22
The Parable of the Wedding Feast
1 Once again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying,
2 “The kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son.
3 He sent his servants to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.
4 Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and the fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.” ’
5 But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own field and another to his business.
6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.
7 When the king heard about it, he was furious. So he sent his armies, who destroyed those murderers and burned down their city.
8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.
9 Go therefore to where the roads exit the city and invite to the wedding feast anyone you find.’
10 So the servants went out to the roads and gathered together all whom they found, both evil and good, and the wedding feast was filled with guests.
11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who was not clothed with a wedding garment.
12 So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did yoʋ come in here without a wedding garment?’ But the man was speechless.
13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind his feet and hands, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
The Question About Paying Taxes to Caesar
15 Then the Pharisees went and took counsel as to how they might ensnare Jesus in what he said.
16 They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that yoʋ are true and teach the way of God in truth and defer to no one, for yoʋ do not show partiality.
17 Tell us then, what do yoʋ think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
18 But Jesus knew their evil intent and said, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?
19 Show me the coin for the tax.” So they brought him a denarius.
20 Then he said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?”
21 They said to him, “Caesar's.” So he said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”
22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
The Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection
23 On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to Jesus and asked him,
24 “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him.’
25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring, he left his wife to his brother.
26 The same thing happened to the second and to the third, down to the seventh.
27 Last of all, the woman also died.
28 In the resurrection, therefore, which of the seven will she be the wife of? For they all had her.”
29 Jesus answered them, “You are in error because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.
30 For in the resurrection people neither marry nor are they given in marriage. Instead, they are like angels of God in heaven.
31 But as for 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’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
33 And when the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
The Greatest Commandment
34 Now when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.
35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked Jesus a question to test him:
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?”
37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘Yoʋ shall love the Lord yoʋr God with all yoʋr heart, with all yoʋr soul, and with all yoʋr mind.’
38 This is the most important and greatest commandment.
39 And a second is like it: ‘Yoʋ shall love yoʋr neighbor as yoʋrself.’
40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Whose Son Is the Christ?
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,
42 “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “David's.”
43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord,’ saying,
44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand
until I make yoʋr enemies a footstool for yoʋr feet” ’?
45 If David calls him ‘Lord,’ how is he his son?”
46 No one was able to say anything in reply, nor did anyone dare to ask him questions anymore from that day forward.