Matthew 22

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

22Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables: ²“The kingdom of heaven ^lmay be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. ^m3He sent out his ^•slaves to summon those invited to the banquet, ⁿbut they didn’t want to come. ⁴Again, he sent out other slaves, and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: Look, I’ve prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ ^o

⁵“But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own farm, another to his business. ⁶And the others seized his slaves, treated them outrageously and killed them. ⁷The king ^pwas enraged, so he sent out his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned down their city.

⁸“Then he told his slaves, ‘The banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. ^q9Therefore go to where the roads exit the city and invite everyone you find to the banquet.’ ^r10So those slaves went out on the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding banquet was filled with guests. ^s11But when the king came in to view the guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed for a wedding. ^t12So he said to him, ‘Friend, ^uhow 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, ^vand throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

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

God and Caesar

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to trap Him by what He said. ^xy16They sent their disciples to Him, with the Herodians. ^z“Teacher,” they said, “we know that You are truthful and teach truthfully the way of God. You defer to no one, for You don’t show partiality. ^ab17Tell us, therefore, what You think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar ^cor not?”

¹⁸But perceiving their malice, Jesus said, “Why are you testing Me, hypocrites? ¹⁹Show Me the coin used for the tax.” So they brought Him a denarius. ²⁰“Whose image and inscription is this?” He asked them.

²¹“Caesar’s,” they said to Him.

Then He said to them, “Therefore give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” ^d22When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left Him and went away.

The Sadducees and the Resurrection

²³The same day some Sadducees, ^ewho say there is no resurrection, came up to Him and questioned Him: ^f24“Teacher, Moses said, if a man dies, having no children, his brother is to marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. ^gh25Now there were seven brothers among us. The first got married and died. Having no offspring, he left his wife to his brother. ²⁶The same happened to the second also, and the third, and so to all seven. ⁱ²⁷Then last of all the woman died. ²⁸In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had married her.” ^j

²⁹Jesus answered them, “You are deceived, 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 ^kangels in heaven. ^l31Now 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? ^mnHe ^ois 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 ^pthe 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: ^q36“Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?” ^r

³⁷He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. ^st38This is the greatest and most important ^ucommand. ³⁹The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. ^vw40All the Law and the Prophets depend ^xon these two commands.” ^y

The Question about the Messiah

⁴¹While the Pharisees were together, Jesus questioned them, ^z42“What do you think about the ^•Messiah? Whose Son is He?”

“David’s,” they told Him.

⁴³He asked them, “How is it then that David, inspired by the Spirit, ^acalls Him ‘Lord’ ^b:

⁴⁴The Lord declared to my Lord,

‘Sit at My right hand

until I put Your enemies under Your feet’? ^cde

⁴⁵“If David calls Him ‘Lord,’ how then can the Messiah be his Son?” ⁴⁶No one was able to answer Him at all, ^fand from that day no one dared to question Him anymore. ^g