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Matthew 22 – Wedding Invitations
This passage is as follows:
And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.
The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. So too the second and third, down to the seventh. After them all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.”
But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet”’?
If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
(End of passage)
Who can summarize up to the point before this chapter starting with when Jesus leaves Jericho?
When Jesus leaves Jericho for his last journey to Jerusalem, two blind men call him “Son of David.” Jesus heals them and their sight is restored. Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey, and the people say, “Hosannah! Son of David!” Jesus kicks the money changers and animal sellers out of the temple. Then he sits in the temple courtyards and heals everyone that comes to him. Children are crying out, “Hosannah to the Son of David!” This is like saying, “Long live the king!” The Pharisees try to challenge Jesus’ authority & basically admit to themselves that John’s authority is from God, which would also be Jesus’ authority since God said from heaven, “This is my son, in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus tells the Pharisees of a parable about two sons. One says he will work the vineyard, but does not. The other says he will not work the vineyard, but he does. Jesus accuses the Pharisees of being like the son that said he would work, but did not. Then he says the tax collectors and prostitutes will go into the kingdom of heaven before the Pharisees will. Jesus tells the Pharisees another parable about some tenants of a vineyard that refuse to give the owner his fruits, kill all the owners’ servants, and then kill even his son. The Pharisees say that the owner will kill the evil tenants and replace them with tenants that will give the owner his fruits. Jesus tells the Pharisees that this is why the Kingdom of God will be taken away from them and given to others that will produce its fruits.
This Pharisees are plotting against Jesus, but are afraid of the crowds. This is where we are at when we begin chapter 22. So now Jesus is going to speak to them in parables again. Let’s see what he has for them this time.
Verses 1-14,
And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Who is this parable directed to?
The Pharisees
Who were the ones initially invited to the wedding?
The Jews.
Who are the wedding guests that show up to the wedding?
Those that believe in Jesus.
What is the significance of the man without a wedding garment?
He is not a true believer.
Revelation 22:14, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.”
How do you get a proper wedding garment?
Revelation 7:13-14, “Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
There is one thing we can see about Jesus’ personality here. He’s not a weak spoken, just-be-nice to everyone type. He has a lot of kahunas!
So, the Pharisees know that Jesus is putting them into a bad light through his parables. What do you think they are going to do now?
Verses 15-22,
Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.
A denarius was a day’s wage. In that time, Tiberius was Roman emperor, and this is what a denarius with his image on it looked like:
It was about the size of a dime. It has the image of the emperor on one side with the inscription of his name and on the other side it depicts the emporer on his throne with a staff. If you have one of these, you can now sell them for $1,000 to $2,000.
A Jewish coin would look more like this:
This is a half shekel and the “W” shaped letter is the Hebrew letter for “Shin,” the “sh” sound. This coin depicts a bowl on one side and some pomegranates on the other side.
The Pharisees are still trying to trap Jesus. So, they get a group of Herodians, Jews that support the Herodian dynasty, who in turn are going to be supporters of Roman rule. Up to this time, every Jew that led a rebellion, taught people to rebel because they should not have to pay taxes to Rome. Maybe Jesus would say the same thing in front of the Herodians, and that would surely get him in trouble. What happens instead?
Jesus sees right through their plot. He says to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.
Now, how hard would it be if you had to work one day to pay all of your taxes to the state government, and one day to pay all of your taxes to the federal government? This is what Jesus was asking them to do. One day for the temple and one day for the Romans. Tax Freedom day in 2019 was April 16. That means we worked 106 days to pay our taxes in 2019.
So, the Pharisees give up and leave for the day. What do you think is going to happen next?
Verses 23-33,
The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. So too the second and third, down to the seventh. After them all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.”
But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.
Ah-ha! Now the Sadducees want to test Jesus! They use the law Moses gave in Deuteronomy 25:5-6 to present Jesus with a paradox about the resurrection.
Deuteronomy 25:5-6,
“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.”
The paradox they present is this: the same woman ends up marrying seven men because each dies and doesn’t leave an heir. So which one will she be married to in the resurrection?
What is Jesus’ answer?
They know neither the Scriptures, nor the power of God. In the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they are like the angels in heaven.
Now, what does Jesus mean by “they neither marry nor are given in marriage?”
He is talking about the customs of marriage.
Who married Adam and Eve?
There is no marriage ceremony for Adam and Eve recorded in Scripture. They just knew that that was the one for them.
So maybe in heaven, people just know who it is they are supposed to be with.
I suppose there are some that will say, “Well, Adam didn’t have much choice.”
I just hope you don’t say that about your marriage.
I see some people are getting the elbow right now.
Maybe someone will be saying in heaven, “Well, we’ve been together for 10,000 years now…”
Then she’ll say, “And we’ve only just begun.”
