Matthew 22:11-14
“But after the king went in to see the ones who reclined at
the table to eat, he saw in that place a man who has not clothed himself in the
garment of the wedding celebration. And he
says to him, “My associate, how did you enter in here while not having the garment
of the wedding celebration?” And he was
speechless. Then the king said to his
servants, “After tying his feet and hands, throw him out into the darkness
outside. There will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth. For many are called,
and few chosen.”
Thoughts for Today
First Thought:
As we look to this portion of the parable, let’s first make
sure that we understand that there were two very common rabbinic parables about
this topic at the time of Jesus. The
first rabbinic story was about a king who invited people to a feast without
telling them when it would start. The
wise ones got ready immediately and then waited for the call of the king. The foolish ones put off getting ready until
they heard the summons, but by then it was too late. In this story we have a lesson much like the
parable of the 10 virgins found in Matthew 25:1-13. In the second rabbinic parable speaks about a
king who gives clothing to his subjects.
The wise subjects stow away the clothing for when they are to have an
audience with the king. In this way they
are always ready with something to wear.
The foolish subjects take the king’s garment and wear it around at once
in order to impress the people around them.
But by wearing it immediately, they have nothing proper to wear when the
king summons them into an audience. It
would seem that Jesus has brought both of these stories together in this
parable. But what is neat to see is that
much like today, Jesus’ teaching took common and well known stories from His
own day and He repurposed them into His own instruction. In this parable, we get a glimpse into Jesus’
methodology.
Do you think that it is neat to see Jesus using the stories
of His own day in his teaching? What
does this say to you about the importance of knowing your context of
instruction?
Second Thought:
Knowing the context of this story, we can see the story jump
out at us in new and rich meaning. The
verb choice spoken by Jesus about the inconsiderate guest in this parable is
key. Jesus says that the man “has not
clothed himself.” This verb is in the
perfect tense. Jesus is telling us
something about the man’s past and the effects of his past upon the present and
future. At some point in the past, the
man chose to not clothe himself for the wedding celebration. Thus, when the time came for the celebration,
the man was not ready to partake. He
came. Certainly he knew the importance of
coming to the wedding celebration. But
he came unready. This is a major point
of Jesus’ teaching. He was not ready for
his audience with the king. He was in a
state of being ill-prepared and it showed when he came into the feast. Jesus is telling us that while we don’t have
to be perfect, we do need to at least be prepared by taking what God gives to
us freely and using it to make us ready.
God’s grace is freely given. We
do need to embrace it and make it the core of our life before the king summons
us to the great wedding feast.
Are you ready? Have
you embraced God’s grace? Have you
prepared yourself for the summon of the king of this universe?
Third Thought:
Also notice that the man was
speechless. It isn’t like he never got a
garment. Had he never gotten a garment,
he would have had a ready excuse! But he
is speechless because he knows that there is no excuse. He knows he was ill-prepared, and he is
silent before the king. The king has him
bound and thrown into the outer darkness.
And then we hear the famous line from Jesus. Many are called, but few are chosen. In fact, we know that Jesus is actually underselling
the reality at this point. Everyone is
invited into God’s grace. Everyone can
come to the great wedding supper of the lamb as portrayed in Revelation 19:6-10. Not just many are called, everyone is
called! There is nobody who is outside
of God’s grace. But the reality is that
few are chosen. Few will receive God’s
grace and put it on. Few will embrace the
free gift. Many will be like this man
and find out only too late how unprepared they were. It’s not me to judge who is in that category,
of course. That is God’s domain. But it is my job to hear the words of Christ
and ponder their truth deeply. Many are
called, few are chosen. There will
indeed be much weeping and gnashing of teeth.
How do you interpret the words many and
few in Jesus’ closing remarks for this section?
Why do you think the man was speechless when the king ask him why he was
not in the proper attire?
Passage for Tomorrow: Matthew 22:15-22
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