The Called of God
Roy Blizzard III © 2015
Text: Matthew 22:1-14
And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, 2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, 3 and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. 4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. 5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: 6 and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. 7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. 9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. 10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. 11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: 12 and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
Three questions at the very least have to be asked to fully understand this passage:
- What does this mean?
- Who does this apply to?
- Why is this important?
This can’t mean that God pulls both unrighteous and righteous into His wedding feast. That is simply impossible, but that has often been proposed. No, God will only allow the righteous into the wedding feast. This is further explained where it shows the man who arrives with no wedding clothes on. If this wicked man were shown to stay, then maybe this commentary would be true, but he is bound hand and foot and cast into darkness. No unrighteousness will be allowed into heaven so what does this passage in Matthew mean for us who are in church today?
This passage that Jesus speaks is actually a commentary on Two things. One a passage out of Ecclesiastes 8:4-17Amplified Bible (AMP)
4 For the word of a king is authority and power, and who can say to him, What are you doing? 5 Whoever observes the [king’s] command will experience no harm, and a wise man’s mind will know both when and what to do. 6 For every purpose and matter has its [right] time and judgment, although the misery and wickedness of man lies heavily upon him [who rebels against the king]. 7 For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how and when it will be? 8 There is no man who has power over the spirit to retain the breath of life, neither has he power over the day of death; and there is no discharge in battle [against death], neither will wickedness deliver those who are its possessors and given to it. 9 All this have I seen while applying my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his own hurt or to the other man’s. 10 And so I saw the wicked buried—those who had come and gone out of the holy place [but did not thereby escape their doom], and they are [praised and] forgotten in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity (emptiness, falsity, vainglory, and futility)! 11 Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, the hearts of the sons of men are fully set to do evil. 12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and his days [seemingly] are prolonged [in his wickedness], yet surely I know that it will be well with those who [reverently] fear God, who revere and worship Him, realizing His continual presence. 13 But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not [reverently] fear and worship God. 14 Here also is a futility that goes on upon the earth: there are righteous men who fare as though they were wicked, and wicked men who fare as though they were righteous. I say that this also is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)! 15 Then I commended enjoyment, because a man has no better thing under the sun [without God] than to eat and to drink and to be joyful, for that will remain with him in his toil through the days of his life which God gives him under the sun. 16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to see the business activity and the painful effort that take place upon the earth—how neither day nor night some men’s eyes sleep— 17 Then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun—because however much a man may toil in seeking, yet he will not find it out; yes, more than that, though a wise man thinks and claims he knows, yet will he not be able to find it out.
The Second thing that Matthew 22:14 is a comment on is a passage out of the
Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Berakoth, Folio 7a, where there is a discussion on the righteous and wicked.
- Johanan further said in the name of R. Jose: Three things did Moses ask of the Holy One, blessed be He, and they were granted to him. He asked that the Divine Presence should rest upon Israel, and it was granted to him. For it is said: Is it not in that Thou goest with us [so that we are distinguished, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth]. He asked that the Divine Presence should not rest upon the idolaters, and it was granted to him. For it is said: ‘So that we are distinguished, I and Thy people’. He asked that He should show him the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He, and it was granted to him. For it is said: Show me now Thy ways. Moses said before Him: Lord of the Universe, why is it that some righteous men prosper and others are in adversity, some wicked men prosper and others are in adversity? He replied to him: Moses, the righteous man who prospers is the righteous man the son of a righteous man; the righteous man who is in adversity is a righteous man the son of a wicked man. The wicked man who prospers is a wicked man son of a righteous man; the wicked man who is in adversity is a wicked man son of a wicked man.
The Master said above: ‘The righteous man who prospers is a righteous man son of a righteous man; the righteous man who is in adversity is a righteous man son of a wicked man’. But this is not so! For, lo, one verse says: Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and another verse says: Neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers. And a contradiction was pointed out between these two verses, and the answer was given that there is no contradiction. The one verse deals with children who continue in the same course as their fathers, and the other verse with children who do not continue in the course of their fathers! — [You must] therefore [say that] the Lord said thus to Moses: A righteous man who prospers is a perfectly righteous man; the righteous man who is in adversity is not a perfectly righteous man. The wicked man who prospers is not a perfectly wicked man; the wicked man who is in adversity is a perfectly wicked man. Now this [saying of R. Johanan] is in opposition to the saying of R. Meir. For R. Meir said: only two [requests] were granted to him, and one was not granted to him. For it is said: And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, although he may not deserve it, And I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy, although he may not deserve it.
So we can see that the real answer to this passage telling us that “many are called but few are chosen” lies within the Jewish writings and commentaries on the Old Testament, specifically Ecclesiastes and the Jews wanted to know this question, Why is there a righteous man who fares WELL and why is there a righteous man who fares BADLY?
Jesus was telling us and the unrighteous Pharisees that they were acting evil because their father was evil. Again this was a commentary just as Jesus was telling them in John that their father was the devil.
People have to understand that the unrighteous must put on a coat of righteousness in order to enter into the presence of the King Messiah. In order to do so one must realize that they must repent, be baptized into Jesus and arise into a righteous life within Jesus.
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