Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 22

22:1-14 Parable of the wedding feast. Jesus, continuing to speak to them in parables, said: 2 The kingdom of heaven is like a king, who held a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast; and didn't want to come. 4 Again he sent other servants, saying: Tell those who are invited: Behold, I have prepared my dinner, my bullocks, and what is fattened, slain, and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast. 5 But they despised it and went, some to their field, and some to their trade; 6 But the rest seized his servants, insulted and killed [them]. 7 When the king heard about this, he was angry, and sending his troops, he destroyed their murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants: The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy; 9 Go therefore to the highways, and invite as many as you find to the wedding feast. 10 And those servants, going out onto the roads, gathered everyone they found, both evil and good; and the wedding feast was filled with those reclining. 11 The king, going in to look at those reclining, saw a man there, not dressed in wedding clothes, 12 and said to him: friend! How did you come here not wearing wedding clothes? He was silent. 13 Then the king said to the servants, “Binding his hands and feet, take him and throw him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth; 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

An interesting parable about a wedding feast: how can this Kingdom of Heaven remind us of a wedding feast?
In order to find at least some similarity between the feast and the Kingdom of God, we provided a complete analysis of this parable on the website here: “Stranger” among “our own” or the parable of the wedding feast .
It also shows the differences between the Kingdom of Heaven (God), the Kingdom of Christ and the government of Christ in the Biblical understanding. These differences are summarized in the Glossary of Terms. Let's just focus on a few points:

22:2 According to the parable, the Kingdom of heaven (it is also the Kingdom of God - Luke 14:15, it is also the Kingdom of the Father of Jesus - Matt. 26:29, 6:10, it is also the Kingdom of the Father of the righteous - Matt. 13:43) is similar the man-king who arranged a wedding feast for his son - Matthew 22:2. It seems that if you understand the basic organizational elements of holding a wedding event, it will be possible to understand the essence of the “structure” of the Kingdom of Heaven .

How can they be similar? At least this:

1)

A wedding is an organizational event that requires
the presence of a wedding organizer (in this case, the father of the groom), the bride and groom (heroes of the occasion) and guests who
will benefit from taking part in the wedding.

2)

Just as a human king,
with the help of the wedding of his son, arranges a family for his son and new family relationships for all members of HIS family ,
in the same way, the heavenly King Jehovah,
with the help of the wedding of his son, arranges the Kingdom of heaven - a “new family” for his son and new relationships for His entire “family.” Answers to the questions: what does the “marriage” of the son of God mean? Who acts as the “bride” at a wedding? What does "wedding supper" mean? When is the wedding supper held or what historical moment is the parable describing? Who do the guests participating in the “marriage” of the Lamb symbolize? When did God “send out invitations” to the wedding (start gathering those invited)? To whom were the invitations “sent out”? What does it mean for invited guests to “put on the wedding garment”? Who might be a “stranger” among one’s own at Christ’s wedding?
– you can get it by reading the full analysis of this parable on the website.
22:11-13 Among the invited guests who CAME to the feast, a dishonest guest was also discovered.
Note: in order to COME to Jehovah at the feast of His son Christ, you must receive an invitation, accept it and bother to come. How many of today’s inhabitants of the Earth at least accept the “wedding invitation” - the good news of the Kingdom of God - and rush to work to COME to Him? Everyone can answer this question for themselves. What is even more unpleasant to see in this parable is that AMONG THOSE WHO COME to the feast there will be a real scoundrel, since he was ordered to be expelled outside the feast - to everyone else who did not respond and did not bother to come to God for the wedding His son. Approximately the same picture was described by Christ in the parable of the net: FROM THE AMONG THE RIGHTEOUS THE EVIL will be taken away (Matt. 13:49). This means that among the people of God there will be banal opportunists. What can we say about those who do not respond and find themselves at the moment of the feast - OUTSIDE - and it’s sad to think about. The Apostle Peter also grieved about this, saying: For it is time for judgment to begin at the house of God; But if it [begins] with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the Gospel of God? And if the righteous are barely saved, then where will the wicked and sinful appear?

22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

All inhabitants of the earth are invited to the new world order of God from the moment the New Testament comes into force, for Jesus came to redeem everyone - 1 Tim. 2:6.

