And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom
of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for
his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to
the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other
servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have
prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been
slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’
But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another
to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them
shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his
troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he
said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those
invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite
to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went
out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and
good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a
man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how
did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was
speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand
and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but
few are chosen.”
Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his
words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the
Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach
the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's
opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what
you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus,
aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you
hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a
denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription
is this?” They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore
render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the
things that are God's.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they
left him and went away.
The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no
resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher,
Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must
marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ Now there
were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and
having no offspring left his wife to his brother. So too the second
and third, down to the seventh. After them all, the woman died. In
the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be?
For they all had her.”
But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither
the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they
neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in
heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read
what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of
the living.” And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at
his teaching.
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a
question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in
the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments
depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them
a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son
is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How
is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet”’?
If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And no one
was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to
ask him any more questions.
