains.  "Fatted" is in fact better translated "wheat-fed," or even more literally "formed from wheat."  So, therefore, both Old and New Covenants are fulfilled at the wedding of Christ and His Church.  This second group of other servants is understood to mean the prophets.  Both the first and second group of servants call those initially invited -- the Jews.  

 

"But when the king heard about it, he was furious.  And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city."  According to St. John Chrysostom, Christ is prophesying here the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70, and therefore attributes that destruction to an act of God rather than simply to that of human beings.  Nonetheless, God showed His patience by waiting roughly forty years from the time of Christ, giving that entire generation a chance to repent.  

 

"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 gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good."  This third group of servants represents the apostles sent out to the Gentiles ("into the highways"), those who were not initially invited, but are now called.

 

 "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?'  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."  My study Bible explains that the wedding garment would have been provided by the king, and so therefore there is no excuse for not wearing one.  Therefore, this man is speechless.  His refusal to war the garment that was provided is an illustration of those who refuse God's hospitality, my study Bible says, or who desire God's Kingdom on their own terms.  More specifically, the garment refers to the baptismal garment, and by extension a life of faith, repentance, virtue, and charity.  Without these, a person will ultimately be cast into outer darkness.   

 

 Jesus says, "For many are called, but few are chosen."  My study Bible explains elsewhere that it is a common Aramaic expression to use "many" as meaning "all."  So this last group of servants sent out on all the highways leading everywhere, inviting "as many as you find," are the apostles and others sent out to all the world, to all people; and still today this action and calling continues through every means, including the "superhighways" of telecommunications and worldwide connection through the internet and other modern technologies.  It is interesting to consider that this action of the third group of servants continues in all its forms.  Whatever "highways" human being build to connect cities and towns, countries and civilizations, the word still goes out and invitations are still being issued to this cosmic wedding banquet for Christ the Bridegroom.  Means such as this blog, communications and podcasts, videos, and all means of communication are used to continue issuing invitation to "many," meaning "all."  The whole world is invited to this wedding banquet.  Certainly we can think of no reason why "all" would not want to accept an invitation to such a banquet.  So, therefore, we ask ourselves of what does a wedding garment consist.  Pope St. Gregory the Great comments on this question:  "What then must we understand by the wedding garment but love? That person enters the marriage feast, but without wearing a wedding garment, who is present in the holy church. He may have faith, but he does not have love. We are correct when we say that love is the wedding garment because this is what our Creator himself possessed when he came to the marriage feast to join the church to himself. Only God’s love brought it about that his only begotten Son united the hearts of his chosen to himself. John says that 'God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son for us'" (Manlio Simonetti, Matthew 14–28, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001, p. 146).  St. Gregory's description of love here gives us a proper sense of the fullness of love, and in particular, love in the sense of a marriage.  This love is not only asked of the guest, but it begins with God's love which unites the hearts of God's chosen to Christ.  So, as my study Bible indicates, the wedding garment is a gift of grace, given by the Father, but must be embraced and worn by the guest; that is, received as love must be received and reciprocated.  This also teaches us about hospitality in the ancient sense of our faith, even the hospitality that began with Abraham who "entertained angels unawares" (Hebrews 13:2; Genesis 18:1-8).  For we also need to practice hospitality for God's grace, welcoming it into ourselves and returning that love, and thereby do we wear our wedding garment, even as Mary the Theotokos, Mother of God, welcomed the Holy Spirit within herself to bear the Child Jesus.  Hospitality is in this sense a synergistic gift, for which it is essential to welcome God's grace, the call of the gospel message as our invitation to the Wedding Banquet.  As faithful we both receive and expand that invitation as did the apostles and disciples, through the highways of the internet and telecommunications which continue to expand for a modern age. So through the gospel the invitations are sent out to the world for others whom we hope will receive God's grace, and return God's love, uniting to Christ.  It is as true now as it was then.  "For many are called, but few are chosen."

.

 

Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?

