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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Matthew 22
22
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet
1Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and 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 wedding clothes. 12He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.
13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar
15Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax#22:17 A special tax levied on subject peoples, not on Roman citizens to Caesar or not?”
18But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
21“Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
22When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
Marriage at the Resurrection
23That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24“Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27Finally, the woman died. 28Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”
29Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31But about the resurrection of the dead—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’#22:32 Exodus 3:6? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
33When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
The Greatest Commandment
34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’#22:37 Deut. 6:5 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’#22:39 Lev. 19:18 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Whose Son Is the Messiah?
41While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42“What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”
“The son of David,” they replied.
43He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,
44 “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet.” ’ # 22:44
Psalm 110:1
45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
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