We have to do in the text not with an arbitrary call and an arbitrary choice, as if God called many in mockery, meaning to choose out of them only a few, and making His choice independently of any exertion of theirs. The picture is very different; it is a gracious call to us all to come and receive the blessing; it is a reluctant casting out the greatest part of us, because we would not render ourselves fit for it.
I. We have all been called, in a Christian sense, inasmuch as we have all been introduced into Christ's Church by Baptism; and a very large proportion of us have been called again at our Confirmation. We have been thus called to enter into Christ's kingdom; we have been called to lead a life of holiness and happiness from this time forth even for ever.
II. Now, if this be the prize to which we are called, who are they who are also chosen to it? (1) In the first and most complete sense, no doubt, those who have entered into their rest; who are in no more danger, however slight; with whom the struggle is altogether past, the victory securely won. (2) Those we may call chosen who, having heard their call, have turned to obey it, and have gone on following it. (3) Those are chosen who, having found in themselves the sin which did most easily beset them, have struggled with it, and wholly, or in a great measure, have overcome it.
III. What is the proportion between those who are chosen and those who are called only? This I dare not answer; there is a good as well as an evil which is unseen by the world at large, unseen even by all but those who watch us most nearly and most narrowly. All we can say is, that there are too many who, we must fear, are not chosen; there are too few of whom we can feel sure that they are.
T. Arnold, Sermons,vol. iv., p. 101.
References: Matthew 22:14. H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Waterside Mission Sermons,vol. ii., No. 18. Matthew 22:15-22. Homiletic Quarterly,vol. i., p. 468. Matthew 22:15-46. Parker, Inner Life of Christ,vol. iii., p. 131.Matthew 22:16. W. M. Statham, Christian World Pulpit,vol. i., p. 458. Matthew 22:16-22. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. ii., p. 336. Matthew 22:20. A. Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer,p. 133.Matthew 22:20; Matthew 22:21. A. P. Stanley, Church Sermons,vol. i., p. 10.