Matthew 22
CHAPTER 22
Jesus’ parable about the wedding feast
And Jesus answered and spoke again in parables to them, saying: 2 The kingdom of heaven is likened to a certain king, who made a marriage feast for his son, 3 and sent out his servants to call them that were invited to the marriage feast, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other servants, saying: Tell them that were invited: Look, I have made ready my dinner. My oxen and my fatlings are killed and all things are ready. Come to the marriage feast! 5 But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and burnt their city. 8 Then he said to his servants: The wedding is ready, but they that were invited were not worthy. 9 Therefore, go to the main roads and as many as you shall find, invite them to the marriage feast. 10 And those servants went out into the highways and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good; and the wedding was filled with guests.
11 But when the king entered to see the guests, he saw there a man who was not wearing a wedding-garment. 12 And he said to him: Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding-garment? And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants: Bind him hand and foot and throw him outside into the darkness, where there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. 14 For many are called but few chosen.
The Pharisees try to trap Jesus – Tribute money to Caesar
15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might trap him in his talk. 16 And they sent to him their disciples, along with the Herodians, saying: Teacher. We know that you are true and teach the way of God in truth and care not for anyone, for you regard not the person of men. 17 Tell us therefore, what you think. Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? 18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness and said: Why do you test me? You hypocrites! 19 Show me the tribute money. And they brought to him a denarius. 20 And he said to them: Whose is this image and superscription? 21 They said to him: Caesar's. He then said to them: Therefore give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. 22 And when they heard it, they marvelled and left him and went away.
The Sadducees try to trap Jesus - resurrection
23 The same day Sadducees, that say that there is no resurrection, came to him; and they asked him: 24 Teacher. Moses said that if a man dies having had no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up seed to his brother. 25 Now there were with us seven brothers; and the first married and died having no seed, and thus left his wife to his brother. 26 In like manner the second also and the third, to the seventh. 27 And after them all, the woman died. 28 In the resurrection therefore, whose wife shall she be of the seven? For they all had her. 29 But Jesus answered and said to them: You are mistaken, as you neither know the scriptures, nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven.
31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying: 32 I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. 33 And when the crowds heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.
A Pharisee Lawyer tries to trap Jesus – The greatest commandment
34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him: 36 Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? 37 And he said to him: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. 40 On these two commandments hang the whole law and the prophets.
Jesus tests the Pharisees – Who is the Son of David?
41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying: 42 What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he? They said to him: The son of David. 43 He said to them: How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying: 44 The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies underneath your feet. 45 If David then calls him Lord, how is he his son? 46 And no one could say a word in reply. From that day nobody dared to ask him any other questions.
Commentary
22:4 Everything was ‘ready’ for God’s Kingdom in the first century, but the Jews rejected it.
22:5 Just as people today allow the busyness of their lives to stop them from responding to the Gospel.
22:7 Jerusalem was burnt by the Roman armies in AD70. They were God’s armies in the sense that He controlled and used them. Those who persecute us are also in a sense directly under God’s control.
22:10 There will be both bad and good people who accept the invitation; just as the weeds grow together with the wheat in the field of the church (Mt. 13:29). We shouldn’t be surprised at the sense that this is the case; but it’s not a reason to leave the church. We will not find any pure church.
22:11 The wedding garment represents the righteousness of God which is given to us when we are clothed with Christ in baptism. In weddings of those days, the white wedding garment was given to the guests as they entered the feast. To refuse it was arrogant- presumably the person thought that his own clothes were better than the wedding garment offered by the host.
22:21 The coin had Caesar’s image on it and therefore should be given to him. Our bodies are what has God’s image on it, and we should give them to God.
22:30 We are to be made as the Angels; we will be eternal and unable to sin, therefore the Angels are like that today. There are no sinful Angels in Heaven.
22:32 Those men are dead and unconscious, but their memory lives on with God, to the extent that when He says “I am [still, now, today] the God of... Jacob”, He means that He visualizes Jacob as actually alive. Jacob will be resurrected and given eternal life when Jesus returns; but God speaks about those things which are not yet as if they are, because the future is totally assured from His perspective (Rom. 4:17).
22:39 The Jews were always arguing about which commandment was most important. Jesus answers by saying that there are two commandments which are in fact one- to love God and to love our neighbour. His point is that these two can’t be separated. We can’t be Christians in isolation from people; we can’t love God and be indifferent to our neighbour.
22:45 The Jews thought that David was greater than Messiah; Jesus is saying that it’s the other way around.
