Matthew 22:15–46
Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar
15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax[a] to Caesar or not?”
18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
Marriage at the Resurrection
23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”
29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’[b]? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
The Greatest Commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[c] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Whose Son Is the Messiah?
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”
“The son of David,” they replied.
43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,
44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet.”’[e]
45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Jesus gave 4 examples of how to put God first.
God or the state (verses 15–22)
The religious leaders did not want people to be Jesus’ disciples. They wanted to stop them. Jesus’ parables made the leaders even more sure that they must stop them (verse 15). Again, the leaders asked Jesus a question that was unfair. (Compare 21:23–27.) The Romans were the people who ruled the Jews at that time. The Romans did not know the real God. Some Jews thought that it was wrong to pay any taxes to the Romans. It could be dangerous for Jesus if he agreed with these Jews. But he might say that it was right to pay taxes to the Romans. Then the Jewish people probably would not like this. And he would not be so popular with them.
Jesus gave a very clever answer. There is God and there are the political leaders. Both are responsible for different matters. So, it is not a matter of choosing one or the other. Jesus said that people must give the right honor to each of them.
Christians today have hard situations. It can be difficult to obey Jesus’ teaching. But the principles that Jesus taught are clear. Later, the apostles emphasized them too. (Note: Read More Explanation for Matthew 10:1–4.) Now read Romans 13:1–2. There, Paul taught that we must obey the authorities of the state. Then he emphasized that Christians must be good citizens. (Read Romans 13:6–7.) Paul also encouraged Christians to pray for political leaders. (Read 1 Timothy 2:1–2.)
Sometimes people make the Bible mean what they want it to mean (verses 23–33).
There were different religious ideas in the time of Jesus. The Pharisees had their ideas. They asked Jesus a question in the previous section. But it was really an unfair question. In these verses, the Sadducees asked Jesus a question. But it was an unfair question too. The Sadducees often argued with the Pharisees about this matter. So they tried to make Jesus agree with them. But they just wanted to cause trouble for Jesus.
The Pharisees believed that a person’s dead body would come back to life. This would happen on the ‘last day’. But the Sadducees refused to believe that. This was because they did not find it in the books of Moses. (These were the first 5 books of the OLD TESTAMENT.) They used Deuteronomy 25:5–6 and Genesis 38:8 for their question. They did not want to know the truth. They just wanted Jesus to look foolish.
But Jesus repeated from one of those 5 books of Moses. The truth that they denied was there too. Jesus referred to Exodus 3:6. The Lord is the living God. His goodness to men does not end when they die. God had promised good things to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So, Jesus was saying that there must be life after death. Only then could these three men share in those good things.
The Sadducees read the Bible. But they did not ‘think God’s thoughts’ about it. They had not listened to what God’s word actually meant. They kept their own opinions when they read the Bible. They did not have a right understanding of God either. (Read verse 29b-30.) This was part of their problem.
The Sadducees should have believed that God was really God. Then, it would have been easy to believe that he could make dead people live. They were able to think about the future. But it was only as it related to their present experience. But they should have believed that God is really God.
We can understand the Sadducees in one way. Then, nobody had come back to life and never died again. But we cannot have that same excuse. Jesus came back to life very many years ago. And he is still alive today. The evidence is very strong. But people still refuse to believe the truth.
Love God and love your neighbor (verses 34–40).
In this passage, Jesus answered a most important question. It is: ‘How can I please God?’ The Pharisees often discussed this question. The OLD TESTAMENT records 613 different laws. (248 laws encouraged people to do certain things. 365 laws were against certain other actions.) There were so many laws from which to choose. It was hard to know which were the most important laws.
At first, it seemed that Jesus thought the same as most of the Pharisees. (Compare Luke 10:25–27.) But this cannot be true. The words of verse 40 show the difference. In verses 37–39, Jesus explained the importance of the two commands. All the OLD TESTAMENT laws come from these two laws. The teachings of the prophets come from them too.
We can explain what Jesus meant in this way. The Pharisees thought that the laws were like many different bricks. Each brick (law) was separate. They did not relate to each other most of the time. But they thought that two bricks were larger than the other bricks (laws). These were the laws that are in verses 37–39. The Pharisees felt that they could gain credit with God. They did this by obeying all the laws. But especially they obeyed the two great commands that were the most important ones.
But Jesus did not think like the Pharisees. The two great commands were like the substance that stuck the bricks together. The two great commands made all the laws into something like a wall. Without that substance, the bricks were just a pile that had no use. So the two great commands set the standard. All the other commands came from them. Both the great commands were part of each other too. Love for God will show itself in love for other people. And real love for other people comes from real love for God.
David’s Lord and our Lord (verses 41–46)
God had promised to send the Messiah. The Jews believed that he would be David’s son. This belief came from two passages in the OT. They are Isaiah 11:1, 10 and Jeremiah 23:5. (Jesse was David’s father.) There is much about the Messiah in the OT. But the religious leaders failed to look at all the teaching. They had a book called ‘The Psalms of Solomon’. It was one of their most famous books. It showed what they thought about the Messiah. They thought that he would just be a national hero.
Jesus tried to teach them more from the OT. He spoke about Psalm 110:1. This verse refers to Messiah as more than just David’s son. The Messiah is David’s Lord and God. Jesus had already offended the Jews by his claims. In this passage, Jesus referred to their OT. The claims that Jesus made for himself were the same as for the Messiah in the OT. And if Jesus was David’s Lord, then he was their Lord too. So they ought to give honor to him.
Perhaps we cannot understand why Jesus spoke in this way. The religious leaders were against Jesus more and more. The previous two chapters of Matthew’s book showed this. Love for God and love for other people were vital. Jesus had emphasized this. (Read verses 34–40.) In this section, Jesus showed an example of that love. He offered something to those who opposed him. He offered knowledge of himself to them. This could make it possible for them to become his friends. This was what Jesus wanted.
After this time, Jesus spoke only to the crowds and to his disciples. Soon, the religious leaders would leave. They would make plans to kill Jesus. He knew all about this. But, first, Jesus appealed to them in a loving way for the last time. He did not use force. He was gentle. He just wanted to lead them to the truth about himself. But the religious leaders did not want to know the truth. This was very sad. In chapter 26, they were sure that they must kill him.
Questions
1. I have not seen God. So how can I love him? I love other people. Is that the same as love for God? Can we separate these two loves? If we can, how can we do it?
2. What is the value in having a church that the state supports? Read verses 15–22. Does Jesus’ teaching help us to decide the answer to that question?
3. Some people say that they love other people. They think that this is enough. But they leave out part of the verse. The part speaks about love for God too. So, they are making the Bible mean what they want it to mean. Can you think of any other verses that people use in this way? First, make a list of your own favorite verses from the Bible. Is your own understanding of them correct?