"The fate of the unworthy guest is portrayed as something truly painful. But he is not rejected and forgotten simply because the Lord seals it all with the words: “for many are called...” The fate of this unworthy guest is precisely to remain in the call, but not in the election. [...] He mingles with those who recognise the Lord and claims for himself the privilege of not recognising and not wanting. Just as God left the answer to the guests – something that requires them to have “merit” in order to be chosen – so he leaves this unworthy guest with the certainty of having been called. Yes, the certainty of having somehow answered yes, but in falsehood, of having said yes, which however means no. He is that son who answers yes to his father, but whose conduct is no. And because he knows of his own vocation, the gnashing of his teeth will be the sign of his non-election. Yet, if it is distressing not to have been chosen, then it is not entirely distressing to have been called, since being rejected is not the end of the vocation, but a function of non-election. The man is foreseen in the king's story, who still speaks of his case and remembers him, since he has already been thrown out. He therefore still lives for God."