• The Parable of the Wedding Feast

  • 1 And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said:
  • 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son,
  • 3 and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.
  • 4 Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”’
  • 5 But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.
  • 6 And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.
  • 7 But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
  • 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.
  • 9 Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’
  • 10 So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.
  • 11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.
  • 12 So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.
  • 13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
  • 14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

  • The Pharisees: Is It Lawful to Pay Taxes to Caesar?

  • 15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle 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; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men.
  • 17 Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
  • 18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?
  • 19 Show Me the tax money.” So they brought Him a denarius.
  • 20 And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?”
  • 21 They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
  • 22 When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.

  • The Sadducees: What About the Resurrection?

  • 23 The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him,
  • 24 saying: “Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.
  • 25 Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.
  • 26 Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh.
  • 27 Last of all the woman died also.
  • 28 Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her.”
  • 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.
  • 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.
  • 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, 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 multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

  • The Scribes: Which Is the First Commandment of All?

  • 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, testing Him, and saying,
  • 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
  • 37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, 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 neighbor as yourself.’
  • 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

  • Jesus: How Can David Call His Descendant Lord?

  • 41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,
  • 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” They said to Him, “The Son of David.”
  • 43 He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying:
  • 44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool”’?
  • 45 If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?”
  • 46 And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.