Matthew 22
22
Chapter 22
Jesus tells a story about a meal at a marriage
1Jesus continued to teach the people with stories. 2He said, ‘This is what the kingdom of heaven is like. A king prepared a special meal for his son's marriage. 3He asked many people to come. When the meal was ready, he sent his servants out to tell those people to come. But they refused to come.
4So the king then sent out other servants. He said to them, “Tell this message to all those people that I have asked to come. Tell them that the master says, ‘My servants have prepared the meal. They have killed my large oxen and some fat young cows to eat. Everything is ready. Now come to the marriage party!’ ”
5But the people did not think that the king's message was important. They went away to do their own work. One man went to his farm and another man went to his business. 6Other people took hold of the king's servants. They hurt them and then they killed them. 7The king was very angry. He sent his soldiers to the city where those people lived. They killed the people who killed the king's servants. They destroyed their city with fire.
8Then the king said to his other servants, “The meal for my son's marriage is ready. But the people that I had asked to come did not deserve to come. 9So go out now to the town's streets where people meet together. Ask all the people that you find there to come to the marriage party.” 10Then those servants went out into the streets. They brought to the king's house all the people that they met. Some were good people and some were bad people. Very many people came. The room for the marriage was full!
11Then the king came into the room to see all the people. He saw one man who was not wearing the right clothes for a marriage. #22:11 At that time, a man asked his friends to a special meal when he got married. He also gave them special clothes to wear. They wore these clothes when they came in to the meal. In the story, people came in from the streets, so they were not wearing special clothes. One person had not accepted the special clothes that the king gave to him. The special clothes are like what God gives us because of Jesus. Each person must accept what God gives. A person cannot save himself. That is what Jesus is teaching in this story. 12The king said to the man, “How did you come in here, my friend? You are not wearing the right clothes for a marriage.” The man could not answer the king.
13The king said to his servants, “Tie his hands and his feet. Take him and throw him into the dark place outside. There, people will cry and they will bite their teeth together.”
14God asks many people to come to him. But he only chooses a few people to be there with him.’
The Pharisees ask Jesus about taxes
15After the Pharisees heard this, they thought about what they could do. They wanted to ask Jesus difficult questions. They wanted to make him say something wrong about the Roman ruler. 16So the Pharisees sent their own disciples to Jesus. They also sent people who were friends of King Herod. They said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, we know that you only say true things. You teach us what God wants us to do. It does not matter to you what other people think. If someone is important, you do not change your answers to make them happy. 17So tell us your answer to this question: Should we pay our taxes to the Roman ruler, Caesar? Is it right to give that money to him, or not?’
18Jesus knew that these men wanted to do bad things to him. So he said to them, ‘You are asking that question to cause trouble for me. You are not being honest! 19Now, show me the coin that you use for the tax.’ So they brought a coin to him. 20Then Jesus asked them, ‘Whose picture is on this coin? Whose name is on it?’
21They replied, ‘It is Caesar's picture and Caesar's name.’
Jesus said to them, ‘So you should give to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar. And give to God the things that belong to God.’
22When they heard Jesus' answer, they were very surprised. So they left him and they went away.
The Sadducees ask Jesus a question
23On that day, some Sadducees also came to Jesus. Sadducees do not believe that anyone becomes alive again after they die. They wanted to ask Jesus a question. #22:23 The Sadducees were a group of Jewish leaders.
24‘Teacher,’ they said to him, ‘Moses said in the Bible: A man may die and leave behind a wife but no children. Then that man's brother must marry the woman. Then their children will be called the children of the brother who died. 25Once, there were seven brothers who lived here. The oldest brother married a woman. Then he died before they had any children. So the second brother married the woman. 26But then he also died with no children. So a third brother married this woman. And the same thing happened to all the brothers down to the seventh brother. They all died before the woman had any children. 27After all this, the woman also died. 28You teach that one day dead people will become alive again. On that day, whose wife will that woman be? She had married all seven of those brothers.’
29Jesus said to the Sadducees, ‘You are wrong. This is because you do not know the Bible. And you do not know how powerful God is. 30One day, God will raise people up after they have died. They will become alive again. But then men and women will not marry. They will not have husbands or wives. Instead, they will be like the angels in heaven. 31It is true that one day dead people will become alive again. You have read in the Bible about what God said to you: 32“I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. And I am the God of Jacob.” God is not the God of people who are dead. He is the God of people who are alive.’ #22:32 See Exodus 3:6.
33The crowd heard this. They were very surprised about what Jesus was teaching.
Jesus teaches the Pharisees about the most important Law
34The Pharisees heard that Jesus had said these things to the Sadducees. Now the Sadducees could not say anything more to him. So the Pharisees met together. They decided what they would say to Jesus.
35One of the Pharisees had studied God's Law very well. He asked Jesus a question to see how he would answer. 36He said, ‘Teacher, which of God's Laws is the most important rule for us to obey?’
37Jesus replied to him, ‘You should love the Lord your God completely: Love him with all your mind. Love him with all that you are. Love him in all that you think. 38This is the greatest rule and the most important of all God's Laws. 39The second rule is also important, like the first one. You should love other people as much as you love yourself. 40All God's Laws that Moses gave us come from these two rules. All the things that the prophets wrote also come from them.’
Jesus teaches people about the Messiah
41While the Pharisees met together with Jesus, he asked them, 42‘What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?’
The Pharisees replied, ‘He will be King David's son.’
43Jesus said to them, ‘So think about this: God's Holy Spirit helped King David to call the Messiah his Lord. David said, 44“The Lord said to my Lord:
Sit at my right side until I win against your enemies.
Then you will be able to put your feet on them.”
45We know that King David calls the Messiah his Lord. So can you really say that the Messiah is David's son?’ 46Nobody could answer the question that Jesus asked. After this, everyone was afraid to ask Jesus any more questions.
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Matthew 22: EASY
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MissionAssist 2018
Matthew 22
22
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet
1Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 2“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 4Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ 5But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, 6while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ 10Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, 12and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. 13Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14For many are called, but few are chosen.”
The Question about Paying Taxes
15Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. 16So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. 17Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” 18But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? 19Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” 21They answered, “The emperor's.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's.” 22When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.
The Question about the Resurrection
23The same day some Sadducees came to him, saying there is no resurrection;#22.23 Other ancient authorities read who say that there is no resurrection and they asked him a question, saying, 24“Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies childless, his brother shall marry the widow, and raise up children for his brother.’ 25Now there were seven brothers among us; the first married, and died childless, leaving the widow to his brother. 26The second did the same, so also the third, down to the seventh. 27Last of all, the woman herself died. 28In the resurrection, then, whose wife of the seven will she be? For all of them had married her.”
29Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. 30For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels#22.30 Other ancient authorities add of God in heaven. 31And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, 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.” 33And when the crowd heard it, they were astounded at his teaching.
The Greatest Commandment
34When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
The Question about David's Son
41Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: 42“What do you think of the Messiah?#22.42 Or Christ Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit#22.43 Gk in spirit calls him Lord, saying,
44‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet” ’?
45If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” 46No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
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New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.