Matthew 22
Parable of the Wedding Feast
22And Jesus answered and spoke to them again in parables, saying, 2“aThe kingdom of heaven 1may be compared to 2a king who 3gave a bwedding feast for his son. 3“And he asent out his slaves to call those who had been called to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. 4“Again he asent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been called, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.”’ 5“But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own 1farm, another to his business, 6and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. 7“But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. 8“Then he *said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were called were not worthy. 9‘Go therefore to athe main highways, and as many as you find there, call to the wedding feast.’ 10“And those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with 1dinner guests.
11“But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw aa man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, 12and he *said to him, ‘aFriend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. 13“Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into athe outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14“For many are 1,acalled, but few are bchosen.”
Taxes to Caesar
15aThen the Pharisees went and took counsel together about how they might trap Him 1in what He said. 16And they *sent their disciples to Him, along with the aHerodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and 1defer to no one; for You are not partial to any. 17“Therefore, tell us, what do You think? Is it 1lawful to give a atax to bCaesar, or not?” 18But Jesus, knowing their wickedness, said, “Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites? 19“Show Me the acoin used for the tax.” And they brought Him a 1denarius. 20And He *said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21They *said to Him, “Caesar’s.” Then He *said to them, “aTherefore, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” 22And hearing this, they marveled, and aleaving Him, they went away.
The Sadducees and the Resurrection
23aOn that day some bSadducees (who say cthere is no resurrection) came to Jesus and asked Him a question, 24saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘aIf a man dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife and raise up a seed for his brother.’ 25“Now there were seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no 1seed, he left his wife to his brother; 26so also the second, and the third, down to the seventh. 27“And last of all, the woman died. 28“In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her.”
29But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, anot 1understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30“For in the resurrection they neither amarry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31“But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 32‘aI am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” 33And when the crowds heard this, athey were astonished at His teaching.
The Foremost Commandment
34aBut when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced bthe Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. 35And one of them, aa scholar of the Law, asked Him a question, testing Him, 36“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37And He said to him, “‘aYou shall love the 1Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38“This is the great and 1foremost commandment. 39“And the second is like it, ‘aYou shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40“aOn these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”
41aNow while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42saying, “What do you think about 1the Christ, whose son is He?” They *said to Him, “aThe son of David.” 43He *said to them, “Then how does David 1,ain the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying,
44‘aThe 1Lord said to my Lord,“Sit at My right hand,Until I put Your enemies beneath Your feet”’?