A Story About a Wedding Feast^(A)

22 Jesus again used ·stories [parables] to teach them. He said, ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding ·feast [banquet] for his son. ³ When the ·feast [banquet] was ready, the king sent his servants to ·tell [inform; call] the people who had been invited, but they refused to come.

⁴ “Then the king sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited that my ·feast [banquet] is ready. I have killed my best ·bulls [or oxen] and [^Lfattened] calves for the dinner, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding ·feast [banquet].’

⁵ “But the people ·refused to listen [paid no attention] to the servants and ·left to do other things [went their own way]. One went to ·work in his field [his field/farm], and another went to his business. ⁶ ·Some of the other people [or The rest] grabbed the servants, ·beat [mistreated; insulted] them, and killed them. ⁷ The king was furious and sent his army to ·kill [destroy] the murderers and burn their city [^Cprobably an allusion to the destruction of Jerusalam in ad 70].

⁸ “After that, the king said to his servants, ‘The wedding ·feast [banquet] is ready. I invited those people, but they ·were not worthy [do not deserve] to come. ⁹ So go to the ·street corners [crossroads; or main roads] and invite everyone you find to come to my ·feast [banquet].’ ¹⁰ So the servants went into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and ·bad [evil]. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.

¹¹ “[^LBut] When the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man who was not dressed ·for a wedding [in wedding clothes]. ¹² The king said, ‘Friend, how were you allowed to come in here? You are not dressed for a wedding.’ But the man ·said nothing [was speechless/silent]. ¹³ So the king told some servants, ‘Tie this man’s hands and feet. Throw him out into the ·darkness [darkness outside; or outermost darkness], where ·people will cry and grind their teeth with pain [^Lthere will be weeping and gnashing of teeth; ^Csymbols of agony and torment].’

¹⁴ “·Yes [^LFor], many are ·invited [called], but only a few are chosen.”

Is It Right to Pay Taxes or Not?^(B)

¹⁵ Then the Pharisees left that place and ·made plans [plotted] to ·trap [catch] Jesus in ·saying something wrong [his words]. ¹⁶ They sent some of their own ·followers [disciples] and some people from the group called Herodians [^Ca political group that supported king Herod and his family]. They said, “Teacher, we know that you are ·an honest man [true; sincere] and that you teach ·the truth [with sincerity/honesty] about God’s way. You are not ·afraid of [^Lconcerned about] what other people think about you, because you ·pay no attention to who they are [play no favorites; are impartial; aren’t swayed by appearances]. ¹⁷ So tell us what you think. Is it ·right [permissible; lawful] to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” [^CSaying “yes” would anger Jews who hated Roman rule; saying “no” could result in being charged with insurrection.]

¹⁸ But knowing ·that these leaders were trying to trick him [their evil/malicious motives], Jesus said, “You hypocrites! Why are you ·trying to trap [testing] me? ¹⁹ Show me a coin used for paying the tax.” So the men ·showed him a coin [^Lbrought him a denarius; ^Ca Roman coin worth a day’s wages]. ²⁰ Then Jesus asked, “Whose ·image [likeness; portrait] and ·name [inscription] are on the coin?”

²¹ The men answered, “Caesar’s.” [^CIronically, the religious leaders were carrying coins bearing the idolatrous image of Caesar.]

Then Jesus said to them, “·Give [^TRender] to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and give to God the things that are God’s.”

²² When the men heard what Jesus said, they were amazed and left him and went away.

Some Sadducees Try to Trick Jesus^(C)

²³ That same day some Sadducees came to Jesus and asked him a question. (Sadducees believed that people would not rise from the dead.) ²⁴ They said, “Teacher, Moses said if a married man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and ·have children [^Lraise up offspring/seed] for him [Deut. 25:5]. ²⁵ Once there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died. Since he had no ·children [offspring], his brother married the widow. ²⁶ Then the second brother also died. The same thing happened to the third brother ·and all the other brothers [^Ldown to the seventh]. ²⁷ Finally, the woman died. ²⁸ Since all seven men had married her, ·when people rise from the dead [^Lat the resurrection], whose wife will she be?”

²⁹ Jesus answered, “You ·don’t understand [are mistaken/deceived], because you don’t know what the Scriptures say, and you don’t know about the power of God. ³⁰ [^LFor] ·When people rise from the dead [^LAt the resurrection], they will not marry, nor will they be given to someone to marry. They will be like the angels in heaven. ³¹ ·Surely you have read [^LHave you not read…?] what God said to you ·about rising [concerning the resurrection] from the dead. ³² God said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob [Ex. 3:6; ^CGod is still the God of the patriarchs, so they must have a continued existence after death].’ God is the God of the living, not the dead.”

³³ When the people heard this, they were ·amazed [astounded] at Jesus’ teaching.

The Most Important Command^(D)

³⁴ When the Pharisees learned that ·the Sadducees could not argue with Jesus’ answers to them [^LJesus had silenced the Sadducees], the Pharisees met together. ³⁵ One Pharisee, who was an expert on the law of Moses, asked Jesus this question to ·test [trap] him: ³⁶ “Teacher, which command in the law is the ·most important [greatest]?”

³⁷ Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind [Deut. 6:5].’ ³⁸ This is the first and ·most important [greatest] command. ³⁹ And the second command is like the first: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself [Lev. 19:18].’ ⁴⁰ All the law and the ·writings of the prophets [^Lprophets] ·depend [are based; ^Lhang] on these two commands.”

Jesus Questions the Pharisees^(E)

⁴¹ While the Pharisees were together, Jesus asked them, ⁴² “What do you think about the ·Christ [Messiah]? Whose ·son [descendant] is he?”

They answered, “The Son of David [see 2 Sam. 7:12].”

⁴³ Then Jesus said to them, “Then why did David call him ‘Lord’? David, speaking ·by the power of the Holy Spirit [^Lin/by the Spirit], said,

⁴⁵ David calls ·the Christ [the Messiah; ^Lhim] ‘Lord,’ so how can ·the Christ [the Messiah; ^Lhe] be his son?”

⁴⁶ ·None of the Pharisees [^LNo one] could answer ·Jesus’ question [a word], and after that day no one ·was brave enough [dared] to ask him any more questions.