However, as we see, not all of those redeemed from the captivity of sin and death will be chosen by God for His world order.

This is similar to how, for example, after the Great Patriotic War, all the prisoners were released, but did all of those released want to make an effort and return to their homeland? No, as you know, not all.

Likewise, of all those redeemed by Christ, not everyone will want to make efforts to return to God, therefore they will not be able to be chosen by Him, for He will not force anyone to live in His world order.

22:15-19
Then the Pharisees went and consulted how to catch Him in words.
16 And they send their disciples to Him with the Herodians, saying: Teacher! we know that You are just, and You teach truly the way of God, and do not care about pleasing anyone, for You do not look at any person; 17 So tell us: what do you think? Is it permissible to give tribute to Caesar or not? 18 But Jesus, seeing their wickedness, said, “Why are you tempting Me, you hypocrites?” 19 Show Me the coin with which the tax is paid. They brought Him a denarius. And again the question “
is it permissible to give tribute to Caesar or not?”
was not asked at all in order to learn from Christ the correct attitude towards paying taxes to Caesar. The Pharisees once again tried to catch Christ and find a reason to deal with him - in his answers. What exactly this formulation of the question gave them was well explained by Lopukhin:

The basis of the question proposed to Christ was the domination of pagan Romans over Judea. This was recognized as an evil , the destruction of which should be strived for by all means. A tax levied in favor of the pagans was contrary to the theocratic idea. There was unrest in Judea (not Galilee) ,

of which Judas the Galilean became leader - Acts 5:37.
The reason for his rebellion was khnsoV, a property tax that was considered a sign of slavery
. The payment of taxes in favor of the Romans began in Judea from 1 BC. From 1 BC, the issue of taxes became a burning issue.
The Pharisees and Herodians hoped to put Christ in a hopeless situation. If Christ recognizes the obligatory nature of the tax, he will thereby arouse against himself the people
, who generally considered the tax in favor of Caesar to be offensive.
If Christ rejects the tax, he will appear as a rebel against the Roman authorities
. These two answer options would suit the Pharisees, because in both the first and second cases, Jesus would still have to suffer, according to their idea. However, Jesus would not be the Christ if he could not figure out the cunning of those questioning and give answers that upset all the plans of hypocrites of any category.

22:20,21
And he said to them, Whose image and inscription is this?
21 They say to Him, Caesar's. Then he says to them, “Render therefore the things that are Caesar’s to Caesar, and the things that are God’s to God.” Christ was asked a question from the series: yes or no, is it white or black?
However, even in such cases, one can answer neither “yes” nor “no” if the purpose of the question is to capture something in the answer. Let's take an example from Christ: to Caesar - the things that are Caesar's, to God - the things that are God's.
This principle still applies today: do not remain indebted to anyone or anything. For Caesar's sake, do what the Caesar of your country requires in accordance with the principles of God. For God, do what God requires. And answer the direct questions of all hypocrites in such a way that they do not remain wise in their own eyes - Proverbs 26:5 and have a chance to be converted.

22:22
When they heard this, they were surprised and left Him and went away.
Reaction to Christ’s answer: his opponents experienced nothing other than a feeling of surprise. They did not accuse him of avoiding answering, they did not become irritated and cling to words. Having received an answer that did not at all live up to their expectations and broke their plans, Christ’s opponents nevertheless behaved with dignity: they silently left him and left, without getting involved in a meaningless discussion. A good lesson for all of us: both Christ and the Pharisees have something to learn in this case.

22:23-30 About the sons of the resurrection

who neither marry nor are given in marriage
: That day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him: 24 Teacher!
Moses said: If a man dies without having children, let his brother take his wife for himself and restore seed to his brother; 25 We had seven brothers; the first, having married, died and, having no children, left his wife to his brother; 26 likewise the second and the third, even unto the seventh; 27 And last of all the wife also died; 28 So in the resurrection, which of the seven will she be the wife of? for everyone had it. About the sons of the resurrection, who neither marry nor are given in marriage, much has been said and nothing at the same time. For some, it may not matter what these words of Jesus mean, but for others it is important to understand the answer, because depending on whether they get married in the FUTURE or not, many build their lives IN THE PRESENT. In this case, it is important to hear WHAT he answered, for both the Sadducees and the Pharisees - Jesus would have answered the same about the meaning of the sons of the resurrection. It’s just that the Sadducees, like the Pharisees, asked their question not out of a desire to learn from Christ, but out of a desire to criticize the belief in the resurrection by the absurdity of the situation with a wife for seven: after all, it is clear that she cannot be the wife of all seven at the same time, having been resurrected.

