In today's sermon in the Church of St. Nicholas after the reading of the Gospel of Matthew with the main message "Many are called, but few are chosen", Father Nemanja Krivokapić spoke about the call to Salvation and the Kingdom of God, offered to all people without distinction (many are called). He also emphasizes the importance of free will and responsibility, because for someone to be "chosen", it is not enough to just hear the call. It is necessary to respond, change one's life and "put on the wedding garment" (which symbolizes faith, good works and virtue). However, the circle is narrowing because, although God wants everyone to be saved, there are few who truly accept His will and persevere on that path to the end.
“We heard in the Holy Gospel the story of the Lord Jesus Christ about the Kingdom of God. Very often He spoke on the topic of the Kingdom of God, and what else could He speak about when it is the essence and meaning of our life here on earth. The Lord came to give us saving knowledge, to teach us how to save ourselves and to enlighten us, so that we know what is important in this world and what is less important or unimportant. Many thinkers have pondered since ancient times about the meaning of life, where we came from on earth and what we should do. God gave an answer, clear and precise, and this is one of those by which the Lord Himself tells us what is the meaning of our life on the path to gaining the Kingdom of God,” said Father Nemanja.
He said that man cannot understand what the Kingdom of God looks like.
"God knows that we cannot understand exactly what the Kingdom of God looks like. That is why, through these simple stories, He tries to make us understand how important the Kingdom of God is, how it is acquired, and what our relationship with it should be. This Gospel is precisely what it talks about. We hear that in this example, the Lord compares the Kingdom of God to a wedding, to a wedding. A wedding has always been something important and solemn. In both the Old and New Testaments - the Apostle Paul spoke about a wedding, because he considered it to be something important. With us, in our people, we all know very well that when someone is invited to a wedding, it is a great honor and joy. A wedding is something important and special, for which we prepare. We prepare gifts, we buy presents, we prepare what we will wear. To honor the host and the one who got married, we will dress solemnly," says Fr. Nemanja.
He adds that through the relationship between the bride and groom, Christ compares the relationship between God and us humans, which the Apostle Paul also speaks about (...and I speak for Christ and the Church).
"So a wedding is something that has a lot to do with the Kingdom of God, so the Lord uses a very beautiful example to explain to us how important it is for us. Just as we prepare for someone's wedding, someone's wedding, so we should prepare for the greatest celebration, for the Kingdom of God. We see this in this Gospel where the king prepares a wedding for his son and invites people to the wedding. But, as we see in the Gospel, the guests have a lot of work to do. This one goes to the field, this one to the store... Is it possible that they miss such a celebration? The king is having a wedding for his son, which will be a widely known and famous celebration, and someone has a lot of work to do than that. It is simply incomprehensible that they miss something like that," said Fr. Nemanja.
He emphasizes that we are actually the people mentioned and that everything is directed to us.
“Whenever we find some obstacle to not going to the liturgy and not doing what God teaches us, we are exactly like those people described in the Gospel. So if we are talking about the wedding of the king’s son as something solemn, magnificent, how many times more solemn and glorious is the Kingdom of God to which God calls us every day. At every liturgy, when the priest goes with the chalice and invites people to receive communion, that is an invitation to the Kingdom of God. And anyone who has more obstacles than coming to the holy liturgy, to prepare for it, the way one prepares for a wedding, that is the strange man who did not come to the wedding,” said Fr. Nemanja.
When at the end the king calls all the people, there is another important image of this Gospel.
"Among them was a man, poorly dressed, whom the king noticed and asked him where his wedding clothes were, considering that he had come to such a wedding, since he did not fit in at all, the servants threw him out of the wedding. The message is that we are all invited to the Kingdom of God, which we did not deserve on our own. Just as some of those who were accidentally invited to the wedding, which gave them such an opportunity, so are we. So, no one is worthy of the Kingdom of God, but we, as we are, are again given the opportunity to enter. Therefore, let us at least do so much for ourselves, at least wash ourselves, put on nicer clothes, figuratively speaking, at least do the basic things that are required of us, so that we may be worthy of the Kingdom of God to some extent. May the Lord God grant that, through these wonderful stories that He gives us, we too may gain our place in the Kingdom of God, amen," said Fr. Nemanja.