Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
And Jesus said, “’Many are called, but few are chosen.’”
No doubt, these are familiar words to us. Our Lord speaks them at the conclusion of His analogy that “’the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a certain king, who made a marriage for his son. . . . Many are called, but few are chosen’” This parable is in addition to the others He spoke back in chapter 13 when He likened the Kingdom of Heaven to wheat and tares or to a mustard seed or to treasure hidden in a field or to a pearl of inestimable value or to a dragnet full of good and bad fish (Mt. 13:10-50).
Here, however, the Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a great marriage supper hosted by “’a certain king’” for his son – an image readily picked up by St. John the Theologian in his Book of Revelation wherein the marriage of the Lamb with His Bride come down from Heaven, the Church, is consummated in a great festal banquet. “’Write,’” says the angel to the Theologian, “’Blessed are those who are called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!’” (Rv. 19:7-9). It is the vision of the Old Testament Prophet, Isaiah, fulfilled, that the Lord of Sabaoth shall “shall make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined” (Is. 25:6-8). It is a victory feast celebrating the final defeat of death in the mountain of God. “[T]he Lord has spoken it.” “’These are the true sayings of God,’” we are assured. We can take this divine revelation and promise to the bank! “’Blessed are they that are called unto the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!’”
Presumably, then, this “’certain king’” is God the Father and His Son, our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ. As some of the Fathers teach, this wedding is the Incarnation of the Word of God and the banquet is that of the feast of the Incarnation, that is, of the Holy Eucharist wherein we partake of the very Body and Blood of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world thereby receiving unto ourselves and into our bodies and souls His own divine nature, thus transfiguring and transforming us into the same image from one degree of glory to another (Rm. 8:29-30; 2 Cr. 3:18; 1 Pe. 1:19-21; 2 Pe. 1:4; Rv. 13:8). For the Communion which we receive, is it not the Body of Christ? Is it not the Blood of Jesus Christ (1 Cr. 10:16)? For this Mystery of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is the very means of the grace of the Holy Spirit abundantly poured out upon us and into our souls so that we might be made a new creature – a new man – through these divine energies, “created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness” (Rm. 5:5; 2 Cr. 5:17; Ep. 4:24; Co. 3:10; Ts. 3:4-7). The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto this, Jesus says.
Ironically, however, when this Kingdom was offered to our ancient Hebrew ancestors it was not well received, even treated as insignificant. Like the seed in the parable that fell on the rock-hard compacted ground or fell among thorns and thistles or on stony paths, it found no good soil to sprout and bring forth fruit in the heart and lives of those first invited, those first called to the Supper of the King (Mt. 13:3-9, 18-23; Lk. 8:4-8, 11-15). Indeed, the very image employed in our parable is appalling in its nonchalance and lackadaisicalness on the part of those so invited to so prestigious and awesome an occasion! It is the king himself who invites! It is the king himself who summons to join in the festive celebration. Is this not good news? Should it not strike hearts and souls as a joyous event to be extended an invitation to such an auspicious occasion as a royal wedding feast? Could we imagine ignoring a royal, handwritten invitation mailed to us – no – personally hand-delivered to us by a chosen servant of the king?
And, yet, is this not what happens here? Those who had been invited and summoned “’made light of it,’” says our Lord, as though it was unimportant and insignificant – less important and less significant than what was before them! Can we imagine such a thing? And, yet, Archbishop Dimitri of blessed memory says, we do it all the time. The day of the banquet rolls around – the Lord’s Day Feast – and we, too, “go to our ‘farms’ or to our ‘merchandise,’ whatever form these might take in our own situations. The difference,” he says,
between us and the invited guests in the parable is that we tend to justify our negligence. We say we are very busy, but we also seem to think that the other areas of our life are of equal, if not greater, importance. Some of us reason that it is not so much the Lord Himself Who has laid these hard requirements upon us as it is other men, particularly the clergy. The guests of the parable rejected the invitation outright; we seem to think we can accept or reject according to our mood and that everything will still be all right. Our problem seems to be, in spite of what the Lord Himself said, that we find no conflict between serving God and serving this world, or mammon (The Parables, Archbishop Dimitri).
