Chapter 22

1Jesus again spoke to them using a story:

2“God’s rule from heaven is like what happened when a king prepared a wedding celebration for his son.

3The king sent his servants to call the invited guests, but they refused to come.

4He sent other servants with this message: ‘Tell the invited guests, “My meal is ready. My bulls and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is prepared. Come to the wedding celebration!”’

5But the invited guests paid no attention. One went to his field, and another went to his business.

6The rest seized the king’s servants, abused them, and killed them.

7The king became furious. He sent his troops, killed those murderers, and burned their city.

8Then he told his servants, ‘The wedding celebration is ready, but the invited guests did not deserve to attend.

9So go out to the main roads leading from the city and invite everyone you find to the wedding celebration.’

10The servants went out onto the roads and gathered everyone they found, bad people as well as good people. Soon the wedding feast was full of guests reclining to eat.

11When the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man who was not dressed for a wedding.

12The king asked him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without being dressed for the wedding?’ The man had nothing to say.

13Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie his feet and hands, and throw him outside into the darkness. There people will weep and grind their teeth.’

14For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

15Then the Pharisees, members of a Jewish religious movement, went away and planned how to trap Jesus into saying something they could use against him.

16They sent some of their followers to Jesus along with the Herodians, supporters of Herod’s ruling family. They said, “Teacher, we know that you are honest and truthfully teach how God wants people to live. No one can influence you, because you do not judge people by their status.

17So tell us what you think. Are we allowed to pay the tax to Caesar, the Roman emperor, or not?”

18Jesus knew their dishonest intent and said, “Why are you trying to trap me, you frauds?

19Show me the coin used to pay the tax.” They brought him a Roman coin called a denarius.

20Jesus asked them, “Whose portrait is this, and whose inscription is on the coin?”

21They answered, “Caesar’s.” Then Jesus told them, “So give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give God what belongs to God.”

22They were amazed when they heard this. Then they left Jesus and went away.

23That same day, some Sadducees came to Jesus. They belonged to a Jewish religious group that taught that the dead would not rise to life. They questioned him,

24saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies without children, his brother must marry the widow and have children to carry on the dead brother’s family line.’

25There were once seven brothers among our people. The first married and then died. Since he had no children, his wife was left for his brother to marry.

26The same thing happened to the second and third brothers, and then to all seven.

27Last of all, the woman died.

28So when the dead rise, which of the seven will be her husband? After all, every one of them had been married to her.”

29Jesus answered them, “You are wrong because you do not know the sacred writings or understand God’s power.

30When the dead rise, people will not marry, and no one will arrange marriages for them. Instead, they will be like God’s angels in heaven.

31As for the dead rising to life, have you not read what God told you?

32He said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ God is not God of the dead but of the living.”

33When the crowds heard this, they were astonished by his teaching.

34When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.

35One of them, an expert in the law of Moses, tried to test Jesus with a question:

36“Teacher, which command is the most important in the law?”

37Jesus answered him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.

38This is the first and most important command.

39The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.

40Everything taught in the law of Moses and the writings of the prophets hangs on these two commands.”

41While the Pharisees were still gathered together, Jesus asked them,

42“What do you think about the Messiah, God’s promised king? Whose son—that is, whose descendant—is he?” They answered, “David’s.”

43Jesus asked them, “Then why did David, when God’s Spirit inspired him, call the Messiah ‘Lord’? David said,

44‘God said to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet.”’

45So if David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be David’s son?”

46No one could give Jesus an answer. From that day on, no one dared to ask him any more questions.