So this part is about the power of God. We don’t know exactly what the nature of things will be in heaven. We do know that Jesus said in Luke 18:29 that if you give up wives for the kingdom of God, you get many times more in heaven. We don’t know what that will be like.
Now for the Scripture part. What does Jesus teach them about Scripture?
“And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”
Once again, Jesus knows the Scriptures better than those that claim to be experts. This is absolute proof to these Sadducees. They pride themselves in believing that God was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They also believed that after death, all souls go to sheol, a dark, still place, where all the righteous and unrighteous go and that it is cut off from life and separated from God. So, if God is the God of Abraham, how could Abraham be cut off from life where God is not present?
The crowd is astonished at Jesus’ teaching and the Sadducees are silenced. What next?
Verses 34-40,
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
So, the Pharisees find out that Jesus silenced the Sadducees. So, they get a lawyer. Why do you suppose they get a lawyer?
They are talking Jewish law here. Perhaps they want to see if he makes a mistake about the law or get in an argument about the law with the lawyer. So, the lawyer asks Jesus:
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
How is the lawyer expecting Jesus to answer?
The lawyer seems to be expecting that Jesus will refer to one of the 10 commandments in Exodus chapter 20. Is the great command to have no other gods before the Lord? Is it to not make any idols? Is it don’t take the name of the Lord in vain? I suppose the lawyer could get Jesus into an argument about which of these is the greatest commandment.
Jesus goes directly to Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This sums up all the commandments that relate to God. The Jesus adds, Leviticus 19:18, “And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Adding, “On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” You can’t argue about that. All of the Law and the Prophets do depend on these two commandments.
Can anyone argue that this is not the case?
Jesus just showed that his knowledge was far superior to theirs. They didn’t have anything to say after that. So now Jesus is going to ask them a question.
Verses 41-46,
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet”’?
If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
So can anyone here answer Jesus’ question? If the Messiah is the son of David, how is it that David calls him Lord?
Because the Messiah is the Lord. He is God.
This is from Psalm 110, a highly Messianic Psalm.
“The Lord says to my Lord:
‘Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.’
The Lord sends forth from Zion
your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst of your enemies!
Your people will offer themselves freely
on the day of your power,
in holy garments;
from the womb of the morning,
the dew of your youth will be yours.
The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
‘You are a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.’
The Lord is at your right hand;
he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
He will execute judgment among the nations,
filling them with corpses;
he will shatter chiefs
over the wide earth.
He will drink from the brook by the way;
therefore he will lift up his head.
What are the implications of this Psalm?
That the Messiah is God.
What are the implications of Jesus bringing this psalm up to the Pharisees?
To remind them that the Messiah is God.
To remind them who he is.
In Matthew 16:16, Peter claims that Jesus is the Christ. From that time he starts to show his disciples that he must suffer many things from the chief priests and scribes, be killed, then on the third day be raised. In Matthew 17:9, as they are returning from the Transfiguration, Jesus tells them to tell no one of the vision until he is raised from the dead. When they came to Galilee, Jesus reminds them that he will be killed and be raised on the third day. So, now they are making their way to Jerusalem by way of Judea beyond the Jordan, and Jesus reminds them a third time that he will be killed and rise again on the third day.
What is significant about something when a teacher keeps repeating it?
He wants you to remember it.
Right after this, in Matthew 20:28, Jesus says, “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.” So, now they are leaving Jericho, and two blind men call him “Son of David.” He heals them. As he goes into Jerusalem, the crowd is calling him the “Son of David.” Jesus goes into the temple and as he is healing everyone that comes to him for healing, all the children are calling him “Son of David.” The Pharisees, Sadducees, and chief priests try to do everything they can to challenge Jesus and trip him up. So now he asks them a question, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” The Pharisees might have carefully considered their answer because they must have known about the baptism of Jesus. Not only that, but there was this Old Testament passage (https://jewsforjesus.org/jewish-resources/messianic-prophecy/the-messiah-would-be-called-gods-son/):
Psalm 2:2,7-9:
“The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed…
I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.’
The word for Anointed here in verse 2 is Meshiac, or Messiah.
Not only that, but there were many Jewish commentaries at that time that claimed that the Messiah would be the Son of God (https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/eastman_mark/messiah/sfm_05.cfm).
The Messiah is prophesied to be God’s son in 1 Chronicles 17:11-15:
“When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you, but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.’” In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.
This passage is repeated in 2 Samuel 7:12-17.
So the Pharisees avoid linking the Messiah to being the Son of God. Why?
Because they did not want to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah, or the son of God.
The Pharisees answer that the Messiah is the Son of David.
But Jesus is way ahead of them. He quotes Psalm 110, where the Son of David is equated with the Lord.
So now the Pharisees do not dare ask him any more questions. With this last question, they just publicly taught the people that Jesus is the Lord their God.
Song: Washed by the Blood by CityAlight