 

 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 

 

In our recent readings, Jesus is in Jerusalem, and it is Holy Week.  He has made His Triumphal Entry into the city, He has cleansed the temple, and He was quizzed by the religious leaders as to His authority to do so.  In yesterday's reading, He told them, "Hear another parable:  There was a certain landowner who planted 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.  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."'   My study Bible comments that, like the preceding parables, this one also proclaims the transfer of the Kingdom from the faithless among the Jews to the faithful who will come even from among the Gentiles.  It is set as a joyful wedding banquet, as Christ is often called the "Bridegroom" (Matthew 9:15; John 3:29), and St. Paul uses a marriage analogy for the Kingdom (Ephesians 5:21-33).  The repeated sending out of servants shows the Father's great desire to have God's people with God in the Kingdom.  The first group of servants is interpreted to be Moses and those with him, while the second group is made up of the prophets, who repeatedly were sent to the "first-called," the Jews.  Additionally, my study Bible explains that the oxen represent the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, while the fattled cattle represent the eucharistic bread of the New Covenant.  It notes that "fatted" is better translated as "wheat-fed," or even more literally, "formed from wheat."  So both Old and New Covenants are fulfilled at the wedding of Christ and His Church. 

 

"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."   My study Bible says that, according to St. John Chrysostom, Christ is here prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70, and therefore attributes this destruction to an act of God rather than simply to that of human beings.  Nonetheless, patience was shown by waiting some forty years from the time of Christ -- thus giving an entire generation a chance to repent. 

 

"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 group of servants are the apostles, sent out across the highways among the nations, the Gentiles. 

 

"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."  According to my study Bible, the wedding garment would have been provided by the king, so there was no excuse for this man who was without one -- therefore he is speechless.  His refusal to wear the wedding garment provided by the king is an illustration of those who refuse God's hospitality, or who want God's kingdom on their own terms.  Specifically, says my study Bible, the garment refers to the baptismal garment, and through extension, a life of faith, repentance, virtue, and charity.  Without these, a person will ultimately be cast into outer darkness.   For many, an Aramaic expression repeated frequently by Christ, means "for all."

What is the wedding garment?  It is an intriguing speculation to consider.  My study Bible clearly states an affirmative explanation that it is one's baptismal garment, but also composed of the life one leads afterward, of "faith, repentance, virtue, and charity."  We can consider, then, the garment a type of weaving of the soul, if we may so phrase it.  It invites us to think of our own souls as those things in which we will come clothed to God, and the image in which we will appear at Christ's final judgment, which coincides with the time of the wedding banquet.  It's interesting to think of our souls as comprised of thread after thread of our lives, our choices, our faith lived or not, and woven into a garment that expresses more truly who we are than any clothing we could choose to wear.  Think about the weaving process, in which cloth is spun from threads woven on a framework which holds in place a basic structure, while chosen threads of whatever quality or color or substance are woven constantly through them, back and forth, to make a garment of whole cloth.  It is said by reference to a similar idea, that the word "history" comes from the ancient Greek word ιστός/histos, meaning loom.  Therefore in this same sense, history is like a tapestry or cloth being constantly woven until we can see the shape and pattern and quality of a cloth, thread after thread across the loom.  Our own histories, therefore, are written in the soul -- a wedding garment, then, is a life lived through faith in what God has given us, the teachings we're given for eternal life and attendance at this wedding banquet.  Certainly this is a gift of God, of Christ, and the working of the Holy Spirit throughout our lives, as well as our cooperation with the same, our "yes" to a life so lived.  And this is the invitation we're given, for the gospel message is clearly meant to be our invitation to the life Christ wants us to live with Him in His Kingdom, entering into His wedding banquet of the Bridegroom and the Church.  Let us consider how we weave our lives, the garments of our souls, and what we want that to look like -- composed of beauty beyond our knowing but that will shine forth in the Kingdom.  "Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" (Matthew 13:43).

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 

 

In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught this parable in the temple:  "Hear another parable:  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."  In today's parable, given again in response to the religious leaders who have questioned His authority in the temple, this parable also proclaims the transfer of the Kingdom from the faithless in Israel to the Gentiles.  The setting is a joyful wedding banquet (see also Matthew 25:1-13).   My study Bible comments that Christ is often called the "Bridegroom" (Matthew 9:15; John 3:29).  St. Paul also uses a marriage analogy for the Kingdom (Ephesians 5:21-33).   Here the king sends out his servants and will repeatedly do so as we read further in the parable; my study Bible comments that it shows the Father's great desire to have His people with Him in the Kingdom.  Altogether, he will send out three groups.  This first group 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."'  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."  This second group of other servants sent out is understood to be the prophets.  They also call those who are initially invited, the Jews.  My study Bible also comments that the oxen represent the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, while the fatted cattle represent the eucharistic bread of the New Covenant.  ("Fatter," it says, is better translated "wheat-fed," or more literally "formed from wheat."  Such an animal is a male bull-calf raised on wheat in preparation for use as a religious offering.  An offering "formed from wheat" is a picture of the eucharist.)  So, therefore, both the Old and the New Covenants are fulfilled in this wedding of Christ and His Church.

