Matthew 22

1Jesus spoke to them again in teaching stories, saying:

2The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.

3He sent his servants to call those who had been invited to the banquet, but they refused to come.

4Then he sent other servants, saying: Tell those who are invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.

5But they paid no attention and went away, one to his field, another to his business.

6The rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.

7The king was furious. He sent his army, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.

8Then he said to his servants: The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come.

9So go to the street corners and invite anyone you find to the wedding banquet.

10The servants went out into the streets and gathered everyone they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11When the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man who was not wearing wedding clothes.

12He asked him: Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes? The man had nothing to say.

13Then the king told the attendants: Tie him hand and foot and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.

14For many are invited, but few are chosen.

15Then the Pharisees went out and planned how to trap Jesus in His words.

16They sent their disciples to Him along with the Herodians. They said: Teacher, we know that You are honest and teach the way of God truthfully. You do not favor anyone, because You pay no attention to who people are.

17Tell us then, what do you think? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?

18But Jesus knew their evil intent and said: You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?

19Show me the coin used to pay the tax. They brought Him a silver coin.

20Jesus asked them: Whose image is this, and whose name is written on it?

21Caesar's, they answered. Then He said to them: Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.

22When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left Him and went away.

23That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him with a question.

24They said: Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies without children, his brother must marry his widow and raise up children for him.

25Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother.

26The same thing happened to the second and third brothers, and on down to the seventh.

27Finally, the woman died too.

28Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?

29Jesus replied: You are mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.

30At the resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage. They will be like the angels in heaven.

31Now about the resurrection of the dead — have you not read what God said to you:

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

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

34When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.

35One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with a question:

36Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?

37Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

38This is the first and greatest commandment.

39And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.

40All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.

41While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question:

42What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is He? The son of David, they answered.

43Jesus said to them: Then how is it that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls Him Lord? For David says:

44The LORD said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.

45If David calls Him Lord, how can He be David's son?

46No one could answer Him a word, and from that day on, no one dared to ask Him any more questions.