Elements of call and response

As of late, I've joined the reformed school of thought because I feel that it is the most accurate according to scripture. Now and again, though, I run across a verse that makes me think. Many verses in the Bible have elements of a call and response type of salvation, while many others have elements of a salvation that rests solely on the call. I ran across an example of the former this morning. What do reformed Christians make of this?

Matthew 22:1-14 (the parable of the wedding banquet)

NIV said:

1Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.


4“Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

5“But they paid no attention and went off–one to his field, another to his business. 6The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

8“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.

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.”

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I feel that it is very safe to assume that Jesus is refering to the Jews (the invited who refused to come) and the Gentiles ("invite anyone you find"). What does Jesus mean by "many are invited, but few are chosen"? Is "invited" synonymous with "called"? I believe that it is important to note that the Jews were indeed invited, yet chose not to come and therefore were rejected. This is substantiated by Paul in Romans 9:

NIV said:

30What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling stone.”

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and also in Romans 10:

NIV said:

19Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, “I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;
I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”[a] 20And Isaiah boldly says, “I was found by those who did not seek me;
I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”[b] 21But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands
to a disobedient and obstinate people.”[c]

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We see here that the Jews were rejected because they did not have faith. We also know that God gives all faith and that the Jews stumbled over the "stumbling stone", which was placed by God. Regardless, it seems to me that although all faith and all righteousness comes from God, there exists (at least in these verses) some sort of call and response. Perhaps it could be applied to the "tennis game analogy": being that all tennis balls (faith, love, ability to come to God) come from God initially -- he serves them. In order to play tennis with him, though, we must hit the balls back. Correct me, brothers. What is scripturally true? Let us not cling to any previous dogma for the sake of dogma. Instead, let us find what is scripturally true. What do you all think?

Imblessed said:

interesting post. Being fairly new to the Calvinistic view, I'm not sure I can answer succintly, but I will look forward to hearing the others' views.

I agree that the invited were the jews, and the gentiles are the others brought in later, but did you notice verse 10--"so the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests" I see the servants as us going into the streets and preaching the Gospel. That is our job, to bring them in, but we are going to bring in both good and bad--because we do not know the hearts of man, only God does. So everyone who professes belief go to the banquet, but God(the King) is going to see the ones who are not in wedding attire(wedding attire=true faith) and send them away. That's God's job. (I'm seeing the parable of the wheat and tares here-separation of true christians from false-something we are not capable of doing).

So when Jesus says "many are invited, but few are chosen"--I see outward call(many are invited)-- and inward call(few are chosen).

It's our job to go gather everyone(outward call), and God's job to weed them out(inward call). We are servants, doing what God says to do--but only God can kick out the ones that are missing the wedding attire!

That's my view.....

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This is indeed a profoundly intelligent viewpoint and response. This very well could be what Jesus is referring to. Thank you, Imblessed, for this heartwarming response.