Many are Called,
but Few are Chosen.

Why did Jesus say this?

THE CHOSEN:   How does one become CHOSEN?

You are about to learn that being chosen is like being a part of an elite specialized military team, those ready for the warfare involved were selected to be “Chosen.”

“Many are Called, 
but Few are Chosen.”
Why did Jesus say this?

To grasp Matthew 22:14, we must see into the world Jesus was speaking to — 1st-century Roman Judea. 

Jesus spoke this ominous phrase “but few are chosen” at the abrupt finish of the Parable of the Wedding Feast - Matthew 22:1-14.

Three historical realities make the meaning unmistakable, as we shall see here shortly: 

• • • Jewish wedding customs, 

    • Royal court etiquette, and 

    • Roman military language.

1. The Two-Step Invitation - A Custom Everyone Knew

In the ancient Near East, a royal wedding was not a single invitation.

The "Called" = The First Invitation: Months in advance, a king sent servants to announce the coming wedding. Those who accepted were put on the guest list. They were officially "called" - kletos.

The Final Summons - "Everything is Ready": Because a feast required slaughtering animals and preparing massive amounts of food, no exact hour could be given. When the banquet was finally ready, servants were sent a second time to say, "Come, for everything is now ready."

To grasp Matthew 22:14, we have to understand the world Jesus was speaking into — 1st-century Roman Judea. He said it at the climax of the Parable of the Wedding Feast - Matthew 22:1-14.

Three historical realities make the meaning unmistakable: Jewish wedding customs, royal court etiquette, and Roman military language.

1. The Two-Step Invitation - A Custom Everyone Knew

In the ancient Near East, a royal wedding was not a single invitation.

The "Called" - The First Invitation: Months in advance, a king sent servants to announce the coming wedding. Those who accepted were put on the guest list. They were officially "called" - kletos.

The Final Summons - "Everything is Ready": Because a feast required slaughtering animals and preparing massive amounts of food, no exact hour could be given. When the banquet was finally ready, servants were sent a second time to say, "Come, for everything is now ready."

The Insult in the Parable: In Jesus' story, the pre-registered guests — representing the religious elite of Israel — refuse to come when the final summons arrives. They choose their farms and businesses over the king, and some even seize and kill his messengers.

2. The Wedding Garment - Why the Man Was Cast Out

Because the original guests refused, the king tells his servants, "Go to the main roads and invite as many as you find." The hall fills with both bad and good.

But the king finds a man without a wedding garment and casts him into outer darkness. This seems harsh until you know the custom:

The King Provided the Garment: In a royal court, the king provided clean, magnificent white robes at the door for all guests, so that even the poorest street person would be fitting for the palace.

To refuse the robe, to sneak in wearing your own filthy clothes, was not poverty — it was a deliberate public insult. It said, "I want your food, but I reject your authority."

The message: Simply showing up is not enough. You must put on the righteousness the King provides.

3. The Military Meaning of "Chosen" - Eklektoi

Jesus' phrase in Greek is oligoi de eklektoi — "few are chosen."

Eklektoi was a technical military term every listener under Rome understood.

The Calling: When war came, a trumpet sounded and all eligible citizens were gathered in the public square. This gathering was the klesis — the calling.

The Choosing: From that massive crowd, commanders inspected each man and selected only the strongest, most disciplined, and loyal to form the elite legion — the Legio. These were the eklektoi — the choice ones, the elect.

Everyone is invited to the square. Only those who prove fit are picked for service.

THE HISTORICAL FULFILLMENT OF THE PROPHECY

"But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city." — Matthew 22:7

This is not just a parable ending. It is a precise prophecy fulfilled 40 years later.

Synopsis of the Fall of Jerusalem - 70 A.D.

The Fall of Jerusalem was the climax of the First Jewish-Roman War (66-73 A.D.). After a brutal five-month siege that began during Passover, when the city was swollen with pilgrims, Roman forces breached Jerusalem's triple walls.

The result was starvation, disease, and civil war inside the walls, ending in the complete destruction of the Second Temple. Over 1.1 million perished according to Josephus, and 97,000 survivors were taken into slavery and exile. The Jewish state ceased to exist for nearly 2,000 years.

Who Attacked Jerusalem?

The Roman Empire, led by General Titus, son of Emperor Vespasian. He commanded four legions — Legio V Macedonica, Legio X Fretensis, Legio XII Fulminata, and Legio XV Apollinaris — plus auxiliaries, totaling 70,000-80,000 soldiers.

Why Did It Happen?

Rome was retaliating for the Great Jewish Revolt of 66 A.D., caused by:

1. Roman Oppression: Procurator Gessius Florus plundered gold from the Temple treasury.

2. Rebellion: The Temple leadership stopped the daily sacrifices for the Emperor — a declaration of independence in Rome's eyes.