"But when the king heard about it, he was furious.  And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city."  According to St. John Chrysostom, whose teaching is cited here by my study Bible, Christ is prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70.  Therefore he attributes this destruction to an act of God rather than simply to that of human beings.  Nonetheless, it's noted that God showed patience by waiting some forty years from the time of Christ, giving an entire generation a chance to repent.

"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 is the third group of servants sent out with invitations, but this time they are sent out into the highways.  Not that these gathered all whom they found, both bad and good.  This group of servants represents the apostles sent to the Gentiles.  That is, those not initially invited, but who 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.'"  Here the parable turns to address us, we who have been called from among the Gentiles and out of the world from the highways.  My study Bible explains that the wedding garment would have been provided by the king, and therefore the man had no excuse for not wearing one; therefore he is speechless.  It notes that his refusal to wear the garment that was provided is an illustration of those who refuse God's hospitality, or who want God's Kingdom on their own terms.  Specifically, this garment is a reference to the baptismal garment, and by extension the life of faith, repentance, virtue, and charity that it is meant to lead us to.  Without these, my study Bible adds, a person will ultimately be cast into outer darkness.

"For many are called, but few are chosen."  For many is an Aramaic expression Christ has used before (Matthew 20:28), meaning "for all."

 

Perhaps one thing of which we should make note in today's parable is the extreme inventiveness of God, God's infinite creativity as exemplified in the repeated calling and sending out of servants.  These work in a sense in waves:  depending upon how people receive God's Kingdom and call, God works strategies to continue to find new ways to call those who will accept it into His Kingdom, to find God's "chosen."  First there is Moses, then the prophets, and finally the apostles -- and we see ultimately what will happen at the culmination of all of this effort, the Wedding Feast.  So, therefore, we understand that the story is not over yet, the drama has not finished, for we do not know exactly what will happen at the Wedding Feast of the Son, the Bridegroom -- we do not know who will be chosen, and neither do we know what lies in store for those who arrive properly wearing their wedding garment.  It's an unfolding, ongoing story, and one in which we cannot count God out, nor God's ongoing and unfolding actions calling us forward and back onto the path toward that Wedding Banquet, finding new ways to call us, and stretching the time for repentance with God's mercy, allowing us more experience, a hope of wisdom, and a challenge for preparation for the feast.  What we also understand from the parable is our own stubbornness, the constant rejection of God and God's purposes and plans, and our never-failing earthly mindset that we somehow know better, and our own drawn up plans are the only things that matter.   This is quite a typical illustration of human nature and our very limited focus on the here and now.  That limited perspective of human nature by no means gives us the long picture of observed spiritual history, and what comes to naught.  Jesus has said, "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad" (Matthew 12:30).  We today are foolish to dismiss the good things that Christ's teachings have brought us, the fruit they have supplied of things we might take for granted, but the world seeks after.  The products of Christian faith would include justice systems that are exhaustively driven to protect the innocent (although as human institutions, they remain imperfect and subject to corruption), or popular cultural notions we've inherited that mercy constitutes greatness more than manipulative power that was common in the ancient world (see Matthew 20:25) are things that many of us take for granted.  But those who dwell without such social inheritance long for them, and when we forget about them, our lives become tinged with misery.  But in the economy of salvation, even times of darkness can serve as learning curve, when we take time to reconsider what in our lives is valuable and precious and what is darkness.  Overall, the message for today is to see God's infinite creativity in coming to us with avenues of salvation:  when human beings fail, God will persist in finding ways to reach out, to reach us, to bring salvation to the world and even to the entire cosmos of Creation.  In our faith, even at small individual levels, we can find the same thing.  As we are closed off from one avenue, God makes a way to find another, if we are persistent in our faith and in prayer.  Sometimes life changes without our noticing or even our effort to make it so, but the ground shifts in ways that open life up in response to prayer and faith.  Sometimes that shift is an inner perspective that comes through God's grace, and we can look at life differently than we did when we were more limited by our own darkness, before the light of God opened up possibilities that were there which we just didn't see before.  We should remember that in Christ's parable, God has sent out servants -- the apostles -- to all the highways of the world, and at the same time we know that God is everywhere present and filling all things (in the words of the Orthodox Prayer to the Holy Spirit on this page).   A prayer for healing by St. Ambrose of Milan declares, "I have found a Physician. He dwells in Heaven and distributes His healing on earth. He alone can heal my pains Who Himself has none. He alone Who knows what is hidden can take away the grief of my heart, the fear of my soul."  We can be certain that the explosive, omnipotent creative power of God will always be at work, the energies of grace reaching out and seeking to save us by all means possible, to take on our darkness and send light into any crack in our armor, to find the places we can let the light in and heal.  So it is with the repeated fullness of the sending of servants to the world, to God's people, even to all the highways, to find those who will come to this wedding feast, and respond by wearing the fullness of the beautiful garment God will provide if we but choose to accept and to live faithfully.  For many are called, but few are chosen.

