Zetemata

Matthew 22

The chapter in full, then the passages inside it that are worth stopping on — what each one claims, what the Greek or Hebrew shows, and how the reading is arrived at.

Matthew 22 WEB
  1. 1 Jesus answered and spoke to them again in parables, saying,
  2. 2 "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king, who made a wedding feast for his son,
  3. 3 and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.
  4. 4 Again he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "Behold, I have prepared my dinner. My cattle and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding feast!"'
  5. 5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise;
  6. 6 and the rest grabbed his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.
  7. 7 When the king heard that, he was angry, and sent his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
  8. 8 "Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited weren't worthy.
  9. 9 Go therefore to the intersections of the highways, and as many as you may find, invite to the wedding feast.'
  10. 10 Those servants went out into the highways and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good. The wedding was filled with guests.
  11. 11 "But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who didn't have on wedding clothing,
  12. 12 and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here not wearing wedding clothing?' He was speechless.
  13. 13 Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.'
  14. 14 For many are called, but few chosen."
  15. 15 Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how they might entrap him in his talk.
  16. 16 They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in truth, no matter whom you teach; for you aren't partial to anyone.
  17. 17 Tell us therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"
  18. 18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test me, you hypocrites?
  19. 19 Show me the tax money." They brought to him a denarius.
  20. 20 He asked them, "Whose is this image and inscription?"
  21. 21 They said to him, "Caesar's." Then he said to them, "Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
  22. 22 When they heard it, they marveled, and left him and went away.
  23. 23 On that day Sadducees (those who say that there is no resurrection) came to him. They asked him,
  24. 24 saying, "Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.'
  25. 25 Now there were with us seven brothers. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother.
  26. 26 In the same way, the second also, and the third, to the seventh.
  27. 27 After them all, the woman died.
  28. 28 In the resurrection therefore, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had her."
  29. 29 But Jesus answered them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.
  30. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like God's angels in heaven.
  31. 31 But concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven't you read that which was spoken to you by God, saying,
  32. 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. 33 When the multitudes heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.
  34. 34 But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, gathered themselves together.
  35. 35 One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him.
  36. 36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?"
  37. 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. 38 This is the first and great commandment.
  39. 39 A second likewise is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'
  40. 40 The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."
  41. 41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question,
  42. 42 saying, "What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "Of David."
  43. 43 He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying,
  44. 44 'The Lord said to my Lord, sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet'?
  45. 45 "If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?"
  46. 46 No one was able to answer him a word, neither did any man dare ask him any more questions from that day forward.

Matthew 22 falls in the last week before the crucifixion, in Jerusalem, in the temple courts. Jesus has just told the chief priests and elders the parable of the tenants who killed the son sent to them (21:33-46); this chapter opens with a second parable pressing the same point, then moves through three successive attempts by rival factions — Pharisees with Herodians, Sadducees, and a Pharisee lawyer — to trap him in a legal or theological snare. Each attempt fails, and the chapter ends with Jesus turning the tables and asking a question none of them can answer.

22:1-14 Many are called, but few chosen

The parable is a sequel to the vineyard story just told, aimed at the same audience — "he spoke about them," as 21:45 notes of the previous parable. A king throws a wedding feast for his son; the invited guests refuse to come, some with indifference ("went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise," v.5), some with violence (v.6). The king destroys them and burns their city — language that first-century readers, and certainly Matthew's, would have heard as pointing toward Jerusalem's coming judgment, though the text does not stop to explain itself; it simply narrates the king's response as κρατήσαντες τοὺς δούλους... ὕβρισαν καὶ ἀπέκτειναν, "grabbed his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them."

