The Gospel According to
Matthew 22
46 verses≈ 6 min4 peopleBSB
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The Parable of the Banquet
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Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited were not worthy.
Go therefore to the crossroads and invite to the banquet as many as you can find.’
So the servants went out into the streets and gathered everyone they could find, both evil and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
But when the king came in to see the guests, he spotted a man who was not dressed in wedding clothes.
The king
‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’
But the man was speechless.
The king
Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Reflect
Dressed for the feast
The king’s servants brought in “both evil and good,” and the hall was full. Everyone got in by invitation, not by merit. Yet one man came as if nothing had changed. What would it look like for you to come to Jesus’ table dressed for the feast, wearing the new life He gives?
Paying Taxes to Caesar
Then the Pharisees went out and conspired to trap Jesus in His words. They sent their disciples to Him along with the Herodians.
Pharisees & Herodians
“Teacher,” they said, “we know that You are honest and that You teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You seek favor from no one, because You pay no attention to external appearance. So tell us what You think: Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
Jesus
But Jesus knew their evil intent and said, “You hypocrites, why are you testing Me? Show Me the coin used for the tax.”
And they brought Him a denarius.
“Whose image is this,” He asked, “and whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,” they answered. So Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
And when they heard this, they were amazed. So they left Him and went away.
The Sadducees and the Resurrection
That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and questioned Him.
The Sadducees
“Teacher,” they said, “Moses declared that if a man dies without having children, his brother is to marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died without having children. So he left his wife to his brother. The same thing happened to the second and third brothers, down to the seventh. And last of all, the woman died. In the resurrection, then, whose wife will she be of the seven? For all of them were married to her.”
Jesus
Jesus answered, “You are mistaken because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. In the resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage. Instead, they will be like the angels in heaven.
But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what God said to you: ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?
He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
Matthew 22:32
When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.
Whose wife?
Whiteboard
The Sadducees built a story to make the resurrection look absurd. Jesus answers with the two things they missed: the power of God, who makes life new, and the Scriptures, where God is still the God of Abraham.
Question
Quick question
Jesus told the Sadducees they were mistaken, and He named the reason.
What two things did Jesus say the Sadducees did not know?
The Greatest Commandment
And when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they themselves gathered together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with a question:
An expert in the law
“Teacher, which commandment is the greatest in the Law?”
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
Matthew 22:40
Pray
With all your heart
Jesus gathers the whole Law into two loves: God “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” and your neighbor as yourself. Ask Him to make both real in you today, starting with the person you will see next.
Whose Son Is the Christ?
While the Pharisees were assembled, Jesus questioned them: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is He?” “David’s,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord’? For he says:
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand
until I put Your enemies
under Your feet.”’
So if David calls Him ‘Lord,’ how can He be David’s son?”
0:25
Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain
No one was able to answer a word, and from that day on no one dared to question Him any further.
You’ve experienced
Matthew 22
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A verse to carry with you
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Matthew 22:37–39
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