Many are called but few are chosen. We can establish from today’s Gospel that Christ wasn’t just talking about two thousand years ago. It’s message reaches even to today.
People do not always heed the message. They don’t always utilise the invitation to attain the Kingdom of heaven.
It isn’t difficult to pinpoint people who don’t heed the message: people in our own life, people we see in the media, on TV, on our Facebook and Instagram feed. That’s the easy part. After all, it’s easy to cast judgement. The hardship comes when we force ourselves to view our own life through the prism of the Gospel. It isn’t a comfortable thing. Not if we do it properly, anyway. If we are true to listening, to viewing ourselves without the usual spin, we realize that we aren’t so deserving of our invitation to the Wedding feast.
Throughout the Gospel we see that the religious people – those who felt they had a special relationship with God – are often the ones who end up the worse-off, as Jesus turns his attention to the outcasts, to the gentiles, to those whom society deemed unclean and sinful and unworthy. This Gospel is no exception. Those who were invited proved unworthy.
All of this is wonderful, inspiring food for thought. And, ultimately, it is a road to sanctification. But it requires being brutally honest about ourselves. Self-awareness isn’t attainable without being humble, truly humble. We must cut through our own spin and question exactly why we are not worthy, exactly why we do not take Christ up on that invitation. And such points are the beginning of our new life in him, because it is the foundation on which we can build a closer worthiness to attend the wedding feast.
GOSPEL
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew
22:1-14
Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a feast for his son’s wedding. He sent his servants to call those who had been invited, but they would not come. Next he sent some more servants. “Tell those who have been invited” he said “that I have my banquet all prepared, my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, everything is ready. Come to the wedding.” But they were not interested: one went off to his farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his servants, maltreated them and killed them. The king was furious. He despatched his troops, destroyed those murderers and burnt their town. Then he said to his servants, “The wedding is ready; but as those who were invited proved to be unworthy, go to the crossroads in the town and invite everyone you can find to the wedding”.
So these servants went out on to the roads and collected together everyone they could find, bad and good alike; and the wedding hall was filled with guests. When the king came in to look at the guests he noticed one man who was not wearing a wedding garment, and said to him, “How did you get in here, my friend, without a wedding garment?” And the man was silent. Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth”. For many are called, but few are chosen.’
The Gospel of the Lord.