3. Humiliation of Rome: Rebel Zealots annihilated a Roman legion under Cestius Gallus. Rome had to reassert dominance.

Prophecy and Fulfillment Side-by-Side

Matthew 22 Text

Prophetic Meaning

Historical Fulfillment in 70 A.D.

v.3 "He sent his servants to call those who were invited... but they would not come."

The Gospel invitation first offered to Israel.

God sent John the Baptist, Jesus Himself — who proved Himself by teachings, miracles, and fulfillment of over 300 first-coming prophecies — and the Apostles. The nation, led by its priests and rulers, overwhelmingly rejected the Messiah.

v.6 "The rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them."

Persecution of God's messengers.

Stephen was stoned, James was executed, Peter, Paul and others were imprisoned and beaten by the same religious authorities who rejected Jesus.

v.7 "The king was angry... sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city."

God using a secular empire as an instrument of divine judgment.

The Roman armies under Titus were God's "troops." They destroyed the murderers — the violent zealot factions — and burned the city and the Temple, exactly as Jesus foretold in Matthew 24:1-2.

v.9 "Go to the main roads and invite as many as you find."

The Gospel going to the Gentiles.

After the Temple's fall, the Apostolic church turned fully to the Gentile nations, spreading Christianity across the Roman world.

A Teachable Moment on Matthew 24:1-2:

"There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."

Titus actually wanted to preserve the Temple as a trophy. But in the chaos, a Roman soldier threw a torch into the Holy Place. The fire melted the Temple's gold overlay, which seeped into the cracks between the stones.

Driven by gold-lust, the legionaries systematically pried apart every single stone to retrieve the melted gold — fulfilling Jesus' prophecy literally, to the tittle.

Eyewitness: Flavius Josephus

The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, a former Jewish general who surrendered to Rome and became an advisor to Titus, watched it all from outside the walls. His seven-volume The Jewish War records:

The Artificial Famine: Romans sealed the city. Inside, rival Jewish factions had burned each other's grain stores. Josephus writes "the merest shadow of food was the signal for war." He documents the horrific account of Mary of Bethezuba, who in madness from starvation, killed and roasted her infant son.

The Civil War Within: Jerusalem was not united. Three factions — led by John of Gischala, Simon bar Giora, and Eleazar ben Simon — fought each other in the streets while Romans attacked from outside, murdering anyone suspected of trying to escape.

The Divine Departure: Josephus records supernatural omens that the people ignored: a star resembling a sword over the city for a year, the massive Eastern brass Temple gate — requiring 20 men to close — opening by itself at midnight during Passover, visions of chariots and armies in the clouds, and priests hearing a booming voice in the Temple during Pentecost saying, "We are departing from here."

How the Early Christians Escaped Judgment

While over a million were trapped, the Christian community suffered virtually zero casualties.

Jesus had warned in Luke 21:20-21, "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains."

In 66 A.D., General Cestius Gallus surrounded Jerusalem and then, for no military reason, mysteriously withdrew. The Zealots chased him. Christians recognized this as the window Jesus foretold.

According to church historians Eusebius and Epiphanius, the entire Jerusalem church fled across the Jordan River to the mountain city of Pella in the Decapolis, and were safe while Jerusalem burned. This is the mercy of God for those who heed His Son.

The Final Stand and a New Judaism

Masada (73 A.D.): After Jerusalem fell, 960 Sicarii zealots held out on the fortress of Masada. The Romans built a massive earth ramp to breach it. When they entered, they found mass suicide — the defenders chose death over Roman slavery.

The Birth of Rabbinic Judaism: With the Temple gone, Biblical Judaism — which required blood sacrifice at the Temple by Levitical priests — could no longer function. Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai escaped Jerusalem in a coffin, secured permission from Vespasian to start a school in Yavneh, and transformed the faith: Temple became Synagogue, Sacrifice became Prayer and Torah Study, Priests became Rabbis. This allowed Judaism to survive exile, but as a replacement system for those who had rejected the final sacrifice — the Messiah Himself.

For the house of God had become a den of thieves, a house of human-performed idolatry. God Himself closed it down, because they refused to hear the One He commanded them to hear.

From Sabbath Shadows to Kings and Priests

This is why Paul writes in Colossians 2:16-17: "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."

The Temple priests themselves broke the Sabbath every week by working in the Temple and were blameless — Matthew 12:5. How much more are we, who are made kings and priests unto God (Revelation 1:6, 5:10; Exodus 19:5-6), free in Christ? Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath and our Sabbath rest. Every day is now a Sabbath when we live in Him.

The Personal Application:

Many are called — everyone hears the invitation of the Gospel. The Messiah proved Himself by His teachings, His miracles, and by fulfilling all the prophecies of His first coming.

But few are chosen — only those who not only come to the feast, but put on the garment He provides: genuine repentance, the righteousness of Christ, and a life that endures and obeys.

Simply: 

• • • showing up, 

    • claiming heritage, or 

    • being religious

This is not enough.

This is a direct warning to several types of people listed in the Gospel of Matthew.

Those who have chosen for themselves not to be prepared  ——> will NOT be CHOSEN.