The Parable about a Banquet^(A)

22 Again Jesus spoke to them in parables. He said, ² “The kingdom from^[a] heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. ³ He sent his servants to call those who had been invited to the wedding, but they refused to come. ⁴ So^[b] he sent other servants after saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Look! I’ve prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened calves have been slaughtered. Everything is ready. Come to the wedding!”’ ⁵ But they paid no attention to this and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. ⁶ The rest grabbed the king’s^[c] servants, treated them brutally, and then killed them. ⁷ Then the king became outraged. He sent his troops, and they destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

⁸ “Then he told his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. ⁹ So go into the roads leading out of town and invite as many people as you can find to the wedding.’ ¹⁰ Those servants went out into the streets and brought in everyone they found, evil and good alike, and the wedding hall was packed with guests.

¹¹ “When the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹² He asked him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But the man^[d] was speechless. ¹³ Then the king told his servants, ‘Tie his hands and feet, and throw him into the darkness outside!’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth,^{[e] 14} because many are invited, but few are chosen.”

A Question about Paying Taxes^(B)

¹⁵ Then the Pharisees went and planned how to trap Jesus^[f] in conversation. ¹⁶ They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians.^[g] They said, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere and that you teach the way of God truthfully. You don’t favor any individual, because you pay no attention to external appearance. ¹⁷ So tell us what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

¹⁸ Recognizing their wickedness, Jesus asked, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? ¹⁹ Show me the coin used for the tax.”

They brought him a denarius.^{[h] 20} Then he asked them, “Whose face and name is this?”

²¹ They told him, “Caesar’s.”

So he told them, “Then give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

²² When they heard this, they were amazed. Then they left him and went away.

A Question about the Resurrection^(C)

²³ That same day some Sadducees, who claim there is no resurrection, came to Jesus^[i] and asked him, ²⁴ “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for his brother.’^{[j] 25} Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his widow to his brother. ²⁶ The same thing happened with the second brother, and then the third, and finally with the rest of the brothers.^{[k] 27} Finally, the woman died, too. ²⁸ Now in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be, since all of them had married^[l] her?”

²⁹ Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken because you don’t know the Scriptures or God’s power, ³⁰ because in the resurrection, people^[m] neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels^[n] in heaven. ³¹ As for the resurrection from the dead, haven’t you read what was spoken to you by God when he said, ³² ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?^[o] He^[p] is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

³³ When the crowds heard this, they were amazed at his teaching.

The Greatest Commandment^(D)

³⁴ When the Pharisees heard that Jesus^[q] had silenced the Sadducees, they met together in the same place. ³⁵ One of them, an expert in the Law, tested him by asking, ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷ Jesus^[r] told him, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’^{[s] 38} This is the greatest and most important^[t] commandment. ³⁹ The second is exactly like it: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’^{[u] 40} All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.”

A Question about David’s Son^(E)

⁴¹ While the Pharisees were still^[v] gathered, Jesus asked them, ⁴² “What do you think about the Messiah?^[w] Whose son is he?”

They told him, “David’s.”

⁴³ He asked them, “Then how can David by the Spirit call him ‘Lord’ when he says,

⁴⁵ If David calls him ‘Lord’, how can he be his son?”

⁴⁶ No one could answer him at all,^[z] and from that day on no one dared to ask him another question.