Matthew Twenty-Two

   And Jesus answered again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like a king who gave a marriage-feast for his son. And he sent his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage-feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants and said, Tell those who are invited, Behold my supper is ready, and my oxen and fatlings are killed, and everything is prepared; come to the marriage feast. But they sneered at it, and went away, one to his field, another to his business; And the rest seized his servants and insulted them, and killed them. When the king heard it he was angry; and he sent out his armies and destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, Now the marriage feast is ready, and those who were invited were unworthy. Go, therefore, to the main roads, and whomever you may find, invite them to the marriage feast. So the servants went out to the roads and gathered together every one they could find, bad and good; and the wedding-house was filled with guests. When the king entered to see the guests, he saw there a man who was not wearing wedding garments. And he said to him, My friend, how did you enter here, when you do not have wedding garments? And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, Bind his hands and his feet and take him out into darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are invited, and few are chosen.

   ¶ Then the Pharisees went away and took counsel how to trap him by a word. So they sent to him their disciples together with the Herodians, and they said to him, Teacher, we know that you are true, and you teach the way of God justly; and you do not favor any man, for you do not discriminate
between men. Tell us, therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay head-tax to Caesar, or not? But Jesus knew their evil, and said, Why do you tempt me, O hypocrites? Show me the head-tax penny. And they brought to him a penny. And Jesus said to them, Whose is this image and inscription? They said, Caesar’s. He said to them, Give therefore to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s. And when they heard it, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

   ¶ That same day the Sadducees came and said to him, There is no resurrection of the dead; and they asked him, And said to him, Teacher, Moses has told us, If a man die without sons, let his brother take his wife, and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were with us seven brothers;
the first married and died, and because he had no sons, he left his wife to his brother. Likewise the second, also the third, up to the seventh. And after them all the woman also died. Therefore at the resurrection, to which of these seven will she be a wife? for they all married her. Jesus answered, and said to them, You err, because you do not understand the scriptures nor the power of God. For at the resurrection of the dead, they neither marry women, nor are women given to men in marriage, but they are like the angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob? And yet God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And when the people heard it, they were amazed at his teaching.

   ¶ But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them who knew the law, asked him, testing him, Teacher, which is the greatest commandment
in the law? Jesus said to him, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your power, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to it, Love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang the law and the prophets.

   ¶ While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, And he said, What do you say concerning the Christ? whose son is he? They said to him, son of David. He said to them, How is it then that David through the Spirit calls him Lord? For he said, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet. If David then calls him Lord, how can he be his son? And no man was able to answer him, and from that day no man dared to question him.