Matthew 22
22
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet
Lk 14:15–24
1Jesus spoke to them again by parables, saying, 2#Mt 13:24“The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, 3and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding, but they would not come.
4#Mt 21:36“Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited: See, I have prepared my supper. My oxen and fattened calves are killed, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
5#Heb 2:3“But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his business; 6the rest took his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. 7#Lk 19:27When the king heard about it, he was angry. He sent in his army and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city.
8#Lk 20:35; Ac 13:46“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9Go therefore to the streets, and invite to the wedding banquet as many as you find.’ 10#Mt 13:47–48So those servants went out into the streets and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11#2Ki 10:22; Zec 3:3–4“But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man who was not wearing wedding garments. 12#Mt 20:13; 26:50He said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding garments?’ And he was speechless.
13#Mt 8:12; 25:30; 13:42“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14#Rev 17:14“For many are called, but few are chosen.”
The Question of Paying Taxes
Mk 12:13–17; Lk 20:20–26
15#Mk 12:13–17; Lk 20:20–26Then the Pharisees went and took counsel to entangle Him in His words. 16#Mk 3:6; 8:15They sent their disciples to Him with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God truthfully, and are swayed by no one. For You do not regard the person of men. 17#Lk 2:1; Mt 17:25Tell us then, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
18#Jn 8:6But Jesus perceived their wickedness and said, “Why test Me, you hypocrites? 19Show Me the tax money.” They brought Him a denarius. 20He said to them, “Whose is this image and inscription?”
21#Ro 13:7They said to Him, “Caesar’s.”
Then He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
22#Mk 12:12When they heard these words, they were amazed, and left Him and went on their way.
The Question About the Resurrection
Mk 12:18–27; Lk 20:27–40
23#Mt 3:7; Ac 4:1The same day the Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, 24“Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry his wife and raise up children for his brother.’#Dt 25:5. 25Now there were seven brothers with us. The first died after he married and, having no children, left his wife to his brother. 26Likewise the second and third, on to the seventh. 27Last of all, the woman died also. 28Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife shall she be of the seven? For they all had her.”
29#Jn 20:9Jesus answered, “You err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30#Ps 103:20; Mt 18:10For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels of God in heaven. 31#Mt 21:16But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, 32#Ex 3:6; Ac 7:32‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’#Ex 3:6.? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
33When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.
The Great Commandment
Mk 12:28–34; Lk 10:25–28
34When the Pharisees heard that He silenced the Sadducees, they came together. 35#Lk 7:30; 14:3One of them, who was a lawyer, tested Him by asking Him, 36“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?”
37#Dt 6:5; Lk 10:27Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’#Dt 6:5. 38This is the first and great commandment. 39#Lev 19:18; Mt 19:19; Gal 5:14And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’#Lev 19:18. 40#Mt 7:12On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
The Question About David’s Son
Mk 12:35–37; Lk 20:41–44
41#Mk 12:35–37; Lk 20:41–44While the Pharisees were assembled, Jesus asked them, 42#Mt 1:1“What do you think of the Christ? Whose Son is He?”
They said to Him, “The Son of David.”
43#2Sa 23:2; Rev 4:2He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying:
44#Ps 110:1; 1Co 15:25; Heb 1:13 ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
until I make Your enemies
Your footstool” ’?#Ps 110:1.
45#Ro 1:3–4If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” 46#Mk 12:34; Lk 20:40No one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare to ask Him any more questions.
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Matthew 22: MEV
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Military Bible Association
Matthew 22
22
The Story of the Wedding Banquet
1-3Jesus responded by telling still more stories. “God’s kingdom,” he said, “is like a king who threw a wedding banquet for his son. He sent out servants to call in all the invited guests. And they wouldn’t come!
4“He sent out another round of servants, instructing them to tell the guests, ‘Look, everything is on the table, the prime rib is ready for carving. Come to the feast!’
5-7“They only shrugged their shoulders and went off, one to weed his garden, another to work in his shop. The rest, with nothing better to do, beat up on the messengers and then killed them. The king was outraged and sent his soldiers to destroy those thugs and level their city.
8-10“Then he told his servants, ‘We have a wedding banquet all prepared but no guests. The ones I invited weren’t up to it. Go out into the busiest intersections in town and invite anyone you find to the banquet.’ The servants went out on the streets and rounded up everyone they laid eyes on, good and bad, regardless. And so the banquet was on—every place filled.
11-13“When the king entered and looked over the scene, he spotted a man who wasn’t properly dressed. He said to him, ‘Friend, how dare you come in here looking like that!’ The man was speechless. Then the king told his servants, ‘Get him out of here—fast. Tie him up and ship him to hell. And make sure he doesn’t get back in.’
14“That’s what I mean when I say, ‘Many get invited; only a few make it.’”
Paying Taxes
15-17That’s when the Pharisees plotted a way to trap him into saying something damaging. They sent their disciples, with a few of Herod’s followers mixed in, to ask, “Teacher, we know you have integrity, teach the way of God accurately, are indifferent to popular opinion, and don’t pander to your students. So tell us honestly: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
18-19Jesus knew they were up to no good. He said, “Why are you playing these games with me? Why are you trying to trap me? Do you have a coin? Let me see it.” They handed him a silver piece.
20“This engraving—who does it look like? And whose name is on it?”
21They said, “Caesar.”
“Then give Caesar what is his, and give God what is his.”
22The Pharisees were speechless. They went off shaking their heads.
Marriage and Resurrection
23-28That same day, Sadducees approached him. This is the party that denies any possibility of resurrection. They asked, “Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies childless, his brother is obligated to marry his widow and father a child with her. Here’s a case where there were seven brothers. The first brother married and died, leaving no child, and his wife passed to his brother. The second brother also left her childless, then the third—and on and on, all seven. Eventually the wife died. Now here’s our question: At the resurrection, whose wife is she? She was a wife to each of them.”
29-33Jesus answered, “You’re off base on two counts: You don’t know what God said, and you don’t know how God works. At the resurrection we’re beyond marriage. As with the angels, all our ecstasies and intimacies then will be with God. And regarding your speculation on whether the dead are raised or not, don’t you read your Bibles? The grammar is clear: God says, ‘I am—not was—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.’ The living God defines himself not as the God of dead men, but of the living.” Hearing this exchange the crowd was much impressed.
The Most Important Command
34-36When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: “Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?”
37-40Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”
David’s Son and Master
41-42As the Pharisees were regrouping, Jesus caught them off balance with his own test question: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said, “David’s son.”
43-45Jesus replied, “Well, if the Christ is David’s son, how do you explain that David, under inspiration, named Christ his ‘Master’?
God said to my Master,
“Sit here at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
“Now if David calls him ‘Master,’ how can he at the same time be his son?”
46That stumped them, literalists that they were. Unwilling to risk losing face again in one of these public verbal exchanges, they quit asking questions for good.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.