22:1-14 In this culture, two invitations were expected when banquets were given. The first asked the guests to attend; the second announced that all was ready. In this story the king invited his guests three times, and each time they rejected his invitation. God wants us to join him at his banquet, which will last for eternity. That’s why he sends us invitations again and again. Have you accepted his invitation?
22:11, 12 It was customary for wedding guests to be given a garment to wear to the banquet. It was unthinkable to refuse to wear these clothes. That would insult the host, who could only assume that the guest was arrogant and thought he didn’t need a garment, or that he did not want to take part in the wedding celebration. The garment is a picture of the “garment of righteousness” needed to enter God’s Kingdom—the total acceptance in God’s eyes that Christ gives every believer. Christ has provided this garment for everyone, but each person must choose to put it on in order to enter the King’s banquet (eternal life). There is an open invitation, but we must be ready. For more on the imagery of clothes of righteousness and salvation, see Psalm 132:16; Isaiah 61:10; Zechariah 3:3-5; Revelation 3:4, 5; 19:7, 8.
22:15-17 The Pharisees, a religious group, opposed the Roman occupation of Palestine. The Herodians, a political party, supported Herod Antipas and the policies instituted by Rome. Normally these two groups were bitter enemies, but here they united against Jesus. Thinking they had a foolproof plan to corner him, together their representatives asked Jesus about paying Roman taxes (tribute). If Jesus agreed that it was right to pay taxes to Caesar, the Pharisees would say he was opposed to God, the only King they recognized. If Jesus said the taxes should not be paid, the Herodians would hand him over to Herod on the charge of rebellion. In this case the Pharisees were not motivated by love for God’s laws, and the Herodians were not motivated by love for Roman justice. Jesus’ answer exposed their evil motives and embarrassed them both.
22:16 The words, “Thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men” could be translated, “You are very honest and teach the truth regardless of the consequences, without fear or favor.”
22:17 The Jews were required to pay taxes to support the Roman government. They hated this taxation because the money went directly into Caesar’s treasury, where some of it went to support the pagan temples and decadent lifestyle of the Roman aristocracy. Caesar’s image on the coins was a constant reminder of Israel’s subjection to Rome.
22:21 Jesus avoided this trap by showing that we have dual citizenship (1 Peter 2:17). Our citizenship in the nation requires that we pay money for the services and benefits we receive. Our citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven requires that we pledge to God our ultimate obedience and commitment.
22:23ff After the Pharisees and Herodians had failed to trap Jesus, the Sadducees smugly stepped in to try. They did not believe in the resurrection because the Pentateuch (Genesis—Deuteronomy) has no direct teaching on it. The Pharisees had never been able to come up with a convincing argument from the Pentateuch for the resurrection, and the Sadducees thought they had trapped Jesus for sure. But Jesus was about to show them otherwise (see 22:31, 32 for Jesus’ answer).
22:24 The law said that when a woman’s husband died without having a son, the man’s brother had a responsibility to marry and care for the widow (Deuteronomy 25:5, 6). This law protected women who were left alone, because in that culture they usually had no other means to support themselves.
22:29, 30 The Sadducees asked Jesus what marriage would be like in heaven. Jesus said it was more important to understand God’s power than know what heaven will be like. In every generation and culture, ideas of eternal life tend to be based on images and experiences of present life. Jesus answered that these faulty ideas are caused by ignorance of God’s Word. We must not make up our own ideas about eternity and heaven by thinking of it and God in human terms. We should concentrate more on our relationship with God than about what heaven will look like. Eventually we will find out, and it will be far beyond our greatest expectations.
22:31, 32 Because the Sadducees accepted only the Pentateuch as God’s divine Word, Jesus answered them from the book of Exodus (3:6). God would not have said, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” if God thought of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as dead. From God’s perspective, they are alive. Jesus’ use of the present tense pointed to the resurrection and the eternal life that all believers enjoy in him.
22:34 We might think the Pharisees would have been glad to see the Sadducees silenced. The question that the Sadducees had always used to trap them was finally answered by Jesus. But the Pharisees were too proud to be impressed. Jesus’ answer gave them a theological victory over the Sadducees, but they were more interested in defeating Jesus than in learning the truth.
22:35-40 The Pharisees, who had classified over 600 laws, often tried to distinguish the more important from the less important. So one of them, a lawyer, asked Jesus to identify the most important law. Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. By fulfilling these two commands, a person keeps all the others. They summarize the Ten Commandments and the other Old Testament moral laws.
22:37-40 Jesus said that if we truly love God and our neighbor, we will naturally keep the commandments. This is looking at God’s law positively. Rather than worrying about all we should not do, we should concentrate on all we can do to show our love for God and others.
22:41-45 The Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees had asked their questions. Then Jesus turned the tables and asked them a penetrating question—who they thought the Messiah was. The Pharisees knew that the Messiah would be a descendant of David, but they did not understand that he would be God himself. Jesus quoted from Psalm 110:1 to show that the Messiah would be greater than David. (Hebrews 1:13 uses the same text as proof of Christ’s deity.) The most important question we will ever answer is what we believe about Christ. Other theological questions are irrelevant until we believe that Jesus is who he said he is.