Matthew
Chapter 22
1 Jesus answered and told them another story using parables. He said,
2 God’s kingdom is like a king who arranged a wedding for his son.
3 He sent his servants to invite those who had been asked to the wedding, but they did not want to come.
4 He sent more servants and said, “Tell the invited guests, ‘Look, I’ve made my dinner ready: my oxen and fattened animals are butchered, and everything is set. Come to the wedding feast.’”
5 But they ignored it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business.
6 The remaining people took his servants, treated them badly, and killed them.
7 When the king heard this, he was angry. He sent his armies to kill those murderers and burn their city.
8 He said to his servants, “The wedding is ready, but the guests who were invited were not worthy.”
9 Go to the main roads and invite everyone you find to the wedding.
10 The servants went out to the roads and brought back everyone they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 When the king entered to look at the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.
12 He said to him, “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding outfit?” And he had nothing to say.
13 The king told his servants, “Tie up his hands and feet, take him out, and throw him into the dark place, where there will be crying and grinding of teeth.”
14 Many are invited, but few are selected.
15 Then the Pharisees went and planned how to trap him with his words.
16 They sent their followers to him with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know you are honest and teach God’s way truthfully. You don’t favor anyone because you pay no attention to who they are.”
17 Tell us then, what do you think? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?
18 But Jesus knew they were being evil and asked, “Why are you trying to trick me, you fakers?”
19 Show me the tax money. And they brought him a coin.
20 He asks them, “Whose picture and name are on this?”
21 They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.”
22 After hearing his words, they were amazed, then they left and went on their way.
23 That day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him.
24 Teacher, Moses said, “If a man dies without children, his brother should marry the widow and have children for his brother.”
25 Seven brothers were with us. The first brother died after he got married, and since he had no children, his wife became his brother’s.
26 The second one did the same, and the third, up to the seventh.
27 Finally, the woman died too.
28 So, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be, since all seven were married to her?
29 Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken, because you don’t know the Scriptures or God’s power.”
30 In the resurrection, people do not marry or are married off, but are like God’s angels in heaven.
31 But about rising from the dead, haven’t you read what God told you, saying,
32 I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God is not for the dead, but for the living.
33 When the crowd heard this, they were amazed at his teaching.
34 When the Pharisees heard that he had made the Sadducees quiet, they came together.
35 One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him, saying,
36 Teacher, what is the most important command in the law?
37 Jesus told him, “You should love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
38 This is the most important command.
39 The second command is similar: Love your neighbor the same way you love yourself.
40 All the laws and the teachings of the prophets are based on these two commandments.
41 While the Pharisees were together, Jesus asked them,
42 Asking, “What do you think about the Messiah? Who’s his father?” They answered, “David’s son.”
43 He asks them, “So why does David, inspired by the Spirit, call him ‘Lord,’ saying?
44 God said to my master, “Sit at my right side until I make your enemies a place for your feet.”
45 If David calls him Lord, how is he David’s son?
46 No one could reply to him at all, nor did anyone dare to ask him more questions from that day on.