Instead of being Christ-oriented or Kingdom of Heaven-oriented, we succumb to the orientation of the world that revolves around our egos. Thus, when we receive an invitation we believe we can accept or reject it without consequences or, perhaps, at least, without heavy consequences. But, according to the Archbishop, an invitation from God should not be heard as a “take it or leave it” call. Rather, an invitation, especially one from God Himself, imposes an obligation upon us – an obligation that not only demands but necessitates a free will response on our part. There is no middle of the road to strattle: we are either in or out, yes or no, seated at the Table with the King and His Son or hog-tied and cast out into outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Thus, “’many are called, but few are chosen.’” These words of our Lord serve, then, as a commentary on the Kingdom of Heaven as well as His concluding thought and a warning to us all – to the many so called by Him. It is quite possible to fall from the good graces of the King. “Therefore,” the Apostle warns in one of his Epistles, “let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cr. 10:12). Those invited in the parable showed no signs of repentance; they demonstrated no humility. It is clear that they did not see themselves as unworthy of the King’s call and invitation, but rather that the King and His Son were not worth their time or their energy! I shudder even at saying such a thing! It’s hard for me to imagine Christians – those who have accepted the call and invitation in the waters of the Mystery of Holy Baptism – who do not worship God every Sunday in His Church but find other things, other places to go and to be. “’Many are called,” Jesus says, “’but few are chosen.’”
It is for good reason, then, that Sacred Scripture teaches us “not to receive the grace of God in vain” (2 Cr. 6:1), but to “be even more diligent to make your call and election sure” (2 Pe. 1:10). Or, have we forgotten that we have been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb from our old sins (Ep. 1:7-12; Co. 1:12-18; 2 Pe. 1:9; 1 Jn. 1:7), so that we might “walk worthy of the calling with which [we] were called, . . . .” (Ep. 4:1; 1 Th. 2:12)?
Perhaps this is what happened to the fellow at the end of the parable who failed or neglected to dress appropriately for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb? Of all of those gathered joyously about the Table of the Kingdom, this one alone is ill-clad for so awesome an occasion. We are not told how he got in without the proper attire nor why he wasn’t wearing the proper wedding garment. All we know is that to attend the Marriage Supper, we must be clothed with the wedding garment. The King spies him and questions him, but there is no explanation, no apology offered by him or humility displayed. Almost defiantly, he stands there in silence having been rightly judged by the King. And so, not having the wedding garment, he is ordered to be bound hand and foot, taken away, and cast into outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Just what is the wedding garment we are to wear because this parable ultimately is about the Kingdom of Heaven and how we respond to the call of God? Some of the Fathers suggest it is our baptismal garment, the robe of incorruption bestowed by God upon us, which the Deacon prays we may preserve undefiled and blameless unto the dread Day of Christ our God (Baptismal Great Litany).
Some suggest it is faith. But, as St. Gregory the Great offers, “But who could have entered the wedding hall without Baptism or faith? But he who has not believed is by the very fact outside the Church.” What the wedding crasher lacked – and what we must wear – is the garment of righteous love which is the very garment of Jesus Christ Himself Who put on love, along with our flesh, and “for us men and for our salvation came down from Heaven” (Nicene Creed). There is no greater love than our Lord’s that we can have. “’If you keep My commandments,’” says our Lord, “’you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. . . . This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you’” (Jn. 15:9-17). And, again, on the night of His betrayal, having humbly stooped to wash the feet of His disciples – even those of His impious betrayer! – Jesus instructs them – and us, “’A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another’” (Jn. 13:34-35). It is this very love St. John the Theologian expounds upon and raises up in his catholic Epistles as the identifier of the true lover of God and man.
The man cast out of the wedding feast was, for all intents and purposes, not underdressed, but naked, devoid of the garment of righteous love that only Jesus Christ can give (1 Cr. 13:1-13). If we have faith in this Jesus, then that faith must look like something, be palpable and incarnated in our flesh (Jm. 2:14-26). A sign of our new creation in the Son of God is “faith working through love” (Ga. 5:6; 6:15). If Christ is our righteousness that we have put on in Baptism – our garment of salvation and robe of gladness – then His righteous love must cover us and be revealed in us and through us (Is. 61:10; Jr. 23:5-6; 1 Cr. 1:30; Rm. 13:14; Ga. 3:27). This is what the Theologian in his Revelation sees as the Lamb and His Bride are united in the Mystery of Holy Matrimony: “And to her [the Church] it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints” (Rv. 19:7-9). To stand thus before the King at His Son’s Marriage Supper, we must wear the finest apparel faith can buy and love can weave (1 Tm. 1:5). “’For many are called, but few are chosen.’”
Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
PROPERS:
Co. 1:12-18
Mt. 22:1-14