April 19
“Many are called, but few are chosen,” Matthew 22:14.
Jesus had gone to the temple to teach and to confront the religious leaders with the truths of God’s Word. He was confronting some of His worst enemies. Again He taught them through parables, the common, everyday stories from real life which were given a heavenly meaning.
He told the parable of a certain king who prepared a marriage feast for his son. The king’s servants were sent out into the community to invite people to the wedding. Many or most of them were not willing to come. So the king sent out other servants to invite people and to inform them that a huge banquet was prepared and everything was ready for a wonderful celebration. However, they made light of the invitation and went their own way. Some of them even mistreated the servants and killed some of them!
When the servants reported back to the king what had happened, the king was furious. He sent his soldiers to destroy such violent people. Then he told his servants that everything for the wedding was ready, but those who had been invited did not deserve to come. He told his servants to go out into the highways and byways and invite whomever they met to come to the wedding feast, and thus the wedding hall was filled.
The king came to view and greet the guests. He saw a man who was not properly dressed for the occasion. He was not wearing a wedding garment. The king asked the man how he got into the wedding hall without a wedding garment. The man was speechless, and he was cast out into the darkness. Then Jesus spoke the chief point of the parable: “Many are called, but few are chosen.”
What was the point? The invitation of the glorious Gospel, the Good News about our salvation through faith in Jesus as God’s Son and our Savior, was rejected by most of the religious leaders and the people in general. Jesus was despised, scorned, ridiculed, laughed at, and eventually crucified as a condemned criminal. O, the invitation to believe and trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and to prepare to enjoy the glories of heaven was trampled underfoot. Many were called, but few believed and were received into the family of God.
Today, it is no different. The Gospel invitation to accept God’s grace and mercy offered through the message of forgiveness gained for all people is proclaimed and heard in one way or another almost throughout the whole world. However, the invitation falls on deaf ears by the vast majority of people. Few respond, “Yes, Lord, I believe!”
People will flock to celebrate with the world and the places of entertainment are overcrowded while Christ-exalting churches are half-filled! Multitudes tell God, “Later, Lord! Not now!” Others tell Him, “Neither now, nor at any other time!”
Should we just throw up our hands and quit? No, we just keep on inviting! If we are rejected by some in one place, we go to another place. We keep on calling. “See your sin. Repent of the same. And then behold your Savior Jesus, who lived the perfect life, who took your sins upon Himself and suffered and died on the cross to wash them all away.” This is the good invitation. We are invited to prepare for Jesus’ wedding feast in heaven. Our wedding garment is Jesus’ righteousness, which covers all our sins. God loves you! God has forgiven you for Jesus’ sake. Believe and trust in Him and be robed for the occasion.
If you cannot speak like angels, If you cannot preach like Paul,
You can tell the love of Jesus, You can say He died for all.
If you cannot rouse the wicked, With the Judgment’s dread alarms,
You can lead the little children, To the Savior’s waiting arms. Amen.