 

 

Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?

 

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 own 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 

 

In yesterday's reading, Jesus said to the religious authorities in the temple in Jerusalem:   "Hear another parable:  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."  In today's reading, Jesus gives yet another parable to the religious authorities.  My study Bible notes that this parable also (like the preceding one in yesterday's reading, above) also proclaims the transfer of the Kingdom from the faithless Jews to the Gentiles (note that operative word "faithless" -- we should remember that all of Christ's followers and disciples are also Jews, as is Jesus).  It is set as a joyful wedding banquet (see Matthew 25:1-13), as Christ is often called the "Bridegroom" (Matthew 9:15; John 3:29).  St. Paul also uses a marriage analogy for the Kingdom (Ephesians 5:21-33).  The repeated sending out of servants, my study Bible says, shows the Father's great desire to have His people with Him in the Kingdom.  This first group invited here in these verses 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."'  But they made light of it and went their own ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.  And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them."    This second group of other servants is interpreted to be the prophets.  They also call those initially invited, the Jews.  The oxen represent the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, while the fatted cattle represents the eucharistic bread of the New Covenant, my study Bible says.  The word for "fatted" is better translated as "wheat-fed" or more literally "formed from wheat."   In the tradition of the sacrifice, male calves were raised on wheat in preparation for religious offering, but here we understand the symbolism alluding to the sacrifice of Christ.   Therefore we understand that both the Old and New Covenants are fulfilled at the wedding of Christ and His Church.  

"But when the king heard about it, he was furious.  And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city."  According to St. John Chrysostom, Christ is here prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70, and therefore attributes this destruction to an act of God rather than simply to that of human beings.   Jesus will do the same more specifically when He mentions the "righteous blood shed on the earth," particularly the prophets killed before Him, and attributes the same murderous spirit to these religious leaders in chapter 23, especially verse 35.  See also Christ's lament over Jerusalem at the end of that chapter.  Nonetheless, my study Bible notes, God showed His patience by waiting some forty years from the time of Christ, giving the entire generation a chance to repent.

"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 group of servants who go out into the highways to invite all they find to the wedding, gathering together both bad and good, represents the apostles sent out to the Gentiles.  That is, those who were not initially invited, but now are called.

"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.'"  My study Bible explains that the wedding garment would have been provided by the king, and therefore there was no excuse for this man for not wearing one.  Therefore the man is speechless.  His refusal to wear the garment that was provided is an illustration of those who refuse God's hospitality, or who want God's Kingdom on their own terms.  Specifically, my study Bible notes, the garment refers to our baptismal garment, and by extension, a life of faith, repentance, virtue, and charity.  Without these, a person will ultimately be cast into outer darkness.  

"For many are called, but few are chosen."  For many is an Aramaic expression which means "for all."

