Matthew 22

The Voice

Jesus: ² The kingdom of heaven is like a king whose son was getting married. The king organized a great feast, a huge wedding banquet. ³ He invited everyone he knew. The day of the wedding arrived, and the king sent his servants into town to track down his guests—but when the servants approached them with the king’s message, they refused to come. ⁴ So the king sent out another batch of servants.

⁵ And off the servants went, and they carried the king’s message to the errant guests—who still paid not a whit of attention. One guest headed into his field to work; another sat at his desk to attend to his accounts. ⁶ The rest of the guests actually turned on the servants, brutalizing them and killing them. ⁷ When he learned of this, the king was furious. He sent his army to kill the murderers and burn their towns. ⁸ But there was, of course, still a wedding to celebrate.

¹⁰ And the servants did just that—they went into the streets and invited everyone they met, rich and poor, good and bad, high and low, sick and well. Everyone who was invited came, and the wedding hall practically burst with guests.

¹¹ The king looked around the wedding party with glee, but he spotted one man who was not dressed appropriately. In fact, he was dressed rather plainly, in clothes not at all fitting for a fine nuptial feast.

The man was speechless. He had been invited in off the street, after all! ¹³ Getting no response, the king told his servants,

¹⁴ For many are invited, but few are chosen.

Students: Teacher, we know You are a man of integrity and You tell the truth about the way of God. We know You don’t cotton to public opinion. ¹⁷ And that is why we trust You and want You to settle something for us: should we, God’s chosen people, pay taxes to Caesar or not?

Jesus: You hypocrites! Why do you show up here with such a transparent trick? ¹⁹ Bring Me a coin you would use to pay tax.

Jesus: Of whom is this a portrait, and who owns this inscription?

Students: ²¹ Caesar.

Jesus: Well then, render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.

Sadducees: ²⁴ Teacher, the law of Moses teaches that if a married man dies with no children, then his brother must marry the widow and father children in his brother’s name. ²⁵ Now we knew a family of seven brothers. The eldest brother married and died, and since he had no children, the next brother married his widow. ²⁶ And shortly thereafter, that second brother died and the next until there were seven marriages with the same woman. ²⁷ Eventually the wife died. ²⁸ So now, Teacher, whose wife will she be at the resurrection? Will she have seven husbands, since they were each married to her?

Jesus: ²⁹ You know neither God’s Scriptures nor God’s power—and so your assumptions are all wrong. ³⁰ At the resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage. They will be like the messengers of heaven.

³¹ A key to this resurrected life can be found in the words of Moses, which you do claim to read: ³² “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”^[b] Our God is not the God of the dead. He is the God of the living.

Pharisees: ³⁶ Teacher, of all the laws, which commandment is the greatest?

Jesus (quoting Scripture): ³⁷ “Love the Eternal One your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind.”^{[c] 38} This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is nearly as important, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”^{[d] 40} The rest of the law, and all the teachings of the prophets, are but variations on these themes.

Jesus: ⁴² What do you think about the Anointed One? Whose Son is He?

Pharisees: But, of course, He is the Son of David.

Jesus: ⁴³ Then how is it that David—whose words were surely shaped by the Spirit—calls Him “Lord”? For in his psalms David writes,

⁴⁵ How can David call his own Son “Lord”?