VV.1-14 - “The Parable of the Marriage Feast”
Chapter 22 continues with Jesus speaking to the chief priests and elders in parables. This parable is describing a king’s wedding for his son. Revelation 19:7-10 describes the actual marriage supper that will take place when Christ returns. This future marriage feast will celebrate the union between Christ and his bride. Revelation 21:9-10 explains that the bride is Jerusalem.
The parable describes Israel’s rejection to repent and receive the kingdom: “they would not come…but they made light of it…” They even slew the servants of the king. As a result, the king brought judgment and destroyed their city. The city could refer to Jerusalem in 70AD. However, it is also likely that it is referring to the destruction of Jerusalem back in the Old Testament. As a result, the Jewish people were scattered and they had to go to the “highways” to find them.
This invitation was to everyone, whether they were “good or bad”. However, when they arrived at the wedding, they were to make themselves ready. In this parable, one man failed to do so and was cast out. There are a number of future events that could be hinted at in this parable; Peter’s vision of all food being made clean and possibly the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD.
VV.15-22 - “The Tax Trap”
The Pharisees then decided they would attempt to trap Jesus. They sent their disciples and “Herodians”, representatives of Herod; the Roman appointed king over Israel. This group wickedly pretended to pay reverence to Jesus and asked him “Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?”. This was a trap. The Jews viewed the Romans as an invading force. Therefore, to support paying tribute to them would be viewed as betraying Israel. However, to refuse tribute would call for an arrest and at least imprisonment. In chapter 17, they had already asked Jesus and the disciples about paying tribute. However, now they were framing it so that Jesus would have to choose between God and caesar.
Once again, instead of falling into their trap, Jesus responded “Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?”. The word “hypocrite” is often used incorrectly. Many people believe a hypocrite is someone who engages in something they are against. However, this is called being human. We are not perfect and will mess up at times. The Webster 1828 dictionary defines a hypocrite as someone “who assumes an appearance of piety and virtue, when he is destitute of true religion.” This is someone who attempts to put up a facade and say they do not engage in something but in fact they do.
“Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.” Jesus provided the perfect response to them. Government does serve a purpose and was instituted by God in Genesis 9:6. Paul speaks about the role of government in Romans 13. There is a need for a system to carry out law and order. However, while there is a requirement to acknowledge authority, this only to the limit of what can rightly be claimed. The government has a right to taxes. However, it is God who determines moral laws. When the government seeks to override God’s authority, we render unto God what is his.
VV.23-33 - “The Sadducees and the Resurrection”
Remember that the Sadducees were a religious movement that consisted of the elite and rich religious leaders within the Jewish nation. They rejected any Old Testament book outside of the Torah. Therefore, they didn’t believe in the resurrection, life after death, nor spirits and angels. Paul describes them in Acts 23:8. In verse 28, they gave this crazy scenario and asked “Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven?” This was an attempt to find a problem with the resurrection and disprove it. You might call this a straw man argument. If the sadducees could deny the resurrection, they could deny the majority of the Messianic prophecy.
Jesus responded by addressing their failure to acknowledge the scripture. Not only did they deny the scriptures, but they denied the power of God. All of scripture speaks about God’s authority as the Lord over all creation. Jesus then described the resurrection in verse 30. The resurrection will occur at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom. During the Kingdom reign, the resurrected will not live as we do today. Instead, they will be “as the angels”. Some may argue this means that people will become angels. However, that is not taught in scripture. Angels are spiritual beings, whereas man will still have a physical body. “Angel” in Greek is angelos and it refers to a messenger. The resurrected will be servants and messengers in the millennial kingdom.
Jesus finished by quoting Exodus 3:6. This is important because the sadducees did believe that Exodus truly was scripture. God spoke to Moses and said “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Within the statement, God never spoke of them in the past. Instead, he spoke as the current God of the three patriarchs.
VV.34-40 - “The Pharisees and the Commandments”
The Pharisees once again made an attempt to trap Jesus and get him arrested. This time, they sought to make him go against Jewish law. They brought with them a “lawyer”. In King James' language, this was someone carefully trained in the Jewish law. The Pharisees were doing everything they could to catch him in a legal issue. They asked him, “...which is the great commandment in the law?” This was a challenging question because if Jesus would have answered any other way they could have accused him of omitting or denying parts of the law.
However, Jesus answered this question perfectly. It is important to rightly divide the word of truth, because many people take this passage for us today. We certainly need to love the Lord and love our neighbor. However, we are only saved by grace through faith, not by works.
VV.41-46 - “The Christ Question”
Jesus then asked a question of his own concerning Old Testament prophecy. Jesus quoted Psalm 110:1, a psalm of David speaking about the Messiah. It is a prophecy of Revelation 19. However, Jesus asked how David could call the Messiah his Lord, if the Messiah was to be the Son of David.
By asking this question, Jesus was making it clear that he had more knowledge than they did. This question completely stumped the Pharisees. This showed that they did not have all the answers. Christ alone had the understanding of his incarnate birth as both God and man. We live in a very blessed time to have the revelation of scripture that is given to us. We do not have all the answers. However, we know enough to understand his plan for us now and his plan for us in the future.
