Matthew 22

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Matthew 22 is a day of confrontation in the temple during the last week of Jesus's life. It opens with a parable of a wedding banquet whose invited guests refuse to come, then records three attempts to trap Jesus, on taxes to Caesar, on the resurrection, and on the greatest commandment, each of which he turns into teaching. It ends with his own question about the Messiah as David's son and David's Lord, after which no one dares to ask him anything more.

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Matthew 22 records one long day of questions, and it is worth noticing who asks them. Jesus has ridden into Jerusalem, overturned the tables in the temple, and told parables that the leaders recognized as being about themselves. Now they come at him in turn. First the Pharisees, with the Herodians beside them, bring the tax question, a trap with no safe answer: say yes and lose the crowd, say no and give Rome its charge. Jesus asks for the coin, asks whose image it bears, and returns the question to them with a second clause they had not asked about: give to God what is God's. Then the Sadducees, who did not believe in resurrection, bring a riddle about a woman married to seven brothers, and Jesus answers from the one part of Scripture they accepted, the books of Moses, arguing from a present tense that the God of Abraham is the God of the living. Then a lawyer asks which commandment is greatest, and receives the sentence that summarizes the whole Bible. Finally Jesus asks his own question, about how David could call his descendant "Lord," and no one can answer. The chapter opens with a banquet that the invited would not attend. By its end, the invitation has been made in public, and the guests have declined again.

Historical and literary context

The chapter belongs to the days between Palm Sunday and the crucifixion, when Jesus taught openly in the temple courts and the religious authorities looked for a charge against him. The three questions come from different factions: the Pharisees allied with the Herodians on taxes, a politically explosive issue under Roman occupation; the Sadducees, the priestly aristocracy who denied resurrection, on the law of levirate marriage; and a lawyer from the Pharisees on the commandments. Each was designed to divide Jesus from the crowd or expose him to Rome.

How the chapter unfolds

Verses 1 to 14 are the parable of the wedding banquet, with its refusing guests, its open invitation to the crossroads, and its guest without wedding clothes. Verses 15 to 22 are the coin and the question about Caesar. Verses 23 to 33 are the Sadducees' riddle about seven brothers and Jesus's answer from the burning bush: God "is not the God of the dead, but of the living." Verses 34 to 40 are the greatest commandment, love of God and love of neighbor, on which "all the Law and the Prophets hang." Verses 41 to 46 are Jesus's counter-question from Psalm 110, which silences his opponents.

Why this chapter matters

Two of the most quoted sayings of Jesus are here. "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's" has shaped Christian thinking about political authority for two thousand years, refusing both rebellion and idolatry of the state. The double love command, quoting Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19, is Jesus's own summary of the entire Bible. His argument for resurrection from a present-tense verb, "I am the God of Abraham," and his reading of Psalm 110 show how he read Scripture: closely, and as testimony to himself.

Interpretive tension to watch

The parable ends with a guest thrown out for lacking wedding clothes, though he was gathered in from the streets. What do the clothes represent, and why is the open invitation not the end of the story? Readers have answered with righteousness, repentance, or the grace one must actually put on; the parable leaves the question sharp on purpose. Its last line, "many are called, but few are chosen," has been read very differently across Christian traditions.

Pertanyaan untuk pasal ini

  • Whose image is on the coin, and whose image is on the people holding it? How does Genesis 1:27 sit behind Jesus's answer about Caesar?
  • Jesus tells the Sadducees they are mistaken because they know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. Which of the two is easier to neglect?
  • If all the Law and the Prophets hang on love of God and neighbor, what in your reading of the Bible needs to be re-hung on those two nails?

Study with context

Use this as a chapter guide, then press deeper into the text itself. The goal is to slow down observation, notice structure, and ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.

1 And Jesus answering spoke to them again in parables, saying, 2 The kingdom of the heavens has become like a king who made a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his bondmen to call the persons invited to the wedding feast, and they would not come. 4 Again he sent other bondmen, saying, Say to the persons invited, Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fatted beasts are killed, and all things ready; come to the wedding feast. 5 But they made light of it, and went, one to his own land, and another to his commerce. 6 And the rest, laying hold of his bondmen, ill-treated and slew [them]. 7 And [when] the king [heard of it he] was wroth, and having sent his forces, destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he says to his bondmen, The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy; 9 go therefore into the thoroughfares of the highways, and as many as ye shall find invite to the wedding feast. 10 And those bondmen went out into the highways, and brought together all as many as they found, both evil and good; and the wedding feast was furnished with guests. 11 And the king, having gone in to see the guests, beheld there a man not clothed with a wedding garment. 12 And he says to him, [My] friend, how camest thou in here not having on a wedding garment? But he was speechless. 13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him feet and hands, and take him away, and cast him out into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. 14 For many are called ones, but few chosen ones. 15 Then went the Pharisees and held a council how they might ensnare him in speaking. 16 And they send out to him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Teacher, we know that thou art true and teachest the way of God in truth, and carest not for any one, for thou regardest not men's person; 17 tell us therefore what thou thinkest: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? 18 But Jesus, knowing their wickedness, said, Why tempt ye me, hypocrites? 19 Shew me the money of the tribute. And they presented to him a denarius. 20 And he says to them, Whose [is] this image and superscription? 21 They say to him, Caesar's. Then he says to them, Pay then what is Caesar's to Caesar, and what is God's to God. 22 And when they heard [him], they wondered, and left him, and went away. 23 On that day came to him Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection; and they demanded of him, 24 saying, Teacher, Moses said, If any one die, not having children, his brother shall marry his wife and shall raise up seed to his brother. 25 Now there were with us seven brethren; and the first having married died, and not having seed, left his wife to his brother. 26 In like manner also the second and the third, unto the seven. 27 And last of all the woman also died. 28 In the resurrection therefore of which of the seven shall she be wife, for all had her? 29 And Jesus answering said to them, Ye err, not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as angels of God in heaven. 31 But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not God of [the] dead, but of [the] living. 33 And when the crowds heard [it] they were astonished at his doctrine. 34 But the Pharisees, having heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, were gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, demanded, tempting him, and saying, 36 Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 And he said to him, Thou shalt love [the] Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy understanding. 38 This is [the] great and first commandment. 39 And [the] second is like it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments the whole law and the prophets hang. 41 And the Pharisees being gathered together, Jesus demanded of them, 42 saying, What think ye concerning the Christ? whose son is he? They say to him, David's. 43 He says to them, How then does David in Spirit call him Lord, saying, 44 The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand until I put thine enemies under thy feet? 45 If therefore David call him Lord, how is he his son? 46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor did any one dare from that day to question him any more.

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