In this parable of the wedding feast, Jesus teaches that the third group of servants who called people to the wedding went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good.   This is a kind of parallel to Christ's parable of the Wheat and the Tares (Matthew 13:24-30).  In both we're given an image of a world in which all are called toward God's salvation, the light of the word of Christ.  There are those who will accept it, and those who will not.  In Christ's beginning parable, that of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23), He symbolizes Himself as one who sows seed, and then depending on the kind of ground the seed falls on (within human beings), spiritual fruits are either produced or not.  So this sense, of all being called and gathered together, "both bad and good," is an image of the world during this period which began with the Incarnation of Christ and His ministry.  All are called through the word of God, which continues today through every means of communication available.  Christian ministries proliferate across the globe through mass media and all other forms of reaching out to people and places on all the "highways" of the world, include virtual ones.  Regardless of denomination, we should see this parable as one that continues to unfold its truths and its reality in the world.  There are many who speak of a "post-Christian" reality, but it seems that all of this -- both evangelization and rejection of Christ's gospel -- is foreseen in the parables of Christ.  This is the condition of the world in which we presently live both from the perspective of the Church (note the capital C) and the Gospels:  the invitation continually goes out to call all to the wedding feast.  The outcome (the judgment of who wears the proper wedding garment and who does not) is not known to us, and we are neither the Judge nor the king in the parable.  But we should not be dismayed by whatever we think we see, for it's all included here (including the heresies symbolized in the Tares, as one traditional interpretation teaches).  Christ's Incarnation began the present period in which we live, and all of it is considered to be the period of "the End" -- the time in which we live in preparation for Resurrection and Judgment.  This is the time in which we are all called, and we will all be seen at the wedding feast either as having accepted and worn our wedding garment or not.  Do not be dismayed by rejection and hatred of Christ or the Gospel, but know that we live in this period of both the bad and the good.  We are not the judges, but we're each given a calling and a command to endure in our faith and the duties to which we're called to love God and neighbor, to be faithful servants of Christ, and to love one another as Christ loved us.

Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?

 

 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 in the temple (speaking to the chief priests and elders who quizzed Him regarding His authority):  "Hear another parable.  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 him.  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 (from yesterday's reading -- see above, and also the parable of the Two Sons in Wednesday's reading), today's parable also proclaims the transfer of the Kingdom from the faithless Jews to the Gentiles.  Today's is set as a joyful wedding banquet (see also Matthew 25:1-13), an important theme, as Christ is often called the "Bridegroom" (Matthew 9:15, John 3:29), and also St. Paul will use a marriage analogy for the Kingdom (Ephesians 5:21-33).  The repeated sending out of the servants, my study Bible says, shows the Father's great desire to have His people with Him in the Kingdom.  This first group is interpreted to be Moses and those with him, while the second group in the verse that follows is composed of the prophets.  These groups call those initially invited -- the spiritual history of Judaism we can read in the Old Testament Scriptures.  The third group later in the parable represents the apostles sent out to the Gentiles, those who were not initially invited, but are now called.

"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."  The oxen, my study Bible comments, represent the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, while the fatted cattle represent the eucharistic bread of the New Covenant.  The Greek word for fatted in better translated "wheat-fed," according to my study Bible -- or even more literally it is "formed from wheat" (as in Luke 15:23, in the parable of the Prodigal Son).  Therefore, both the Old and New Covenants are fulfilled at the wedding of Christ and Christ's Church.

"And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city."   St. John Chrysostom is cited by my study Bible as explaining that this detail of the king who burned up their city is a prophesy by Jesus of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70, therefore attributing this destruction to an act of God rather than simply that of human beings.  Nonetheless, waiting forty years -- a full generation from the time of Christ -- gave to an entire generation a chance to repent.  

 

"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.'"   My study Bible explains that the wedding garment would have been provided by the king, and therefore the man had no excuse for not wearing one.  So, he is speechless.   His refusal to wear the garment that was provided is an image of those who refuse God's hospitality, or who want God's Kingdom on their own terms.  Specifically, the garment refers to the baptismal garment, and by extension, a life of faith, repentance, virtue, and charity, as my study Bible explains it.  Without these one will ultimately be cast into outer darkness. 

"For many are called, but few are chosen."  As in Matthew 20:24-28, we recall that for many is an Aramaic expression which means "for all."