The feast is then thrown open indiscriminately — "as many as you may find," v.9 — and the servants gather "both bad and good" (πονηρούς τε καὶ ἀγαθούς, v.10). This universalizing move has an edge that is often smoothed over: inclusion is not the end of the story. A man is found at the feast without wedding clothing (ἔνδυμα γάμου) and is bound and cast into "outer darkness" where there is "weeping and grinding of teeth" (v.13). The difficulty here is real and worth naming honestly: what is the wedding garment? The parable does not allegorize it, and speculation has run in two main directions historically — either it represents a righteousness given (some connect this to garments provided at the feast in ancient custom, though the text says nothing of the king supplying clothes) or it represents the response demanded of those admitted, a change that inclusion itself does not exempt anyone from. What the text does say plainly is that being called and being kept in are not the same thing — summed in the closing aphorism, "Πολλοὶ γάρ εἰσιν κλητοὶ, ὀλίγοι δὲ ἐκλεκτοί" — "many are called, but few chosen" (v.14). κλητοί (called) is a wider net than ἐκλεκτοί (chosen); the invitation goes out universally, but the parable insists response and readiness are not incidental to it.

22:17-21 Render therefore unto Caesar

The Pharisees and Herodians together pose a question built to be unanswerable either way: is it lawful to pay the tax to Caesar? A "yes" alienates a nationalist crowd chafing under Rome; a "no" is treason against Rome. Jesus calls the trap what it is — "Why do you test me, you hypocrites?" (v.18) — and asks for a denarius, a coin stamped with Caesar's image and inscription. His answer, Ἀπόδοτε οὖν τὰ Καίσαρος Καίσαρι καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ Θεῷ ("Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's," v.21), is often flattened into a modern doctrine of church-state separation, which is not what the sentence claims. The verb ἀπόδοτε means "give back, render what is owed" — the coin bears Caesar's image, so it is owed to Caesar; but the saying does not draw a line marking off a zone where Caesar's claim ends and God's begins as equals dividing territory. It leaves the second clause deliberately larger than the first: everything belongs to God in a way nothing belongs to Caesar. The saying does not resolve the tension between civic obligation and ultimate allegiance so much as name both without collapsing one into the other — which is precisely why it satisfied no one asking the trick question and "they marveled" (v.22) instead of pressing further.

22:23-33 Neither marry nor are given in marriage

The Sadducees, who denied bodily resurrection, pose a scenario built on the levirate marriage custom Moses commanded: a woman widowed by seven brothers in succession — whose wife will she be at the resurrection? Jesus' answer has two distinct parts, and both matter. First: "you are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God" (v.29) — the objection assumes resurrected life is simply this life continued, and Jesus denies that assumption directly: "they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like God's angels in heaven" (v.30). This is not a claim that resurrected life is disembodied or angelic in nature generally — the comparison is specifically to angels not marrying, not a claim about what resurrected humanity otherwise is or isn't. Second, Jesus argues the resurrection itself from the text the Sadducees claimed to honor: God's self-identification to Moses as "the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" (v.32) is spoken in the present tense, of the patriarchs long dead by the time of the burning bush — "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." The argument turns on grammatical tense in the very Torah the Sadducees accepted (they rejected the oral tradition and later writings, which is why Jesus argues from Moses rather than, say, the Psalms). The crowds are "astonished" (ἐξεπλήσσοντο, v.33) — a word suggesting being struck out of one's wits, not merely impressed.

22:37-40 Love the Lord your God... love your neighbor as yourself

Asked which is the greatest commandment, Jesus answers with two, not one, and then states their relation precisely: "The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments" (v.40) — κρέμαται, "hang" or "are suspended from," as a weight hangs from a hook. This is not a claim that the two commands replace or summarize away the rest of the law's specific content; it is a claim about structure — everything else in the law and prophets derives its force from, and is answerable to, love of God and love of neighbor. The command to love God comes "with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" (v.37) — three faculties named to press the totality, not to divide love into three separate acts. The second command is called ὁμοία, "like" the first, not subordinate to it as an afterthought — Jesus treats the neighbor-command as inseparable from, not secondary to, the love of God, against any reading of religion that would let devotion to God excuse indifference to people.

22:43-45 How is he his son?

