Matthew 22

Matthew 22 is the twenty second chapter in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament section of the Christian Bible. Jesus continues his final ministry in Jerusalem before his Passion. Teaching in the Temple, Jesus enters into debate successively with the Pharisees, allied with the Herodians, the Sadducees, and a lawyer, ultimately silencing them all.

R. T. France suggests that the theological theme of replacement is very strong in this parable, when those who had been invited but refused the repeated invitations, and even murdered the messengers, were substituted by the new people from unlikely groups, from the street corners, including both good and bad, as the guests. Dale Allison notes that the passage consists of an introduction (verse 1), the parable itself (verses 2 13b) and a commentary (verses 13c and 14: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called, but few are chosen). Protestant biblical commentator Heinrich Meyer creates a similar break in verse 13, with the final words of the king in the story being "take him away, and cast him into outer darkness" and Jesus adding the remark there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. Those invited to the wedding feast declined to attend. Meyer suggests that those who left "having paid no attention" formed the majority, while "the rest", in verse 6, formed a smaller "remainder" of the invitees. The words "take him away, and" (ἄρατε αὐτὸν καὶ) are missing from the critical Novum Testamentum Graece. Meyer argues that "the word ἄρατε, not being needed to complete the picture, was struck out. The reading of the Received text [which includes these words] ought to be maintained". The "tax money" was τὸ νόμισμα τοῦ κήνσου (to nomisma tou kēnsou), associated with the Roman census (Luke 2:1 5, Acts 5:37). France describes the combination of and as a brilliantly creative idea, as it brings the focus on the two halves of the Ten Commandments as a foundation of life, and sums up that duty as love, that is, a God like attitude beyond the specific requirements of the Law. The Jerusalem Bible suggests that the reference to a lawyer is not original but borrowed from Luke 10:25, There was a lawyer who, to disconcert [Jesus]

And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore. This verse ends the "Son of David" dialogue; the Jerusalem Bible states that no one in the gathering "could think of anything to say in reply". It also closes off the whole narrative from Matthew 21:23 onwards, where Jesus has been addressed with "question after question".