It is perhaps useful for us to consider that for the Jews, the Gentiles and their ways were generally considered an abomination, especially in terms of power-hungry and ruthless rulers that characterized them.  So to be taught this parable, in which so many are called from the highways (suggesting the highways by which one could travel the Roman Empire), must have been shocking on a great many levels at the time of its hearing.  It might be relevant for us also to consider that this word translated as "highway" is also the same word Jesus used for Himself, translated as "way" -- as in "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).   Of course, by now Jesus has already taught a couple of rather stunning parables, and in yesterday's reading referred to Himself as the Stone which will become the chief cornerstone, warning of judgment in His language.  In yesterday's reading we were told that "when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them."  They even sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, because the people think Jesus is a prophet.  So the leaders have clearly understood Jesus' meaning in this respect.  But let us consider that out of the pagan world, with all of its differences from Jewish spiritual history, would be the ones called to Christ in the New Covenant.  Our Bibles all contain what we call the Old Testament Scriptures, and testify to the entirety of the Church understanding that our spiritual heritage is from Judaism, as, in the words of Christ Himself to the Samaritan woman in John's Gospel, "Salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22).  If we look closely at this parable, however, it isn't simply the Jewish religious leaders who are warned here about the great wedding banquet to come.  For also those called from the highways are themselves at risk of being cast into outer darkness; where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (in language already known from the Old Testament Scriptures).  That is, we who presently call ourselves the faithful, are also in danger of being cast out of this wedding feast.  If we look at the excuses altogether, we see those who refuse the invitation and simply aren't willing to come, others who  are too busy with their worldly affairs and "made light of" the invitation.  Both of these excuses are also quite familiar to us in our modern world, our spiritual lives not taken seriously at all but considered extraneous or not that important compared to the exigencies of the day when it comes to livelihood or property, many simply disdaining to bother at all and dismissing religious matters (or specifically Christ and the Church) out of hand as not worthy of much attention.  But the wedding garment puts us into another frame, of one who was called and comes to the wedding, but is unprepared due to a refusal of what has been offered.  In this I believe we can read not simply the importance of living out our faith here in this world, but also of the great and precious nature of the gift itself.  If we can't recognize its value, if we can't assign the worthiness and substance that is the true nature of the gift to what we're offered, then we're going to miss it.  We're going to go through life having failed to understand the worth of what we're offered, and even in the context of this wedding feast, the true substance of life.  And there we come to what seems to be quite common:  a failure to understand and assign the real value of what we're offered as spiritual life through Christ and the mission and ministry of the Church in its broadest sense, including the work of the Holy Spirit and all that is available to us -- saints, angels, prayers, and the richness of what can go into the creation of the wedding garment.  This, in my experience and corner of the world, is all too common among so many contemporaries for whom a spiritual history of Christianity is discarded or devalued.  And so the parable is prescient, and gives us a picture not only painted for these religious leaders face-to-face with Christ and His ministry, and seeking to seize Him and eliminate Him, but also for us today.  Jesus gives us a picture of reality, and paints an image of great loss in failing to actually live out what He offers to us, to assign it worth and value, to take it seriously and pay attention.  It is a loss indeed to lose the garments of beauty with which we could be clothed if we but work at this and take it seriously.  Like Adam and Eve in the beginning of the Scriptures, who realize their nakedness after they've ignored the guidance of God, we are capable of being clothed in the most beautiful garment fit for this ultimate cosmic royal wedding feast.  But will we accept to fulfill it, live it, accept it as the gift of the beauty, goodness, and truth we're offered in the invitation? 

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.

Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?

Parable of the Wedding Feast, Dionisy.  Fresco, 1502.  Virgin Nativity Cathedral  (former Ferapontov Monastery, UNESCO World Heritage Site), Vologda Oblast, Russia

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 into 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 replied to the leadership in the temple:  "Hear another parable:  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 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.  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." ' "  As in yesterday's reading (see above), Jesus presents yet another parable to the religious leaders, warning them and telling them of God's repeated calling, and the transfer of God's kingdom to others who will respond.  This parable is set as a joyful wedding banquet (see also 25:1-13).  Christ is often called the "Bridegroom" (9:15; John 3:29), and my study bible points out that St. Paul will also use a marriage analogy for the Kingdom (Ephesians 5:21-33).  We note the repeated sending out of the servants by the king (once again, in similarity to the previous parable, above).  My study bible says that this shows the God the Father's great desire to have God's people with Him in the Kingdom.  The first group is interpreted to refer to Moses and those with him, while the second group is composed of the prophets.  These are the groups who call those initially invited -- the Jews.  The oxen represent the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, according to my study bible.  The fatted cattle by contrast represent the eucharistic bread of the New Covenant.  (Fatted in the Greek of the text is better translated as "wheat-fed," or even more literally "formed from wheat.")  Therefore, both the Old and the New Covenants are fulfilled in this wedding of Christ and the Church, His Bride, God's people.

"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."  My study bible cites St. John Chrysostom here, who teaches that Christ is prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70, thereby attributing this destruction to an act of God rather than simply that of human beings.  But still, the patience of God is evident, as it was 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.  But when the king came into 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."  My study bible explains that the wedding garment would have been provided by the king, and therefore the man had no excuse for not wearing one; therefore he is speechless.   His refusal to wear the garment that was provided is an illustration of those who refuse God's hospitality, or who want God's Kingdom on their own terms.  More specifically, the garment refers to the baptismal garment, and through extension, a life of faith, repentance, virtue, and charity.  Without these, a person will ultimately be cast into outer darkness. 

