"Many are called, but few are chosen!"

Recently a friend asked, "What did Jesus mean when He said, 'Many are called, but few are chosen!' Was He teaching that God offered salvation to many by specifically gave it to a few?

In a word, NO. He was trying to say that many were invited to follow Him, but only a few would give Him the respect due Him, and they alone would be the benefactors in the Kingdom.I think the most striking thing about this saying is that Jesus was so clearly defining the standard that His Father set to be a part of the Kingdom - to come accepting Jesus was the One and only way to the Father.

Let's take a look:

Set in the Temple on a long day of teaching in the week before His arrest, these teachings of Jesus are set amid the open and rising opposition of the Temple leadership in Jerusalem. Matthew placed the first mashal (illustration or parable) in the frame of a discussion between Jesus and the Pharisees at the Temple, during His last week (Passion). Jesus had previously overturned the tables at the money changers the day before (Palm Sunday) on the south porch of the Temple. Animals went everywhere, and the incident left a mess all over the well-prepared and cleaned Temple precinct. The leadership of the Temple was incensed. Monday Jesus returned and they demanded an explanation of His authority to act as One in charge when THEY were in charge of the Temple (21:23-27). Jesus told them he would not tell them the answer if they could not take a public stand and answer if John the Baptizer was a true prophet. Jesus was not about to explain to them truth if they could not truly discern truth and take a public stand on truth. In this setting he offered two link illustrations, and they began to seek a way to get Him (21:46).

The first illustration (Mt. 21:28-32) was of two sons, one that rebelled and repented, another that gave lip service and yet quietly rebelled. He equated the first son with harlots that heard John and then
repented (having begun in rebellion). He equated the second son with THEM, for hearing about repentance, and quietly doing NOTHING! (21:28-32). The illustration was not directed against the whole nation of Jews, but rather against those hard-hearted leaders that refused to take a stand. THEY were the cause of the problem. They still couldn't decide and take a stand even after the death of John, Jesus' cousin. Soon they would try to maneuver between the will of the crowds and their inner desire to silence Jesus Himself!

In the second illustration (Mt. 21:33-46) Jesus told of a man that built a farm and left it with a tenant farmer. When the time came to collect the fruit, the tenant killed every servant the owner sent, and eventually even the son of the farmer! This prophecy concerning His own death was remarkable! At the same time, the text need not reflect the idea that Jesus was taking the opportunity of God working with the Jewish people and handing it to the church (as has often been charged by commentators). Indeed the second illustration, like the first, says that Jesus offered the leaders the opportunity to repent, but they passed.

As a result, the opportunity would be left to another group of leaders, another time in the nation of Israel, this group of men would not experience the blessing of later Jewish leaders that WOULD accept Jesus. It is clear in the text that the Pharisees thought Jesus spoke of THEM (21:45), not the Jewish nation. The term "ethnos" is translated elsewhere "a people", and does not always signify a "nation" as such. Clearly they were not going to get the blessing of the Kingdom, yet the disciples that stood by still thought it was coming to Israel as promised. Later in the same Gospel, Jesus promised a day would come when they would believe (Mt. 23:39). The disciples questioned Jesus about it (23 and 24), and He made clear that it was for a future generation of Jews - not theirs (Mt. 24:34). To these Jewish disciples, the words were a bittersweet mix, they were saved and heaven bound, yet their nation would continue to await the blessing that could have been immediate with leaders that would stand with Jesus. Literally, the rejection of the leadership to stand with Jesus pitted the believers against these leaders, creating a terrible tension (Mt. 21:44).

Jesus offered a third mashal specifically to the chief priests and Pharisees that were rejecting His kingdom (Mt. 22:1-14). He openly exclaimed in the parable, "My Kingdom was being actively rejected by these leaders!" To drive this point home, He spoke of a king that planned the prince's wedding. When preparations were ready, the king sent out messengers to call the guests. They rejected the invitation (22:3), and even harmed the messengers (22:4-6). Their insult was returned as the king sent judgment upon them (22:7) and extended the invitation to others in the same nation that had not previously been invited (22:8-9). Guests poured in, all respectful of the occasion and dressed (22:10). One man came in without proper dress for the occasion (a symbol of contempt for the host in that day) and the king singled him out (22:11-12). The king commanded that he be bound and cast out of the feast hungry for the insulting behavior (22:13). Jesus then closed the illustration with a popular ancient proverb, "Many are called, but few are chosen."

What was He saying? He was making the point to those who were rejecting Him that there was NO WAY for them to attain the blessing of fellowship with His Father except by honoring Him with proper respect. They were like the man without the wedding garb - they wanted "in" without respecting Jesus, and that simply couldn't happen.

The proverbial statement is used three times in the Apocryphal book of 4 Ezra, and is used in a very wide context. In this case, the Gospel writer chose the words "called" (Greek: klay-tos, probably best translated "invited" in this passage) in place of the Hebrew or Aramaic term Jesus originally employed (it is hard to believe two Jews in the Temple would be speaking Koine Greek to each other!). For the word "chosen" the writer, under Divine direction of the Spirit chose the term "eklayktos" (akin to the word later used to denote "church" in the New Testament). This word simply means selected, but in this context probably is best translated in its general sense, "having been found of a quality that was desired." In other words, Jesus is saying:

"Many are invited, but only a few of those that have been invited have met the criteria of proper respect for the King to be fully accepted."

The response of the Pharisees was to abandon their former plan to grab Him (21:46) and move to trying to get Jesus to back Himself in a corner with His own extensive teachings (22:15). They withdrew and sent "planted" students to ask questions in order to trip Him up. The questions included the issues of taxes (22:16-22), resurrection (22:23-33), and the so called "greatest commandment" (22:34-40). The balance of the passage recorded Jesus' questioning of the leaders (22:41-46) and the sermon to the crowd that followed about the dangers of following their flawed leadership (23:1-39).

Hope that helps,

R