Many Are Called, Few Are Chosen
Matthew 22:1-14
Introduction
There are Bible passages that leave us a bit unsettled and today’s text is one of them. The parable we are looking at today may be a variation of a story that Jesus told more than once. There is a different version of it in Luke 14.
It’s a parable about judgment - and every person should make an attempt to hear what Jesus has to say in this story.
N. T. Wright said of this parable that it “often bothers people because it doesn’t say what we want it to. We want to hear a nice story about God throwing the party open to everyone… to let everyone in. We don’t want to know about judgment on the wicked, or about demanding standards of holiness, or about weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Bruner: “In the Gospels, only Matthew contains detailed descriptions of the Final Judgment.”
Matthew 22:2-14 NLT
“The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding feast for his son.
3 When the banquet was ready, he sent his servants to notify those who were invited. But they all refused to come!
4 “So he sent other servants to tell them, ‘The feast has been prepared. The bulls and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the banquet!’
5 But the guests he had invited ignored them and went their own way, one to his farm, another to his business.
6 Others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them.
7 “The king was furious, and he sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town.
8 And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor.
9 Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’
10 So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests.
11 “But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the proper clothes for a wedding.
12 ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how is it that you are here without wedding clothes?’ But the man had no reply.
13 Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
As we study this parable, we should note that it addressed the original hearers, it addresses us today, and it looks ahead to the judgment.
1. The Contextual Call: Religious Leaders.
Matthew 21:45 And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them.
There are several elements of this parable that point to the history and experiences of Israel. (Donovan)
-The king (v. 2) is God; The son (v. 2) is Jesus.
-The event is a wedding feast.
-The invited guests (v. 3) are the people of Israel.
-Israel was the recipient of God’s promises (Including the Coming Messiah). These promises came mostly through the prophets - the first servants in the parable. The second and third sets of servants (vv. 4-6) are Christian missionaries. Two responses to the message of Jesus as Risen Savior:
-Some ignored him - just went about daily life. Bruner: “Legitimate occupations become sinister when they are preoccupations. The irony of this depiction is that rejection is not made in the pursuit of evil ends but in the pursuit of good ones.” Jesus encouraged us to seek the Kingdom first. Too many times recreation, work, and consumerism take top priority.
-Others killed the servants and martyrs. Many of the early Christians were tortured and murdered by Israel.
The burned city (v. 7) is Jerusalem (AD 70) - the judgment of God upon the people of Israel. As a result of the rejection by the Jews, the King sends out Christians with the great news - to everyone - The good and bad (v. 8- 10)
-The wedding robe (vv. 11-13) - I want to talk about that in a few minutes.
“For many are invited, but few are chosen.” (NIV)
Although some of this is prophetic about what is to come, the point was not lost on the Pharisees. Matthew 22:15 “Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.” They understood this as an indictment and their rejection of Jesus was a matter of God’s judgment.
2. The Contemporary Call: Christians Today
We are invited to the Feast!
When the invitation goes out to everyone on “the street corners” where they “gathered all the people they could find” - the doors of the kingdom were open to all. Wright: We don’t have to look far in Matthew’s gospel to see who they were. The tax-collectors, the prostitutes, the riff-raff, the nobodies, the blind and lame, the people who
thought they’d been forgotten. They were thrilled that God’s message was for them after all.” Matthew’s Gospel will end with a call from the Risen Savior to Go and Make Disciples of all Nations!
We are invited to the Joy! It’s not a funeral - it’s a celebration! Jesus’ message is called “Good News”! The wedding hall was filled with guests! This is what the King desired in the first place! Lightfoot “The joys of God’s favor, the redemption from sin, the comfort of the Holy Spirit, the fellowship of the saints, and the peace of God that surpasses understanding - these are some of the joys of the Christian that make each day like a feast day.”
We are invited to God’s Righteousness - to become His people in our ways, our talk, our becoming like Him. God calls everyone as they are, but he doesn’t want them to stay where they are! Part of the celebration of this party is the growth, joy, and peace that comes from righteousness.
There was a contextual call to the Jewish leaders, a contemporary call to all Christians today. And…
3. The Coming Call: Judgment Day
The guest with the wrong clothes. This is unsettling! Bruner points out that “the wedding garment of personal righteousness was not necessary in order to be invited to the party - both good and bad were invited - but the garment of personal righteousness is necessary to stay in the party.” So, all are invited … and of those who come, not all are committed. That is the gist of the wedding garment!
Clothing is associated with righteousness in the Bible.
Isaiah 61:10b “For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a headdress, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”
Early Christians often described. conversion as a “change of clothing” (Bruner).
Revelation 19:8 “And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”
Galatians 3:27 “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (See also Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:5-14)
Wright: “God’s kingdom is a kingdom in which love and justice and truth and mercy and holiness reign unhindered. They are the clothes you need to wear for the wedding. And if you refuse to put them on, you are saying you don’t want to stay at the party.”
The judgment includes the truth that many will be lost (13). Matthew includes several references to the terrible punishment of the last day. In each case, it is Jesus who tells us about this. This encourages us to take seriously the challenges of Christian discipleship.
Wagner: “The intensity of this parable and harsh consequences of refused invitations reminds us that living out our faith is a matter of urgency and importance. In other words, attending to our faith lives, our relationship with God, and our communities has eschatological implications.”
Conclusion
This judgment parable had meaning for those who first heard it, for us today, and for the coming day of judgment as well.
Three times the King announces “All is Ready!” Are you coming to the Feast? Many reject the invitation to the banquet.
Our response:
-Accept the invitation to the joy and celebration of the Kingdom!
-Put on the garments that express our desire to remain in good standing with the King.
-Openly invite everyone we can - from the street corners … the good and the bad … it is our job to invite … God will make any final decisions about those who come in!
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Resources
Bruner, Frederick Dale. The Churchbook Matthew 13-28. Eerdmans, 1990
Donovan, Richard Neill.
https://sermonwriter.com/biblical-commentary-old/matthew-221-14/
Lightfoot, Neil R. Lessons from the Parables. Baker, 1965.
McLarty, Philip W. Are You Properly Dressed?
https://sermonwriter.com/sermons/matthew-22-1-14-are-you-properly-dressed-mclarty/
Wagner, Kimberly. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/wedding-banquet-2/commentary-on-matthew-221-14-8
Wright, T. (2004). Matthew for Everyone, Part 2: Chapters 16-28 (p. 82). Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
