Many Are Invited

I people-watch when I’m on the treadmill at the gym. Recently a man showed up in handyman work clothes, rather than exercise work-out clothes. He didn’t use any of the equipment, but rather walked slowly through the gym looking around, stopping to watch the bank of televisions hanging from the ceiling and to occasional stretch his shoulders as though he had exercised and he was letting his muscles rest. His behavior was so odd and out of character for the environment that I began to suspect he could be casing the gym in order to burglarize it at a later date. The next day the man was again in the gym going through the same routine. He strolled around, ignored the equipment and never broke a sweat. I have no idea what the man’s story is, but it’s clear that just going to a gym does not make him health conscious. I’m reminded of the parable of the Wedding Banquet. When those invited to the banquet ignored the king’s invitation, the king instructed his servants to out into the streets and invite anyone they could find — both the good and the bad. Jesus said, “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. “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.’ “For many are invited, but few are chosen” (Matt 22:11-14 NIV).