Matthew: Chapter 22 | New to His Word

The big picture

Facing challenges in Jerusalem, Jesus, the teacher and healer, continues speaking to the city's religious leaders. Jerusalem holds the temple where these disputes take place. He tells of a king's feast that invited guests refuse. Then several groups test him on taxes, life after death, and God's commands. Each question seeks a weakness in his teaching. Jesus answers them and asks one of his own about the promised Christ, the king God will send. His opponents have no reply.

In this chapter

Guests Refuse the King’s Feast Matthew 22:1-14
A king prepares his son's wedding feast, but invited guests refuse to come.
A Coin Answers the Tax Trap Matthew 22:15-22
The Pharisees, a group strict about religious law, send followers with the Herodians, supporters of Herod's ruling family.
Life After Death Is Different Matthew 22:23-33
The Sadducees, a religious group who deny that the dead rise, bring a puzzle.
Two Commands Hold the Law Together Matthew 22:34-40
A lawyer, an expert in God's law, tests Jesus with a question about its greatest command.
David Names a Greater Lord Matthew 22:41-46
Jesus now questions the Pharisees about the Christ.

Central truth

Jesus exposes false choices about God's kingdom and shows that love for God and neighbour holds the law together.

Matthew 22: Questions Fail to Trap Jesus

Scripture beside the summary

Matthew · King James Version · 46

Matthew 22:1-14

Guests Refuse the King’s Feast

A king prepares his son's wedding feast, but invited guests refuse to come. Some return to work; others abuse and kill his servants. The king sends troops to kill the murderers and burn their city. He then sends servants to bring anyone they find on the roads. Good and bad people alike fill the hall. Yet a guest without wedding clothes has no answer when questioned. The king has him bound and thrown into darkness, where there is grief and pain. Jesus ends by distinguishing the many invited from the few chosen. God's invitation is wide, but ignoring or refusing his claim has grave results.

In everyday life

A remembrance-meal organiser places returned invitations beside a list of people still waiting to attend. Families who expected to be welcomed receive no reply from several invited guests. She sends fresh invitations to those outside the first circle. The changed guest list shows refusal and welcome; no meal organiser carries out the king's deadly judgement.

Notice

Matthew 22:10 Both bad and good people are brought into the hall. The invitation is not a reward for a clean record, yet the later inspection still matters.

Matthew 22:1-14

King James Version

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.

Matthew 22:15-22

A Coin Answers the Tax Trap

The Pharisees, a group strict about religious law, send followers with the Herodians, supporters of Herod's ruling family. They flatter Jesus, then ask whether paying tax to Caesar, the Roman emperor, is lawful. A refusal risks trouble with the ruling power; approval risks anger among those who resent it. Jesus recognises the trap and asks for the tax coin. Its image and writing name Caesar. He tells them to give Caesar what belongs to Caesar and God what belongs to God. His answer refuses their forced choice without treating the emperor as God. The challengers leave in surprise.

In everyday life

A museum borrower reads the ownership label on a loaned instrument. She returns it to its owner while keeping her own signed work and pay. The loan agreement gives the owner a real claim, but it does not give him her whole life. Jesus addresses duties to an emperor and to God, not a private loan.

Notice

Matthew 22:21 Jesus adds God's claim when answering a question about Caesar's claim. The emperor's right to receive something does not make his right unlimited.

Matthew 22:15-22

King James Version

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.

Matthew 22:23-33

Life After Death Is Different

The Sadducees, a religious group who deny that the dead rise, bring a puzzle. Moses, the lawgiver, required a childless widow's husband's brother to continue the dead man's family line. They imagine seven brothers who each marry the same widow and die. Whose wife will she be when the dead rise? Jesus says their mistake comes from failing to grasp Scripture and God's might. Risen people do not marry; in this respect they are like angels in heaven. God names himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the people's forefathers. Jesus says God relates to the living, not the dead. The crowd is amazed.

In everyday life

A retired shipwright studies the plans for a house after years of building boats. He keeps asking where the ballast belongs until the architect explains that the house stands on fixed foundations. His old model cannot settle the new questions. Jesus describes risen life, which no set of earthly building plans can map.

Notice

Matthew 22:30 Jesus says risen people are like angels in regard to marriage. He does not say that people turn into angels when they die.

Matthew 22:23-33

King James Version

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.

Matthew 22:34-40

Two Commands Hold the Law Together

A lawyer, an expert in God's law, tests Jesus with a question about its greatest command. Jesus names wholehearted love for God as first. Love must involve the heart, soul, and mind, not one part of a person alone. He adds a second command: love one's neighbour with the care given to oneself. These two support everything taught in the law and the prophets, the sacred writings and God's earlier messengers. Jesus does not set love for God against care for other people. Nor does he present love as a way to avoid God's commands. He explains what holds them together.

In everyday life

A mountain-hut keeper checks a long list before opening for the night. Clean water, dry bedding, a lit stove, and clear paths all serve the same aim: caring for each guest. The list has many tasks without losing its shared purpose. Jesus joins love for God with love for people; guest care covers only the human side.

Notice

Matthew 22:40 Jesus links both commands to the whole of the law and the prophets. Love is the support for those teachings, not an unrelated extra.

Matthew 22:34-40

King James Version

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.

Matthew 22:41-46

David Names a Greater Lord

Jesus now questions the Pharisees about the Christ. Whose son is this promised king? They answer that he comes from David, Israel's earlier king. Jesus asks why David, speaking through God's Spirit, calls the Christ his Lord. He recalls David's words about God giving that Lord the place of honour at his right hand. If the Christ is only a later son, why does his forefather speak this way? The question does not deny David's family line. It challenges an answer too small for the Christ's rank. No one can answer, and they stop bringing tests to Jesus.

In everyday life

A guild founder steps aside and gives his grandson the master's chair. Other members expect the older man's word to settle every dispute, but he now refers them to the grandson's ruling. Family descent does not tell them who holds the greater rank. David's Lord receives his place from God, not from a guild vote.

Notice

Matthew 22:45 Jesus asks how the same person can be David's son and David's Lord. Their answer about family descent has not explained his higher standing.

Matthew 22:41-46

King James Version

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.

Details worth noticing

46verses in this reading

5major movements

8verses with speech

10questions in the KJV text

The opening image

Matthew 22:1 begins with “And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,”

Where the chapter turns

Matthew 22:25 forms a natural hinge: “Now 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:”

The final note

Matthew 22:46 leaves the reader with “And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.”

A word trail through the chapter

The words servants, Jesus, LORD, wedding, king, marriage help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.

KJV words made clear

tribute: A tax paid to a ruler or ruling power.
superscription: Writing stamped above or around the image on a coin.

Music and video connected to the passage

Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.