Parable of the wedding party

22 Jesus responded by speaking again in parables: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding party for his son. ³ He sent his servants to call those invited to the wedding party. But they didn’t want to come. ⁴ Again he sent other servants and said to them, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Look, the meal is all prepared. I’ve butchered the oxen and the fattened cattle. Now everything’s ready. Come to the wedding party!”’ ⁵ But they paid no attention and went away—some to their fields, others to their businesses. ⁶ The rest of them grabbed his servants, abused them, and killed them.

⁷ “The king was angry. He sent his soldiers to destroy those murderers and set their city on fire. ⁸ Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding party is prepared, but those who were invited weren’t worthy. ⁹ Therefore, go to the roads on the edge of town and invite everyone you find to the wedding party.’

¹⁰ “Then those servants went to the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding party was full of guests. ¹¹ Now when the king came in and saw the guests, he spotted a man who wasn’t wearing wedding clothes. ¹² He said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But he was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to his servants, ‘Tie his hands and feet and throw him out into the farthest darkness. People there will be weeping and grinding their teeth.’

¹⁴ “Many people are invited, but few people are chosen.”

Question about taxes

¹⁵ Then the Pharisees met together to find a way to trap Jesus in his words. ¹⁶ They sent their disciples, along with the supporters of Herod, to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are genuine and that you teach God’s way as it really is. We know that you are not swayed by people’s opinions, because you don’t show favoritism. ¹⁷ So tell us what you think: Does the Law allow people to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

¹⁸ Knowing their evil motives, Jesus replied, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites? ¹⁹ Show me the coin used to pay the tax.” And they brought him a denarion. ²⁰ “Whose image and inscription is this?” he asked.

²¹ “Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” ²² When they heard this they were astonished, and they departed.

Question about resurrection

²³ That same day Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Jesus. ²⁴ They asked, “Teacher, Moses said, If a man who doesn’t have children dies, his brother must marry his wife and produce children for his brother.^{[a] 25} Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married, then died. Because he had no children he left his widow to his brother. ²⁶ The same thing happened with the second brother and the third, and in fact with all seven brothers. ²⁷ Finally, the woman died. ²⁸ At the resurrection, which of the seven brothers will be her husband? They were all married to her.”

²⁹ Jesus responded, “You are wrong because you don’t know either the scriptures or God’s power. ³⁰ At the resurrection people won’t marry nor will they be given in marriage. Instead, they will be like angels from God. ³¹ As for the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read what God told you, ³² I’m the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?^[b] He isn’t the God of the dead but of the living.” ³³ Now when the crowd heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

Great commandment

³⁴ When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had left the Sadducees speechless, they met together. ³⁵ One of them, a legal expert, tested him. ³⁶ “Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷ He replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being,^[c] and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.^{[d] 40} All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

Question about David’s son

⁴¹ Now as the Pharisees were gathering, Jesus asked them, ⁴² “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”

“David’s son,” they replied.

⁴³ He said, “Then how is it that David, inspired by the Holy Spirit, called him Lord when he said, ⁴⁴ The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right side until I turn your enemies into your footstool’?^{[e] 45} If David calls him Lord, how can he be David’s son?” ⁴⁶ Nobody was able to answer him. And from that day forward nobody dared to ask him anything.