Matthew 22:3–46

³He sent his servants to summon those invited to the banquet,^h but they didn’t want to come. ⁴Again, 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.’ⁱ

⁵“But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own farm, another to his business, ⁶while the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. ⁷The king^D was enraged, and he sent out his troops, killed those murderers, and burned down their city.

⁸“Then he told his servants, ‘The banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.^{j 9}Go then to where the roads exit the city and invite everyone you find to the banquet.’^{k 10}So those servants went out on the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding banquet^E was filled with guests.^{F 11}When the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed for a wedding.^{l 12}So he said to him, ‘Friend,^m how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.

¹³“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot,^G and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

¹⁴“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”ⁿ

GOD AND CAESAR

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to trap him by what he said.^{Go 16}So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians.^p “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.^{Hq 17}Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar^r or not?”

¹⁸Perceiving their malicious intent, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, hypocrites? ¹⁹Show me the coin used for the tax.” They brought him a denarius.^{A 20}“Whose image and inscription is this?” he asked them.

²¹“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.”^{s 22}When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

THE SADDUCEES AND THE RESURRECTION

²³That same day some Sadducees,^t who say there is no resurrection, came up to him and questioned him:^{u 24}“Teacher, Moses said, if a man dies, having no children, his brother is to marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.^{Bv 25}Now there were seven brothers among us. The first got married and died. Having no offspring, he left his wife to his brother. ²⁶The same thing happened to the second also, and the third, and so on to all seven. ²⁷Last of all, the woman died. ²⁸In the resurrection, then, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had married her.”^C

²⁹Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken, because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God. ³⁰For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like^D angels in heaven.^{w 31}Now concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read what was spoken to you by God: ³²I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?^Ea He^F is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

³³And when the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

THE PRIMARY COMMANDS

³⁴When^b the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. ³⁵And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test him:^{c 36}“Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?”

³⁷He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.^{Gd 38}This is the greatest and most important^H command. ³⁹The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.^{Ie 40}All the Law and the Prophets depend^J on these two commands.”^f

THE QUESTION ABOUT THE MESSIAH

⁴¹While the Pharisees were together, Jesus questioned them,^{g 42}“What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

They replied, “David’s.”

⁴³He asked them, “How is it then that David, inspired by the Spirit,^K calls him ‘Lord’^h:

⁴⁴The Lord declared to my Lord,

‘Sit at my right hand

until I put your enemies under your feet’?^LMi

⁴⁵“If David calls him ‘Lord,’ how, then, can he be his son?” ⁴⁶No one was able to answer him at all,^N and from that day no one dared to question him anymore.^j