In Luke 20:35,36, answering this question, Jesus spoke specifically ABOUT THOSE WHO ARE ABLE TO REACH THAT AGE AND THE RESURANCE FROM THE DEAD, calling them THE SONS OF THE RESURANCE. They are the ones who will neither marry nor be given in marriage: those who are deemed worthy to reach that age and the resurrection from the dead

“They neither marry nor are given in marriage, and
they can no longer die , for they are equal to angels and are the sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.” The whole question comes down to WHO can be considered the sons of the resurrection?
According to Scripture - only those over whom the second death has no power, who CAN NO LONGER DIE (there is no sin in them - the sting of death) - those who have achieved the resurrection of Christ. Let us note that the physical resurrection is not yet the resurrection of Christ, in which a person possesses both physical and spiritual perfection, which, in fact, destroys the sting of death - the desire to sin. So who are these sons of the resurrection? According to the Bible, first of all, these are the participants in the first resurrection, who are to reign with Christ for 1000 years and over whom death no longer has power (sin - the sting of death is not in them) - Rev. 20:6.

Secondly, these are those resurrected in the Millennium who will live to the end of 1000 years and survive the final test of the devil - Rev. 20:7,8,12. And by the end of a thousand years they will be able to get rid of the sting of death - sin; the last test by the devil, in which they will not survive and remain faithful to God, will prove this. And for them there will be no more mourning, no death, no crying - Rev. 20:4. And God will call them His sons - Rev. 21:7, the sons of Christ's resurrection, going into eternity. And in the millennium of Christ, those who are resurrected and living on earth will still marry and be given in marriage, Isaiah said about this period of the path to spiritual perfection and the achievement of the resurrection of Christ in 65:20-25. Read more about the sons of the resurrection here: “The sons of the resurrection neither marry nor are given in marriage. Who are they, the sons of the resurrection?

29 Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God, 30 for in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but remain as the angels of God in heaven.”

It turns out that the Sadducees did not know either Scripture or the power of God (His ability to create), although they were teachers. This was the problem with their lack of understanding of the essence of things from God's point of view. Studying the Scriptures, looking at creations and reflecting on their strength and capabilities helps to comprehend the meaning of things. If we return to their question of whose wife out of the seven the woman will be, then the Sadducees should not have worried about this, for her seven-fold marriage cannot in any way cancel the resurrection: God Himself is able to solve such problems by His power, for the death of husbands and she herself is freed from all marriages of this age - in general - Rom.7:2. Well, after the resurrection, God will help all those resurrected with the choice of their marriage companions forever: after all, He gave a suitable wife to Adam, and will give it to all the other inhabitants of His world order, otherwise how will they give birth to children for happiness? (Isa.65:20-25). Moreover, a whole thousand years will be given for this.

22:31-33
And regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: 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 people heard, they marveled at His teaching. It is impossible to know that there will be a resurrection unless you read Scripture. If God calls Himself the God of Abraham, it means that He does not consider Abraham dead: the dead do not have the opportunity to worship God - Eccles. 9:5,10. But since Abraham died, the only way to be Abraham's God is to resurrect him. In a word, Jesus proved to the Sadducees that they were not at all oriented in the word of God and did not know His plans. It was surprising for the people to hear such revelations.

22:34-40

That is why the Sadducees could not object to Christ’s answer.
The Pharisees did not calm down and decided to come from the other side, for if the Sadducees failed to catch Christ, they should also try to test his knowledge of Scripture, if he reproaches them for not knowing him: the Pharisees already knew a lot about this: And the Pharisees, having heard, that He brought the Sadducees into silence, gathered together.
35 And one of them, a lawyer, tempting Him, asked, saying: 36 Teacher! What is the greatest commandment in the law? Having asked about the greatest commandment, the Pharisees simply probed him for knowledge of Scripture, but Jesus answered everything correctly, only adding about love for one’s neighbor, which these teachers clearly lacked.
37 Jesus said to him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind: 38 This is the first and greatest commandment;
39 And the second is like it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Against the backdrop of a lack of love for their neighbor, even their belief in the resurrection will not make them better than the Sadducees. In a word, neither the Sadducees nor the Pharisees could boast before God that they had perfected their knowledge of His requirements and plans.

