Matthew 22, Part One

The parable of the wedding feast (vs. 1-14)—The battle between Jesus and His opponents continues throughout this chapter. In these verses, we see another parable aimed at the Jewish rejection of Christ. A king prepares a marriage feast for his son. He sent out some servants to tell those who had been invited that everything was ready, but “they were not willing to come” (v. 2; they wouldn't come to a feast prepared by the king??  What kind of person would turn down such an invitation?). So “he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding’” (v. 4). But the invitees still refused to come. We should recognize that the “king” is God, the “servants” were His prophets, the “son” is Christ, and those first invited were the Jews. In the parable, some of his servants were seized, “treated spitefully, and killed” (v. 6). This is a reference to the Jewish treatment of God’s prophets. And so, “when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city” (v. 8); this may be a veiled allusion to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, but I’m not going to press that interpretation. More than likely, it’s just a general, well-deserved punishment against the Jews being pictured. “Those who were invited were not worthy,” so the king sent his servants “into the highways, and as many as you can find, invite to the wedding” (v. 9). The Gentiles are meant here. A large gathering was brought in, “and the wedding hall was filled with guests” (v. 10). But there was a man among them “who did not have on a wedding garment” (v. 11). Among the Orientals, a special white robe was to be worn by each guest on such occasions, and not to wear it was a sign of disrespect; such a one was worthy of punishment. And that is what happens here. The king asks the man why he did not have on the appropriate clothing; when he received no answer, he commanded “Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (v. 13). Just being invited to the feast is not enough; if we do not clothe ourselves properly, we will be ejected and punished. “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14). We must be clothed with His humility and righteousness if we wish to partake of the great feast God has prepared for us.

What a marvelous thing it is to be invited, by the great God of heaven and earth, to such a feast. Get the point here: He—the great God of heaven and earth—invites us--wicked, miserable sinners against Him, we who are so unworthy. It is a privilege beyond human words to be invited by God into His feast, i.e., kingdom. So yes, punishment is well decreed for those who mock the invitation or refuse to show proper reverence once allowed in.

“Render unto Caesar…” (vs. 15-22)—The Pharisees sent some Herodians to Christ “that they might entangle Him in His talk” (v. 16). The “Herodians” were a political party following the Herods, who were Roman lackeys governing parts of Judea. The question they ask, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” (v. 17), was a trap—the Jews didn’t believe they should pay taxes to a foreign power. They got this from Deuteronomy 17:14-15, which says, "When you come to the land which the LORD your God is giving 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,' you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.” Some of the Jews deduced from the last sentence that they should never pay tribute to another nation, which, of course, they had been required to do, frequently, in their history, and were under the same compulsion in Jesus’ time because of the Romans. Still, the question was ingenious. If Jesus took the common Jewish view that “no, you shouldn’t pay taxes to Caesar,” then He would be in trouble with the Romans. If He said, “yes, do pay,” then He could lose influence with the masses who hated the Romans. So, frankly, the Pharisees/Herodians didn’t care how He answered. Except they got the one answer they didn’t expect: “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (v. 21). How could anybody argue with that answer? Incidentally, Jesus knew it was a trap and exposed it as so: “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?” (v. 18). He wanted others who were listening to understand what was going on.

One last thought here on this section: Jesus did not come as a political agitator or a “community organizer.” He came "to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10), and “to give His life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28). Politicians and political empires come and go, rise and fall, wax and wane, and Jesus knew it. But there is only one chance at eternal salvation, and that’s what Jesus died for. If Christ were in America today, He would not be stirring up support for Obamacare or marching in “tea parties”; He would be doing the same thing He did in the first century—preaching the gospel, trying to save the lost. Because 100 years from now, there aren’t very many of us alive today who are going to care if Obama’s health care plan gets passed or not. But we will care about the location of our eternal spirit.