"For many are called, but few are chosen."  For many, as we have encountered elsewhere, is an Aramaic expression that means "for all."

Christ's warnings given through the parables of yesterday and today are given to the leadership, and so, effectively, they warn both broadly and specifically of this Kingdom that will be taken away and given to others.  Yesterday's parable of the Wicked Vinedressers was about those who repeatedly rejected, harmed, and killed those servants (meaning the prophets) who came calling people back to God, the landowner.  In today's parable, the king (God) gives a wedding feast, a banquet for the marriage of His son with the bride, who is the Church, or God's people.  Those who refuse to attend, too busy with their own concerns, will lose even what they have.  Those who appear but without the wedding garment provided by the king, will also be cast out of this kingdom.  It is a sense in which refused hospitality is not a benign act, but carries significant results.  Repeatedly in the Gospels, we are given a sense in which a refusal to accept or acknowledge grace -- particularly in the form of a spiritual truth which is revealed, given, or offered -- carries with it its own result.  In this case, one could say that the "outer darkness" into which the guest was cast was a matter of his own choosing, his own refusal or failure to wear the wedding garment.  The invitation of the king and what was on offer is not a question of a sale, of offering a good in the marketplace that one can take or leave, but rather an offer of life, of citizenship in that which gives life in the Kingdom.  And here we can start with an understanding of Christ, and how this parable applies to us all.  While it is told to the leadership as warning for what they are doing in their rejection and soon-to-follow persecution of Christ, this parable remains in effect for us and all who follow.  It is about what it means to refuse spiritual truth, a failure to come to terms with our potential as human beings for justice and mercy.   Jesus, as a person has no airs He puts on about Himself.  He has no formal title or recognized worldly authority to call upon.  But what He has instead is truth, just as John the Baptist carried within him a truth given by God, and so was considered to be a prophet (see Wednesday's reading).  Jesus has not declared to the world that He is the Messiah; instead He has lived, embodied, and fulfilled the role of Messiah, in a ministry unfolded in faith to the will of the Father.  There is no hypocrisy here on His part, there is only truth.  On the other hand, this is contrasted by the hypocrisy of the leadership, who secretly plot one way, and put a different face on for fear of the public's support of Christ (and of John the Baptist).  The outrage of the leaders in response to Christ's truth is typical of something we can observe in the world all around us; to tell the truth is a dangerous thing.   Those who cannot respond to truth by embracing it will in turn seek frequently to trample down the messenger, as Christ acknowledges when He instructed the disciples, "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces" (Matthew 7:6).    So powerful, so potent is this effect that we are taught to be discerning with our truth.  On a worldly scale of manipulation of power, we may suffer for telling the truth.  But at the levels of spiritual power which Christ speaks of in today's parable, to refuse God's truth has an effect.  In the case of the interpretation of this parable and its reference to the eventual destruction in the Siege of Jerusalem we see the lag of time as mercy; but nevertheless a refusal of something so essential to our souls and the reality of the revelation of God -- which is a cosmic event -- has its effect.  The depth to which this particular truth reaches into us confers its own reality on soul and spirit, in turn affecting body.  We simply don't see the effect and the pattern quickly in time, but nevertheless this does not indicate a lack of effect.  This parable, as told to the leadership, is a truth-telling and a prophecy regarding the effect of their refusal of His ministry and His Incarnation.  But it's really a parable that applies to us today, and to all people, in some sense, as well.  When are we confronted with truth in our lives, especially a spiritual truth we ought to acknowledge?  When do we choose to refuse it?  When do we tell ourselves it doesn't really matter?  When do mercy and justice and all the teachings of God's humility in loving us come in for sharp refusal, lack of recognition, and especially a denial to put on our wedding garment?  We can see this happening in our world all the time, in all times and places, and especially in the abuse of power, both public and private.  God calls us to live in a certain way in this world, to respect God's truth, and living in this world in a way that reflects that truth, making our choices with good judgment.  Where is that righteousness and how can we find it?  The parable is a declaration to us all that it truly matters, and that it is our respect for truth -- or the lack of it -- that will always tell, and have its consequences, whether we wish to recognize it in our own lives and as our responsibilities, or not.  The self-righteousness and hypocrisy of the religious leadership tell us a great deal about ourselves, if we will only listen.   To deeply honor truth requires great humility, while the refusal of a gesture or act of pure love and grace requires a particular blindness and hardness of heart.  Let us consider the wedding to which we are all called.