22:41-45
When the Pharisees had gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 What do you think about Christ?
whose son is he? They say to Him: David. 43 He said to them, “How then does David, by inspiration, call Him Lord, when he says: 44 The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool?” 45 So if David calls Him Lord, how is He his son? It was Christ’s turn to test the Pharisees’ knowledge of Scripture: the question of whose son—Christ—led them to a dead end and showed that they, it turns out, are not strong in Scripture and do not understand either the origin or role of Christ, although they expect him according to prophecies. After all, after Christ’s explanation that David could not say “Lord” to his son, the Pharisees now did not allow them to appear knowledgeable in the Scriptures.

Superficial knowledge of Scripture has never helped anyone get closer to God and understand the essence of His plans.

22:46
And no one could answer Him a word
; and from that day no one dared to ask Him. And here the Pharisees behaved with dignity: despite the obvious loss, but if there are no Biblical arguments to resist in the word, then they did not begin to weave anything, just to leave the last word for themselves. This behavior in discussing Scripture with Christ is worthy of respect.

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW chapter 22

Listen to THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW chapter 22 online

1 Jesus continued speaking to them in parables and said:

2 The kingdom of heaven is like a king who held a wedding feast for his son

3 And he sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast; and didn't want to come.

4 Again he sent other servants, saying: Tell those who are invited: Behold, I have prepared my dinner, my bullocks, and what is fattened, slain, and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.

5 But they despised it and went, some to their field, and some to their trade;

6 But the rest seized his servants, insulted and killed them.

7 When the king heard about this, he was angry, and sending his troops, he destroyed their murderers and burned their city.

8 Then he said to his servants: The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy;

9 Go therefore to the highways, and invite as many as you find to the wedding feast.

10 And those servants, going out onto the roads, gathered everyone they found, both evil and good; and the wedding feast was filled with those reclining.

11 When the king came in to see those reclining, he saw a man there, not wearing a wedding garment,

12 And he says to him: friend! How did you come here not wearing wedding clothes? He was silent.

13 Then the king said to the servants, “Binding his hands and feet, take him and throw him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth;

14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

15 Then the Pharisees went and consulted how to catch Him in words.

16 And they send their disciples to Him with the Herodians, saying: Teacher! we know that You are fair, and You teach the true way of God, and do not care about pleasing anyone, for You do not look at any person;

17 So tell us: what do you think? Is it permissible to give tribute to Caesar or not?

18 But Jesus, seeing their wickedness, said, “Why are you tempting Me, you hypocrites?”

19 Show Me the coin with which the tax is paid. They brought Him a denarius.

Denarius. Artist Titian Vecellio 1560-1568

20 And he said to them: Whose image and inscription is this?

21 They say to Him, Caesar's. Then he says to them, “Render therefore the things that are Caesar’s to Caesar, and the things that are God’s to God.”

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

Denarius. Artist G. Dore

23 That day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him:

24 Teacher! Moses said: If a man dies without having children, let his brother take his wife for himself and restore seed to his brother;

25 We had seven brothers; the first, having married, died and, having no children, left his wife to his brother;

26 likewise the second and the third, even unto the seventh;

27 And last of all the wife also died;

28 So in the resurrection, which of the seven will she be the wife of? for everyone had it.

29 Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God,

30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but remain as the angels of God in heaven.

31 And regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what God said to you:

32 Am I 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 people heard, they marveled at His teaching.

34 And the Pharisees, when they heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, gathered together.

35 And one of them, a lawyer, tempting Him, asked, saying:

36 Teacher! What is the greatest commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said to him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind:

38 This is the first and greatest commandment;

39 And the second is like it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

41 When the Pharisees had gathered, Jesus asked them:

42 What do you think about Christ? whose son is he? They say to Him: David.

43 He said to them, “How is it that David, by inspiration, calls Him Lord when he says:

44 The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool?

45 So if David calls Him Lord, how is He his son?

46 And no one could answer Him a word; and from that day no one dared to ask Him.