The King gives the parable of the wedding feast
22
📚And answering Jesus again spoke to them 📖 in parables, and said, 2 📚“The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son.22:2 Note on kingdom of heaven at Matt 4:17. Compare the following parable with Luke 14:15-24. This parable also is very clear in its teachings. The “king” is God the Father. The “son” is the Lord Jesus. The “wedding” suggests the great truth that the true Church is the bride of Christ (Matt 9:15; John 3:27-29; Rom 7:4; 2 Cor 11:2; Eph 5:25-32).⚜
3 📚And he sent out his servants to call those who had been invited to the wedding, but they would not come.
22:3 The “invited” signify the Jewish nation. They were God's chosen people and received the first invitation (Matt 10:5-6; 15:24). They refused to accept God's message (Matt 23:37-39; John 1:11; 5:40). In Old Testament times God continually sent His servants (Jer 7:25; 25:4; 26:5). In New Testament times He did likewise – Matt 23:34; Luke 24:47; Acts 1:8. See the message God's servants have to deliver – everything was “prepared” and “ready”. God's kingdom, the salvation He wants men to receive and enjoy, is altogether the work of God. It is prepared and ready in Christ. Men need not prepare anything but should come just as they are – Matt 11:28; Isa 55:1-3; John 6:37; Rev 22:17.⚜
4 📚“Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited: Now I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened animals have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the marriage.’
5 📚“But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his business.
22:5 This was the reaction of many in Israel in those days (it is the same all over the world today). God invited them to an eternal feast of good things in Christ. They ignored God's invitation and occupied themselves with the things of this world.⚜
6 📚And the rest took his servants, mistreated them and killed them.
7 📚“But when the king heard of it, he was angry, and he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
22:7 God's anger will surely come on all those who mistreat and persecute His servants and reject His invitations (compare 2 Thess 1:6-8). It came on Israel, and these words were fulfilled in 70 AD. Compare Luke 19:41-44; 21:20-24. The army was the Roman army, but it was God's army too because He used it for His purposes. Compare Isa 10:5-6.⚜
8 📚Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 📚Therefore go into the highways, and invite everyone you find to the marriage.’
22:8-9 God will not have an empty house. If some refuse His invitation He will find others who will come. Here the Gentile nations are meant (Matt 8:10-12).⚜
10 📚“So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together everyone they found, both bad and good. 📖 And the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 📚And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who was not wearing a wedding garment.
22:11 The people who were there had come in directly from the streets. In the banquet hall they could not have had special wedding clothes on unless they had been provided by the king himself (compare 2 Kings 10:22). Therefore it seems clear that the man without wedding clothes had refused to accept the ones that the king had there for this purpose. These wedding clothes speak of the righteousness of Christ which God freely gives to all who receive Him as Lord and Saviour (compare Isa 61:10; Zech 3:1-5; Rom 1:17; 3:21-24; 10:10; 2 Cor 5:21; Phil 3:7-9).⚜
12 📚And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.
22:12 This man is a picture of those who seem to accept God's invitation, but refuse His provision for righteousness. They ignorantly suppose their own righteousness is sufficient. There are many like this in the churches. When the king examined him he could not say a single word in his defense. He should have had on the proper garment and knew it. When such people stand before God they will be condemned, guilty and speechless.⚜
13 📚Then the king said to the servants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14 📚“For many are called, but few are chosen”.
22:14 The Gospel invitation goes out to a great many, but only a comparatively few show themselves to be actually the chosen of God, the elect (Mark 13:20; John 6:37; 15:19; 17:6; Eph 1:4; 2 Thess 2:13).⚜
The King and the questions of the Jewish leaders
15 📚Then the Pharisees went away and plotted how they could trap him in his talk. 16 📚And they sent to him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God in truth. And you do not show favoritism to anyone, for you do not regard a man's appearance.
22:16 Herodians were a worldly, politically-minded group who supported the rights of the family of Herod to rule Israel. The Pharisees were usually opposed to them, but now sought their help to trap Jesus if possible (compare Luke 23:12). The words of the Herodians here reek with hypocrisy and flattery.⚜
17 📚So tell us what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
22:17 The Romans with Caesar as their emperor ruled Israel and demanded taxes from them. If Jesus said they should not pay taxes He could be charged with treason. If He said they should pay taxes He would be charged with being on the side of Rome against the people of Israel.⚜
18 📚But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites?