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

In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught, as He spoke to the leadership in the temple in Jerusalem:   "Hear another parable:  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 leave 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.  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."  In the readings from yesterday (see above) and Tuesday, Jesus has given parables in which, like this one, He gives a message of the transfer of the Kingdom from the Jews who place no faith in Him to the Gentiles.  This one is set as a joyful wedding banquet (see also 25:1-13).  Christ is often called the "Bridegroom" (9:15, John 3:29), and St. Paul uses a marriage analogy for the Kingdom (Ephesians 5:21-33).  Here in the parable, the repeated sending out of servants shows the Father's great desire to have His people with Him in the Kingdom, my study bible says.  This is similar to the many servants sent and abused in the parable of the vinedresses in yesterday's reading.  The first group of servants in today's parable is interpreted to be Moses and those with him, while the second group is composed of the prophets.  These groups call those who are initially invited, the Jews.  The third group represents the apostles sent to the Gentiles, those who were not initially invited but are now called.  The oxen represent the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, while the fatted cattle represent the eucharistic bread of the New Covenant.  (Fatted from the original Greek would be better translated as "wheat-fed" or even more literally "formed from wheat.")  So both the Old and the New Covenants are fulfilled at the wedding of Christ and His Church.

"But when the king heard about it, he was furious.  And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city."  My study bible cites St. John Chrysostom here, who teaches that Christ is prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70, thereby attributing this destruction to an act of God rather than simply to that of human beings.  Nevertheless, there is patience and mercy shown by waiting forty years from the time of Christ, giving the whole of the generation a chance to repent.

"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."  The wedding garment would have been provided by the king, so therefore the man had no excuse for not wearing one.  Thereby he is speechless.  My study bible says the refusal to wear the garment that was given is an illustration of those who refuse God's hospitality, or who rather want His Kingdom on their own terms.  Specifically, this garment refers to the baptismal garment, and by extension, a life of faith, repentance, virtue, and charity.  Without these, my study bible says, a person will ultimately be cast into outer darkness.  As in 20:28, for many is an Aramaic and Greek expression which means "for all."

Since Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem, His actions have spoken of the consequences of rejection of the Kingdom, the lack of faith in those who have been well-prepared to receive Christ.  Of course, each of these conversations have taken place in the context of confrontation with the religious authorities, the religious leaders of the people, and so the impact of these parables and Jesus' statements is meaningful before these men who are fully prepared to receive and know the Messiah.  The parable itself, in today's reading, illustrates the fullness of preparation, and the lack of excuses, the extent of the king's mercy and efforts so that all are included and prepared for the wedding feast.  But the refusal of the king's servants, the failure to respond to repeated invitations, and the lack of a wedding garment among those who do come, ultimately has an effect and does not go unanswered.  The question here is what we are to think about God's mercy.  How long do we refuse it?  Can we listen to the words of Christ, can we understand the goodness in His ministry, and refuse?  Suppose we are the religious leadership of the people, those who teach and are responsible for the words of the prophets, the fullness of the Scriptures, and the transmission of all of Jewish spiritual heritage to the people.  Would we be responsible for our response to Christ?  In the cleansing of the temple, and in Jesus' reply to these authorities regarding their treatment of John the Baptist, we see and hear a Jesus who finally declares that the time has arrived for judgment to be known.  It doesn't imply that God's mercy is finished.  But it does imply that for these men and for their generation, the time is now to pay attention.  This is Jesus' hour.  His time has come.  He is in Jerusalem for a purpose, and He knows that this is the final week of His life, and that the Passion is to come.  His ministry has continued until this point for three years, but now these men will plot successfully to put Him to death, and it is the hour of His glory.  While God is always prepared for our repentance, there comes a time when we have received sufficient warning and preparation for us to make that decision, and our failure becomes a refusal.  It is important to understand that this cuts two ways; it's not simply that we are able to make a choice, but that we diminish our own capacities for making good choices by continual refusal of mercy and love.  In the language of the Scriptures, our heart becomes hardened.  We can neither see nor hear spiritually, and this is something to take very seriously (13:14-15).  Christ gives us to understand that we are all called to this place of reception of the Creator, this wedding feast for everyone, but our repeated and continued refusals have consequences.  God's love and mercy are endless, but our time is limited.  In yesterday's reading and commentary, we remarked upon St. John Chrysostom's understanding of the difference between one who stumbles upon the stone which is Christ, and the one upon whom that stone falls.  We know of God's mercy, but do we understand the consequences of our own choices?