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The Gospels · New Testament

Matthew 22

Matthew 22: the wedding feast, tribute to Cesar, the resurrection, the great commandment, and David's Lord

General context

Jesus tells of a king who makes a marriage for his son. The invited guests refuse, make light of the second summons, and some kill the servants; the king destroys the murderers and burns their city, then fills the wedding from the highways with bad and good. Finding a guest without a wedding garment, who is speechless when asked, the king has him bound and cast into outer darkness, and Jesus says many are called but few chosen. The Pharisees send their disciples with the Herodians to ask whether it is lawful to give tribute to Cesar. Jesus asks for the tribute money, asks whose image and superscription the penny bears, and says to render to Cesar what is Cesar's and to God what is God's; they marvel and leave. Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, put the case of seven brothers who married one woman in turn and ask whose wife she will be. Jesus says they err, not knowing the scriptures or God's power, that in the resurrection there is no marrying, and that God, who said I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is God of the living. A lawyer among the Pharisees asks which commandment is greatest; Jesus names love of God with heart, soul and mind, and love of neighbour as the second, on which hang the law and the prophets. Jesus then asks the Pharisees whose son the Christ is; they say David's, and he asks how David in spirit calls him Lord. No one can answer, and from that day no one dares to ask him more questions.

Cited passages: Matthew 22:2, Matthew 22:3, Matthew 22:5, Matthew 22:6, Matthew 22:7, Matthew 22:10, Matthew 22:12, Matthew 22:13, Matthew 22:14, Matthew 22:16, Matthew 22:17, Matthew 22:20, Matthew 22:21, Matthew 22:22, Matthew 22:23, Matthew 22:28, Matthew 22:29, Matthew 22:30, Matthew 22:32, Matthew 22:35, Matthew 22:37, Matthew 22:39, Matthew 22:40, Matthew 22:42, Matthew 22:44, Matthew 22:46

Matthew 22 (KJV)

1And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,

2The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,

3And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.

4Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.

5But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:

6And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.

7But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

8Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.

9Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.

10So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.

11And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:

12And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

13Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

14For many are called, but few are chosen.

15Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.

16And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men.

17Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?

18But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?

19Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny.

20And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?

21They say unto him, Cæsar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.

22When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.

23The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,

24Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

25Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother:

26Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.

27And last of all the woman died also.

28Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.

29Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

30For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

31But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,

32I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

33And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.

34But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.

35Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

36Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38This is the first and great commandment.

39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

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

42Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David.

43He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying,

44The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?

45If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?

46And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

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Historical context

The narrator identifies the Sadducees by their teaching, that there is no resurrection, and the questioner about the commandment as a lawyer among the Pharisees who asks tempting him. The Herodians are named only as companions of the Pharisees' disciples and are not described further. The tribute coin is a penny, and Cesar is not further identified. The Sadducees attribute the levirate rule to Moses in their own words, Moses said. Jesus' quotation I am the God of Abraham is introduced as that which was spoken unto you by God, and the psalm line about David's Lord is introduced as David in spirit speaking; neither is assigned to a book. The wedding parable includes the killing of servants, the destruction of a city, and a bound guest cast into outer darkness, and the text gives no explanation of the wedding garment. The closing silence, no man was able to answer him a word, is the narrator's report, and it marks the end of the question sequence that began in chapter 21.

Cited passages: Matthew 22:23, Matthew 22:35, Matthew 22:16, Matthew 22:19, Matthew 22:24, Matthew 22:31, Matthew 22:43, Matthew 22:6, Matthew 22:7, Matthew 22:11, Matthew 22:46, Matthew 21:23

Literary context

The wedding parable continues the vineyard parable's pattern of servants sent, refused and killed, and adds a second scene inside the feast where the judgment falls on one who entered. Three questions then follow in sequence, from the Pharisees' disciples with the Herodians, from the Sadducees, and from a lawyer among the Pharisees, and each is met by a question or a scripture that turns the question back: whose image, have ye not read, which is the great commandment answered with two. The narrator reports a reaction after each of the first two exchanges, that they marvelled and that the multitude were astonished, and the Pharisees gather when they hear he had put the Sadducees to silence. Jesus' own question about David's son closes the sequence, and the chapter ends with silence, so the day of questions in the temple finishes with no one daring to ask. The next chapter turns from answering the scribes and Pharisees to denouncing them.

Cited passages: Matthew 22:4, Matthew 21:36, Matthew 22:11, Matthew 22:20, Matthew 22:31, Matthew 22:36, Matthew 22:22, Matthew 22:33, Matthew 22:34, Matthew 22:45, Matthew 22:46, Matthew 23:13

Key moments

  1. They would not come (Matthew 22:3). The king's invited guests refuse the marriage feast.
  2. Without a wedding garment (Matthew 22:12). The king questions a guest who has no answer.
  3. Whose image is this? (Matthew 22:20). Jesus asks whose image and superscription the penny carries.
  4. Render unto Cesar (Matthew 22:21). Jesus answers the tribute question and the questioners marvel.
  5. God of the living (Matthew 22:32). Jesus answers the Sadducees from the words spoken to them by God.
  6. The two great commandments (Matthew 22:39). Jesus names love of God first and love of neighbour as like it.
  7. No one dares ask more (Matthew 22:46). After the question about David's Lord, no one can answer or asks again.

For reflection

Each group comes to Jesus with a prepared question, and the chapter ends with no man able to answer him a word. Which of the questions Jesus puts back to them would be hardest to answer plainly?

People in this chapter

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