19 📚Show me the tax money”. And they brought a silver coin 📖 to him. 20 📚And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”
21 📚They said to him, “Caesar's”. Then he said to them, “Therefore give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's”.
22:21 If Caesar was ruling and minting the money in use, it was right to pay taxes to him for government administration. Compare Rom 13:1, 6, 7. People have duties to the state. But they should give to God their hearts, their worship, their offerings, their lives. The state has some claims on its citizens, God has far more. Both must be acknowledged.⚜
22 📚When they heard these words, they were amazed and left him and went away.
22:22 The very wise answer of Jesus amazed His enemies. But since they did not want the truth they went away to plot further things against Him.⚜
23 📚The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him,
22:23 Note on Sadducees at Matt 3:7. With their question they naively hoped to show that the doctrine of the resurrection was absurd, and that Jesus was foolish to believe it. Notes on resurrection at John 5:28-29.⚜
24 📚saying, “Teacher, Moses said, If a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and have offspring for his brother. 25 📚Now there were seven brothers with us. And the first, after marrying a wife, died, and having no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 Likewise the second also, and the third, up to the seventh. 27 And last of all the woman also died. 28 Therefore in the resurrection, of these seven whose wife will she be? For they all had her”.
29 📚Jesus answered and said to them, “You blunder, not knowing the Scriptures, or the power of God.
22:29 The two errors of the Sadducees are still very common, even among Christian leaders and ministers – ignorance of the teachings of the Bible and of the power of God. Anyone ignorant of these two things will certainly fall into serious error in their thinking, even though they may be highly intelligent and well educated in other matters.⚜
30 📚For in the resurrection they do not marry, and are not given in marriage, but are like the angels of God in heaven.
22:30 Here Jesus affirms the truth of the resurrection. See also Luke 14:14; John 5:29; 11:25. But He says there will be a new order of things, a new kind of life for those who are raised from the dead. For them marriage will have no part. In this one matter they will be like the angels in heaven. This does not at all mean that in all other respects they become angels or like angels.⚜
31 📚But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 32 📚I 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”.
33 📚And when the crowd heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
22:33 Verse 22; Matt 7:28.⚜
34 📚But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 📚Then one of them, a lawyer 📖, asked him a question to test him, saying, 36 📚“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
22:36 This was a question sometimes debated by Jewish scholars of that day, and they were divided into various camps. This lawyer (expert in the law of Moses) wanted to test Jesus' grasp of the law to see if He would commit Himself to one of these camps.⚜
37 📚Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 📚And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. 40 📚All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments”.
22:37-40 Jesus passed the test. He went right to the very heart of the law and showed that the basis of all the commands God gave was love. Verse 37 is from Deut 6:5 and verse 39 is Lev 19:18. See also Rom 13:8-10.⚜
41 📚While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 📚Saying, “What do you think of Christ? 📖 Whose son is he?”
They said to him, “The son of David”.
43 📚He said to them, “How then does David by the Spirit call him Lord, saying,
22:43 Notice the words “by the Spirit”. Jesus here confirms the divine inspiration of Psalm 110, as He did the whole Old Testament at other times (Matt 4:4; 5:18; 15:3-4; John 10:35).⚜
44 📚The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool?
22:44 See note at Ps 110:1. The Jews recognized that this psalm was about the Messiah.⚜
45 📚If David called him Lord, how then is he his son?”
22:41-45 His opponents had asked Him questions. Now He would ask them some. The prevailing idea about the Messiah was that he would be a mere man who would ascend the throne of David and reign powerfully and gloriously over Israel. These questions of Jesus show that this idea was wrong. The Messiah was not to be a mere human descendant of David, but the Lord of David (the Hebrew word for Lord “Adonai” was often used in the Old Testament for God Himself). Here it means Jesus. See also Luke 1:43; 2:11; Acts 2:36; Phil 2:10-11; 1 Cor 8:6; Eph 4:5.⚜
22:45 They well knew that fathers do not call their sons “Lord”. But they could not explain why David did so.⚜
46 📚And no one was able to answer him a word. And from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
22:15-46 These verses record a series of questions. The first three were asked by Jesus' enemies to try to trap Him. The last question was asked by Jesus and silenced His enemies. The questions asked by His enemies reveal the character and interests of the three kinds of people who asked them.⚜
22:46 It was becoming obvious to everyone that He could answer all their questions, but they could answer none of His. They had tried to trap Him but were trapped themselves (compare Ps 57:6).⚜