Chosen

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/081816.cfm

Ezekiel 36:23-28
Matthew 22:1-14

Many are invited, but few are chosen.

That last line in today’s gospel is a bit of a warning about not being too complacent about your relationship with God.

In the Old Testament, the Jewish people were often referred to as the Chosen ones.  Being “chosen” can give one a sense of entitlement.  One of the definitions in the Merriam-Webster dictionary for entitlement is: “the feeling or belief that you deserve to be given something”. In Old Testament, that “something” was a relationship with God.

Entitlement is something that we experience on a daily basis in various forms.

If you have a product that has a safety recall on it, you are entitled to get a refund.

If you have worked many years and paid money into Social Security and are old enough, then you are entitled to get a monthly payment from the Social Security Administration for the rest of your life.

If you are a veteran, you are entitled to receive services through VA hospitals and other benefits.

Problems happen when you have what psychologists call a false sense of entitlement.  That happens when someone has unreasonable expectations about what privileges or services they deserve.  

A five-year-old throwing a fit in the toy aisle at Walmart is an example.   He may WANT the toy, but he is probably not entitled to it.

Apple makes lots of money.  Shouldn’t I be entitled to get a share of their obscene profits?  Well, maybe if I own their stock.  But certainly I would need some level of commitment on my part.

I go to church each week.  Am I not entitled to have a parking space up close and a place to sit, especially at the Easter and Christmas services?

One could go on and on.

In our relationship with God, we are told that he gives his love freely to everyone. That kinda feels like an entitlement.  More like a gift, actually.

So if one were to be “chosen”, no strings attached, we’re pretty much able to do whatever we want without any consideration for consequences.

But God doesn’t quite work that way.  We are invited to God’s kingdom.  The invitation, or calling, is the “no strings attached” part of the relationship.  To be “chosen”, we must additionally conduct our lives in a manner that pleases Him.  We have a whole instruction book on that, called The Bible.

Let’s wander back to today’s gospel reading, often referred to as “The Parable of the Wedding Feast” (Matt 22:1-14).

Biblical scholars believe that this part of the book of Matthew is happening on the Wednesday before Good Friday.  Jesus has already entered Jerusalem and has been speaking with the chief priests and the Pharisees, telling yet another parable.  

Based on previous parables, the Pharisees knew that Jesus was speaking about them in this parable, just as before. 

“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son”, Jesus starts.  

The king sends his servants out to invite those on what we would call the “A list”, those whom the king would have expected to be there in respect and celebration for the wedding.  No takers.

The king tries again, with the same list of invitees, but this time has the servants do a bit more “direct marketing”.  Details of the festivities, including the prime rib being prepared for the wedding feast, were included in the second round of face to face invitations.

Some of the people declined, saying they that other things to do.

“The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them”.  YIKES!!

The king ordered his troops to destroy the murderers and burn their city.

Claiming that those previously invited were not worthy to come to the wedding, the king sent the servants out to invite everyone else they could find for the banquet.

This plan worked a whole lot better.  Those who were invited came and filled up the hall.  But the king spotted a man not dressed in a wedding garment.  The man had no answer for his lack of appropriate attire, because he had failed to make the effort to be ready for the wedding.  The king orders the man tied up and tossed out of the celebration.

Jesus delivers the punch line:  “Many are invited, but few are chosen”.

The chief priests and the Pharisees have a pretty good idea who’s who in this parable.  The king is God.  Jesus is the son.  The banquet is the promised final salvation.  The A-list invitees are the chief priests and the Pharisees.  Everyone else is, well, everyone else. 

Contrary to their widely held belief, the Jews were not “chosen”, as in “You are the chosen people”, but rather they are invited by God to the banquet of the son, Jesus.  If invited, there were expectations, like being properly prepared (in the parable, appropriately dressed), in order to be “chosen” to join the banquet of eternal salvation of God’s son.

God has invited you to the banquet of the son.  Have you clothed yourself in the wedding garment of repentance and good deeds to be chosen?