Big Idea
This month's memory verse
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Jesus felt sorry for them and touched their eyes. Instantly they could see! Then they followed him.
Matthew 22
Parable of the Great Feast
1Jesus also told them other parables. He said, 2“The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding feast for his son.3When the banquet was ready, he sent his servants to notify those who were invited. But they all refused to come!
4“So he sent other servants to tell them, ‘The feast has been prepared. The bulls and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the banquet!’ 5But the guests he had invited ignored them and went their own way, one to his farm, another to his business.6Others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them.
7“The king was furious, and he sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town. 8And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor.9Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’10So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests.
11“But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the proper clothes for a wedding. 12‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how is it that you are here without wedding clothes?’ But the man had no reply.13Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14“For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Taxes for Caesar
15Then the Pharisees met together to plot how to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested. 16They sent some of their disciples, along with the supporters of Herod, to meet with him. “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You teach the way of God truthfully. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. 17Now tell us what you think about this: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
18But Jesus knew their evil motives. “You hypocrites!” he said. “Why are you trying to trap me? 19Here, show me the coin used for the tax.” When they handed him a Roman coin,*20he asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?”
21“Caesar’s,” they replied.
“Well, then,” he said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”
22His reply amazed them, and they went away.
The Most Important Commandment
34But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. 35One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 36“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
37Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’*22:37 Deut 6:5. 38This is the first and greatest commandment.39A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’*22:39 Lev 19:18.40The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”