The King's Wedding Celebration
After answering the Jewish leaders concerning authority, Jesus tells the multitude another parable about the kingdom of heaven. In Matthew 22:1-14 he talks about a king that established a big wedding brouhaha for his son, but when it was time for the wedding the guests decided not to come. When he sent out other servants to the same guests they laughed or scorned and went their ways and those who didn't leave killed the servants after treating them badly. In response the king sent his army to destroy the city they lived in and killed the murderers.
Then he asks the servants to go out anywhere to bid people to the marriage. He got his full house, but he saw that one many wasn't dressed appropriately. The king was shocked. He instructed the servants to bind the person who was dressed wrong hand and foot and cast him into outer darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus then says one of the more memorable lines "for many are called but few are chosen". Considering the thoughts of the Pharisees, it would seem likely that the people would see this as another slightly veiled comment from Jesus about them.
Dake's notes indicate that it was likely that the king had provided garments for the people to wear, knowing that the people being invited at the last minute would not have had time to prepare for such a fancy gathering. He may have had clothes prepare for all guests (including those who refused to come earlier). To see someone who was not wearing the offered clothing would be an insult.
The parable isn't explained here, but it is likely that the originally invited participants were the Jews. Since they rejected Jesus, God threw the plan of salvation open to the entire world. But regardless, God's standards were the same for Jew or Gentile. To try to gain the benefits of the kingdom without being cleansed (wearing the king's robes) was unacceptable and the result for not following the king's direction was eternal death.
Truly, many are called - literally the entire world. But few are chosen (or choose to accept Christ). God's will is that everyone comes to heaven. Just as the king in this parable told his servants to go out into the highways and bid everyone they saw to the wedding feast. But attending did require conformance, just like accepting Christ requires conformance to God's standards. Christ's blood does provide atonement for our sins, but repentance must follow salvation.
The Money Trap
In Matthew 22:15-22, the Pharisees once again try to trip up Jesus with words. The disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodians started out by trying to butter Jesus up with words. They asked if it was lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not. The Herodians were allied to Herod and were fine being in submission to the Roman empire. They didn't care what religion was, as long as it furthered their aims. According to Dake there was feuding between the Pharisees and the Herodians, so for them to team up might be seen as a desperate act.
Jesus asks to see the tribute money, asks them whose image is on it, and when they say Caesar's image, He tells them to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to render to God the things that are God's. They marveled at how easily Jesus got out of the trap they thought they had set.
As a Christian, you need to understand that the world is going to try to trip you up in your words and what you believe. We fully believe that the Bible was given to man by God and that it has been written down, copied, and translated to the best of everyone's ability over the years. Regardless, the original documents are very old and very fragile. There are some discrepancies that have crept in because minor marks probably faded or were worn away from some early texts, leading to minor differences between some accounts in different books.
Luke was a historian, among other things, but wasn't an eye witness. While he recorded the history as told to him, the order varies in some parts from the other gospels. People can always find some fault to pick at if they look hard enough. Even Christians will find some faults with new translations that have minor but significant differences from earlier works. None of these things need distract from the basic truths of the Bible which stand above all the detailed controversy.
Become a Spirit filled believer and read the Bible yourself so that you have an idea of what it says and the Spirit has something to draw on when you get bogged down in debates with people. But try to not get bogged down in the first place. Most arguments aren't worth the time and all the time spent arguing could be spent pursuing the important truths instead.
On Marriage Relationships in Heaven
Sadducees then turned to the afterlife, asking who would be considered to be a woman's husband if seven brothers sequentially married the same woman, after the death of each previous brother. I would think that after a couple they would be looking seriously at finding a way out of the Jewish laws myself.
In Matthew 22:23-33, Jesus addresses this odd situation by saying that they didn't know what they were talking about and were in error in many ways. Concerning what the contrived situation they came up with, Jesus simply says that there is no marriage in heaven so the whole debate is profitless. People in heaven are like the angels and aren't constrained by worldly civil law. That really puts a wringer into the LDS temple marriages.
Since Jesus knew that the Sadducees didn't believe in resurrection, Jesus also quoted Exodus 3:6,16 to refute their belief that people were simply annihilated at death. There God said He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If God declares He is instead of was, it definitely implied they were still alive in some state. Obviously the Sadducees weren't privy to Moses returning from the Paradise compartment at the transfiguration or their minds would have been completely blown. The multitude weren't used to the Sadducees being taken down in public, and were amazed at the confident and quick reply of Jesus.
The Great Commandment
In Matthew 22:34-46, the Pharisees gather together for a last foray in tripping Jesus up in switch. A lawyer asks which is the greatest commandment. Jesus replies that the first is to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. The second is to love you neighbor like yourself. Every other law hangs in some way on these two commandments. Not even the lawyer could criticize that answer.
That's all there is to Christianity if you get right down to it. Love God first. Love each other and treat each other as you would want to be treated. That's all everything boils down to in a nutshell. That's all God wanted from His children from the very start. But even then, Cain slew Abel because Abel's sacrifice of an animal was accepted over his sacrifice of crops. God's kind direction to just follow Abel's example wasn't enough. Hatred rose and Abel died.
Christianity isn't tough. Love God first. Love each other. I'd repeat that 1,000 times if I thought that would actually get it through to people. It has never been us versus them. It has always been love God and support each other. And that is hard for Christians even today. Loving God is pretty easy. But loving everyone else is hard. We will sacrifice for family, but figure it is up to the government and the taxes we pay to sacrifice for anyone else. We'll support our church, but if another church is in trouble, either of our own denomination or a different denomination, well the people who went there or go there made a bad decision. They should have chosen us. Tribalism is destroying the church and the world around us.
Maybe with the governments we have today getting back to the spirit in the early church isn't possible. When the early Christians were helping each other in Jerusalem and had all things in common, I'm sure a certain amount of that was done in the spirit of the yearly Passover celebration, and it was still Christian Jew versus the Romans so there was camaraderie. When there have been common enemies for the world (WWI and WWII) everyone has banded together to help. There doesn't seem to be a common enemy today, and might not be until the anti Christ tries to set up rule. By then, I hope that I, my family, and every Christian will be in heaven.
Until then, we need to find our way back to the second great commandment as Christians, and help the world to see the first great commandment is still true. We are called to be the light and salt of the earth. To many Christians, at least in the first world countries, are happy just being, maybe going to church if they feel like it as long as the church doesn't require sacrifice, and calling it good. That may get you to heaven. But it won't get you a reward once you get there.
Give generously - to your church, but also to the world. Trust that God will bless what you have left to be enough. That isn't just a financial decision. Give time. Pray. Get involved in ministries that help people. Show the second commandment wherever you are. Reread the Sermon on the Mount [Matthew 5-7]. Try to live up to what Christ orders. His standards are much higher than the Law that came before Him.
Christ then asks them about their idea of Christ and points out that Christ was both King David's Lord and Son since He was born of Mary in David's lineage. This shut up the Pharisees, but they were plotting all the more for Jesus downfall since this happened only two days before Jesus was crucified.
In the next chapter [Matthew 23], Jesus makes a long address to the multitude around Him concerning the Pharisees. Nobody wants to be described as they were. But their state describes many Christians today. Help us to work harder on the concepts of the Sermon on the Mount and the second commandment.