Matthew 22

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

¹Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables:²³“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.⁴⁵He sent his servants to summon those invited to the banquet, but they didn’t want to come.⁶⁷Again, he sent out other servants and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: See, I’ve prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’⁸

⁹“But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own farm, another to his business,¹⁰¹¹while the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.¹²¹³The king was enraged, and he sent out his troops, killed those murderers, and burned down their city.¹⁴

¹⁵“Then he told his servants, ‘The banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.¹⁶¹⁷Go then to where the roads exit the city and invite everyone you find to the banquet.’¹⁸¹⁹So those servants went out on the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding banquet was filled with guests.²⁰²¹When the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed for a wedding.²²²³So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.²⁴

²⁵“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’²⁶

²⁷“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”²⁸

God and Caesar

²⁹Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to trap him by what he said.³⁰³¹So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are truthful and teach truthfully the way of God. You don’t care what anyone thinks nor do you show partiality.³²³³Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”³⁴

³⁵Perceiving their malicious intent, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, hypocrites?³⁶³⁷Show me the coin used for the tax.” They brought him a denarius.³⁸³⁹“Whose image and inscription is this?” he asked them.⁴⁰

⁴¹“Caesar’s,” they said to him. Then he said to them, “Give, then, to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”⁴²⁴³When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.⁴⁴

The Sadducees and the Resurrection

⁴⁵That same day some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came up to him and questioned him:⁴⁶⁴⁷“Teacher, Moses said, if a man dies, having no children, his brother is to marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.⁴⁸⁴⁹Now there were seven brothers among us. The first got married and died. Having no offspring, he left his wife to his brother.⁵⁰⁵¹The same thing happened to the second also, and the third, and so on to all seven.⁵²⁵³Last of all, the woman died.⁵⁴⁵⁵In the resurrection, then, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had married her.”⁵⁶

⁵⁷Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken, because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God.⁵⁸⁵⁹For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven.⁶⁰⁶¹Now concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read what was spoken to you by God:⁶²⁶³I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”⁶⁴

⁶⁵And when the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.⁶⁶

The Primary Commands

⁶⁷When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together.⁶⁸⁶⁹And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test him:⁷⁰⁷¹“Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?”⁷²

⁷³He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.⁷⁴⁷⁵This is the greatest and most important command.⁷⁶⁷⁷The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.⁷⁸⁷⁹All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”⁸⁰

The Question about the Messiah

⁸¹While the Pharisees were together, Jesus questioned them,⁸²⁸³“What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They replied, “David’s.”⁸⁴

⁸⁵He asked them, “How is it then that David, inspired by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’:⁸⁶

⁸⁷The Lord declared to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet’?⁸⁸

⁸⁹“If David calls him ‘Lord,’ how, then, can he be his son?”⁹⁰⁹¹No one was able to answer him at all, and from that day no one dared to question him anymore.⁹²