Matthew 22

The king’s wedding banquet

¹Once more Jesus answered them by speaking in parables: ²“What happens in the kingdom of heaven can be compared to this: a king prepared a wedding banquet for his son. ³He sent his slaves to summon the guests who had already been invited, but they refused to come. ⁴So he sent more slaves with this message: ‘Tell the guests, “See, my banquet is prepared. My bulls and my fattened calves have been slaughtered. Everything is ready, so come to the wedding.”’ ⁵The guests did not care. They went off, one to his farm and another to his trade. ⁶The rest laid hands on the king’s slaves, abused them, and killed them. ⁷The king was furious. He sent his troops, wiped out those murderers, and set their city on fire.^{a 8}Then he told his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but the guests I invited did not deserve to come. ⁹So go out to where the roads leave the city, and invite to the wedding anyone you come across.’ ¹⁰The slaves went out into the streets and brought in everyone they could find, bad and good alike, and the wedding feast was crowded with guests. ¹¹The king came in to look over his guests, and among them he saw a man who had not put on clothes for a wedding.^{b 12}He said to him, ‘Friend, how is it that you came in here with no wedding clothes on?’ The man had nothing to say. ¹³The king then gave orders to his servants: ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him out into the darkness outside, where people will weep and grind their teeth.’ ¹⁴For the invited are many, but the chosen are few.”

A question about paying Caesar

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went off and plotted how they could catch Jesus out by his own words. ¹⁶They sent their own disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are truthful and that you teach God’s way in keeping with the truth. No one’s opinion moves you, for you do not judge people by their rank. ¹⁷So give us your opinion. Does the law permit paying the head tax to Caesar, or not?” ¹⁸Jesus was aware of their malice. “You hypocrites,” he said, “why are you putting me to the test? ¹⁹Show me the coin that pays the tax.” They brought him a silver coin worth a day’s wage. ²⁰Then he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose title is written on it?” ²¹“Caesar’s,” they answered. And he said to them, “Then pay Caesar what you owe Caesar, and pay God what you owe God.” ²²His answer astonished them, and they went off and left him alone.

Marriage and the resurrection

²³That same day some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. ²⁴“Teacher,” they said, “Moses gave this rule: ‘If a man dies and leaves no children, his brother is to take the widow as his wife and so give his dead brother descendants.’ ²⁵There were seven brothers in our community. The first one married and died, and because he had no children, his widow went to his brother. ²⁶The same thing happened to the second brother, and the third, and so on through all seven. ²⁷Finally, after them all, the woman died. ²⁸So when the dead are raised, which of the seven will have her as his wife? All of them were married to her.”

²⁹Jesus replied, “You have gone astray, because you understand neither the Scriptures nor God’s power. ³⁰For once the dead are raised, men no longer take wives and women are no longer given as brides; they are like the angels of God in heaven.^{c 31}As for the dead being raised, have you not read what God said to you: ³²‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is God not of the dead but of the living.” ³³His teaching amazed the crowds who heard it.

The command that ranks highest

³⁴The Pharisees heard that Jesus had put the Sadducees to silence, and they came together in one place. ³⁵One of their number, a man trained in the law, put a question to him to test him: ³⁶“Teacher, which commandment in the law ranks highest?” ³⁷Jesus answered him, “’Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with your whole mind.’ ³⁸This command is the great one, the first of all.

³⁹A second command is of the same kind: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ ⁴⁰The whole of the law, and the prophets as well, hangs on these two commands.”

Whose son is the Christ?

⁴¹While the Pharisees were still gathered there, Jesus put a question to them: ⁴²“What is your view of the Christ? Whose son is he?” “David’s,” they answered. ⁴³He asked them, “Why then does David, moved by the Spirit, give him the title Lord? For David says, ⁴⁴‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Take your seat at my right hand until I have put your enemies beneath your feet.”’^{d 45}So if David calls him ‘Lord’, how can he be David’s son?” ⁴⁶None of them could give him any answer at all. And after that day no one was bold enough to put another question to him.