The chapter's final exchange reverses the pattern: Jesus asks the Pharisees a question they cannot answer. Whose son is the Christ? "Of David," they say — the correct and expected answer. Jesus then asks how David, "in the Spirit," calls his own descendant "Lord": "The Lord said to my Lord, sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet" (v.44). If David calls him Lord, "how is he his son?" The question is not a riddle for its own sake; it presses at the identity the whole Gospel has been building toward — the Christ is David's son by lineage and David's Lord by nature, and no category the Pharisees hold accounts for both at once. No one can answer, and no one dares ask him anything further (v.46) — the silence itself closes the chapter's sequence of confrontations.

What the chapter asks

Every exchange in Matthew 22 turns on the same test: whether the hearer will actually reckon with what is in front of them, or use cleverness to avoid it. The wedding guests had reasons; the tax question was a trap built to look like a real dilemma; the Sadducees' scenario was a puzzle meant to make resurrection look absurd; the lawyer's question sought a hierarchy to argue over. In each case Jesus answers past the game to the actual claim underneath — an invitation that must be met and not merely acknowledged, an allegiance to God that outweighs every other claim without erasing it, a God whose word about the dead settles what death is, a love of God and neighbor from which no part of the law can be detached, and finally a question about who he himself is that no category anyone holds can fully close around.

The verses this turns on

Matthew 22:1 WEB
Jesus answered and spoke to them again in parables, saying,
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

Καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ Ἰησοῦς πάλιν εἶπεν ἐν παραβολαῖς αὐτοῖς λέγων

  • Καὶ καί conjunction G2532
  • ἀποκριθεὶς ἀποκρίνομαι verb · aorist passive deponent participle, nominative singular masculine G611
  • ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
  • Ἰησοῦς Ἰησοῦς noun · nominative singular masculine G2424
  • πάλιν πάλιν adverb G3825
  • εἶπεν λέγω verb · aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular G3004
  • ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
  • παραβολαῖς παραβολή noun · dative plural feminine G3850
  • αὐτοῖς αὐτός personal pronoun · dative plural masculine G846
  • λέγων λέγω verb · present active participle, nominative singular masculine G3004

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

See also 5
  1. Matthew 20:1 "For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
  2. Matthew 12:43 "When an unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest, and doesn't find it.
  3. Luke 8:10 He said, "To you it is given to know the mysteries of God's Kingdom, but to the rest it is given in parables, that 'seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.'
  4. Matthew 21:28 But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first, and said, 'Son, go work today in my vineyard.'
  5. Luke 14:16 But he said to him, "A certain man made a great supper, and he invited many people.
Matthew 22:17 WEB
Tell us therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

εἰπὸν οὖν ἡμῖν, τί σοι δοκεῖ; ἔξεστιν δοῦναι κῆνσον Καίσαρι ἢ οὔ;

  • εἰπὸν λέγω verb · aorist active imperative, 2nd person singular G3004
  • οὖν οὖν conjunction G3767
  • ἡμῖν, ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
  • τί τίς interrogative pronoun · nominative singular neuter G5101
  • σοι σύ personal pronoun G4771
  • δοκεῖ; δοκέω verb · present active indicative, 3rd person singular G1380
  • ἔξεστιν ἔξεστι(ν) verb · present active indicative, 3rd person singular G1832
  • δοῦναι δίδωμι verb · aorist active infinitive G1325
  • κῆνσον κῆνσος noun · accusative singular masculine G2778
  • Καίσαρι Καῖσαρ noun · dative singular masculine G2541
  • ἢ ἤ particle G2228
  • οὔ; οὐ particle · nominative G3756

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

See also 5
  1. Luke 2:1 Now in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled.
  2. Romans 13:6 For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are servants of God's service, continually doing this very thing.
  3. Matthew 17:25 He said, "Yes." When he came into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth receive toll or tribute? From their children, or from strangers?"
  4. Acts 28:22 But we desire to hear from you what you think. For, as concerning this sect, it is known to us that everywhere it is spoken against."
  5. Deuteronomy 17:14 When you have come to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, "I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,"
Matthew 22:23 WEB
On that day Sadducees (those who say that there is no resurrection) came to him. They asked him,
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

Ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ προσῆλθον αὐτῷ Σαδδουκαῖοι, λέγοντες μὴ εἶναι ἀνάστασιν, καὶ ἐπηρώτησαν αὐτὸν

  • Ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
  • ἐκείνῃ ἐκεῖνος demonstrative pronoun · dative singular feminine G1565
  • τῇ ὁ article · dative singular feminine G3588
  • ἡμέρᾳ ἡμέρα noun · dative singular feminine G2250
  • προσῆλθον προσέρχομαι verb · aorist active indicative, 3rd person plural G4334
  • αὐτῷ αὐτός personal pronoun · dative singular masculine G846
  • Σαδδουκαῖοι, Σαδδουκαῖος noun · nominative plural masculine G4523
  • λέγοντες λέγω verb · present active participle, nominative plural masculine G3004
  • μὴ μή particle · nominative G3361
  • εἶναι εἰμί verb · present active infinitive G1510
  • ἀνάστασιν, ἀνάστασις noun · accusative singular feminine G386
  • καὶ καί conjunction G2532

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

See also 5
  1. Acts 4:1 As they spoke to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came to them,
  2. Mark 12:18 Some Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection, came to him. They asked him, saying,
  3. Luke 20:27 Some of the Sadducees came to him, those who deny that there is a resurrection.
  4. Acts 23:6 But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, "Men and brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. Concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!"
  5. Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, "You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Matthew 22:37 WEB
Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

ὁ δὲ ἔφη αὐτῷ Ἀγαπήσεις κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ καρδίᾳ σου καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ ψυχῇ σου καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ διανοίᾳ σου.

  • ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
  • δὲ δέ conjunction G1161
  • ἔφη φημί verb · imperfect active indicative, 3rd person singular G5346
  • αὐτῷ αὐτός personal pronoun · dative singular masculine G846
  • Ἀγαπήσεις ἀγαπάω verb · future active indicative, 2nd person singular G25
  • κύριον κύριος noun · accusative singular masculine G2962
  • τὸν ὁ article · accusative singular masculine G3588
  • Θεόν θεός noun · accusative singular masculine G2316
  • σου σύ personal pronoun G4771
  • ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
  • ὅλῃ ὅλος adjective · dative singular feminine G3650
  • τῇ ὁ article · dative singular feminine G3588

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

See also 5
  1. Mark 12:29 Jesus answered, "The greatest is: 'Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
  2. Luke 10:27 He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."
  3. Deuteronomy 6:5 You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.
  4. Deuteronomy 10:12 Now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
  5. Mark 12:33 and to love him with all the heart, with all the understanding, all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
Matthew 22:43 WEB
He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying,
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

λέγει αὐτοῖς Πῶς οὖν Δαυεὶδ ἐν Πνεύματι καλεῖ αὐτὸν Κύριον λέγων

  • λέγει λέγω verb · present active indicative, 3rd person singular G3004
  • αὐτοῖς αὐτός personal pronoun · dative plural masculine G846
  • Πῶς πῶς adverb G4459
  • οὖν οὖν conjunction G3767
  • Δαυεὶδ Δαυίδ proper noun (indeclinable) G1138
  • ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
  • Πνεύματι πνεῦμα noun · dative singular neuter G4151
  • καλεῖ καλέω verb · present active indicative, 3rd person singular G2564
  • αὐτὸν αὐτός personal pronoun · accusative singular masculine G846
  • Κύριον κύριος noun · accusative singular masculine G2962
  • λέγων λέγω verb · present active participle, nominative singular masculine G3004

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

See also 5
  1. 2 Samuel 23:2 "Yahweh's Spirit spoke by me. His word was on my tongue.
  2. Revelation 4:2 Immediately I was in the Spirit. Behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting on the throne
  3. Hebrews 3:7 Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, "Today if you will hear his voice,
  4. Mark 12:36 For David himself said in the Holy Spirit, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet."'
  5. Acts 2:30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,

From the interpretive tradition

When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer The Cost of Discipleship, ch. 1 theologian · lutheran
The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked.
Basil the Great Homily VI.7 father · eastern public domain

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