Matthew 22

¹ Jesus began to speak to them in parables once again,

² 'The kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a king who gave a feast for his son's wedding.

³ He sent his servants to cal those who had been invited, but they would not come.

⁴ Next he sent some more servants with the words, "Tel those who have been invited: Look, mybanquet is al prepared, my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, everything is ready. Come to thewedding."

⁵ But they were not interested: one went off to his farm, another to his business,

⁶ and the rest seized his servants, maltreated them and kil ed them.

⁷ The king was furious. He despatched his troops, destroyed those murderers and burnt their town.

⁸ Then he said to his servants, "The wedding is ready; but as those who were invited proved to beunworthy,

⁹ go to the main crossroads and invite everyone you can find to come to the wedding."

¹⁰ So these servants went out onto the roads and col ected together everyone they could find, bad andgood alike; and the wedding hal was fil ed with guests.

¹¹ When the king came in to look at the guests he noticed one man who was not wearing a weddinggarment,

¹² and said to him, "How did you get in here, my friend, without a wedding garment?" And the man wassilent.

¹³ Then the king said to the attendants, "Bind him hand and foot and throw him into the darknessoutside, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth."

¹⁴ For many are invited but not al are chosen.'

¹⁵ Then the Pharisees went away to work out between them how to trap him in what he said.

¹⁶ And they sent their disciples to him, together with some Herodians, to say, 'Master, we know that youare an honest man and teach the way of God in all honesty, and that you are not afraid of anyone, becausehuman rank means nothing to you.

¹⁷ Give us your opinion, then. Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not?'

¹⁸ But Jesus was aware of their malice and replied, 'You hypocrites! Why are you putting me to thetest?

¹⁹ Show me the money you pay the tax with.' They handed him a denarius,

²⁰ and he said, 'Whose portrait is this? Whose title?'

²¹ They replied, 'Caesar's.' Then he said to them, 'Very wel , pay Caesar what belongs to Caesar -- andGod what belongs to God.'

²² When they heard this they were amazed; they left him alone and went away.

²³ That day some Sadducees -- who deny that there is a resurrection -- approached him and they putthis question to him,

²⁴ 'Master, Moses said that if a man dies childless, his brother is to marry the widow, his sister-in-law, toraise children for his brother.

²⁵ Now we had a case involving seven brothers; the first married and then died without children, leavinghis wife to his brother;

²⁶ the same thing happened with the second and third and so on to the seventh,

²⁷ and then last of al the woman herself died.

²⁸ Now at the resurrection, whose wife among the seven wil she be, since she had been married tothem al ?'

²⁹ Jesus answered them, 'You are wrong, because you understand neither the scriptures nor the powerof God.

³⁰ For at the resurrection men and women do not marry; no, they are like the angels in heaven.

³¹ And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you never read what God himself said to you:

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

³³ And his teaching made a deep impression on the people who heard it.

³⁴ But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees they got together

³⁵ and, to put him to the test, one of them put a further question,

³⁶ 'Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?'

³⁷ Jesus said to him, 'You must love the Lord your God with al your heart, with al your soul, and with alyour mind.

³⁸ This is the greatest and the first commandment.

³⁹ The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself.

⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets too.'

⁴¹ While the Pharisees were gathered round, Jesus put to them this question,

⁴² 'What is your opinion about the Christ? Whose son is he?' They told him, 'David's.'

⁴³ He said to them, 'Then how is it that David, moved by the Spirit, cal s him Lord, where he says:

⁴⁴ The Lord declared to my Lord, take your seat at my right hand, til I have made your enemies yourfootstool?

⁴⁵ 'If David cal s him Lord, how then can he be his son?'

⁴⁶ No one could think of anything to say in reply, and from that day no one dared to ask him any furtherquestions.