13 “Then
the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him
outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of
teeth.’
14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
I have been reflecting on the "few are chosen" in verse 14. God does the choosing... WHat can we do to be chosen, absolutely nothing. As prideful as I can be, I am humbled by what God blesses us with on a daily basis
“So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” (vs 21).
I use this verse in my work a lot and I am surprised by how people define what is "theirs" and I am thankful for God helping me to be less materialistic.
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[c] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Greatest Commandment, enough said!
So, it's been a year. I have to remind myself where Jesus is and to whom he is speaking. He seems to have been teaching in the temple and then interrupted by the chief priests and elders who asked him, "By what authority are you doing these things?" He replied with the question of where did they think came John's power of baptism and this shut them up. Then he proceeded to tell them parables: 1. The Two Sons (words and actions) 2. The tenants (who killed the heir) and in verse21:45 "When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet."
ReplyDeleteNow in Chap 22 "Jesus spoke to them again..."
3. The Parable of the Wedding Banquet
ok, at first this seems pretty straightforward. it's a second parable taught to the leaders of the church that predicts his rejection/the soon to come crucifixion. he shows that the invited guests are given two chances (perhaps this is adam and jesus? or old testament and new testament?) and they refuse to come, some are merely too busy, but some kill the servants (jesus).
There is punishment in this parable. "The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city." often we like to ignore the parts of the bible where God's wrath is at play. we don't like to believe there is punishment. (were the only ones punished the ones who killed the servants though? were the ones who were just too busy left alone? i wonder if this goes along with dante's circles? just a random thought there. or is this more specific to those who actually killed jesus?)
so the servants are sent back out to invite people off the streets (i guess that's us gentiles?). they gathered all the people they could find, the good and the bad. this seems to go with other scriptures that say we may be surprised by who we see in heaven, as well as the fact that anyone, no matter how "bad" can be redeemed.
from here though, it gets a bit tricky for me. the king sees the one man who's not in wedding clothes and throws him out "into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." oh wow. maybe the key to this part is that when the king asks him what he's doing there, he is SPEECHLESS? This parable ends with "For many are invited, but few are chosen." oh gosh. i don't feel quite up to arguing predestination with myself before breakfast.... I guess what I need to keep in mind here, is who he's speaking to. He's still talking to the teachers of the law, who ASSUME that they are both GOOD ENOUGH to get into heaven (this whole parable is one of those "the kingdom of heaven is like..." ones) also that they are CHOSEN because they are jewish. so maybe this is just another way of showing that they need to stop making assumptions about themselves and others, and approach heaven with humility.
My long second comment on the other half of this chapter was lost to the rain and poor internet connection =(
ReplyDeletethe gist of it was that i was impressed with Jesus in this section. he is cool, confident, smart, sees through the tricks, not intimated by tough issues (they attacked him with a politically charged issue, an ethical paradox, and a tough religious question). he can't be made a fool of, and in the end turns the game they are trying to play on their heads. he's impressive as a man, very much so.
but it's so much more than that when you look at the context. he is patient as these men are coming at him, arrogantly, plotting to discredit him, arrest him, and in the end put him to death. Jesus knows all of this will happen and even predicts it in the parables he just told. and yet Jesus responds to them with style and grace that we could in no way imitate with intellectual swagger. I am speechless as I contemplate the self-sacrifice and humility in this confident, competent, courageous man.