Matthew Chapter 22 | Best devotional materials, including: introduction, background, main content, Bible reading and prayer video, Scripture, and post-reading prayer to help you gain a deeper understanding of biblical truth.

Dear brothers and sisters, peace in Christ. Welcome to our One Chapter per day Bible reading time. 

By God’s grace, today we will read Matthew chapter 22.
In this chapter, Jesus tells the parable of the wedding banquet, revealing how God invites all people into His kingdom, yet many reject His call. We also see Jesus answer profound questions from the Pharisees and Sadducees about paying taxes to Caesar, the resurrection, and the greatest commandment. Jesus teaches that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and the second is like it: to love your neighbor as yourself.

This passage reminds us that God graciously invites us to His kingdom feast, but He also calls us to respond sincerely—with hearts clothed in righteousness and filled with love for Him and for others. Let us listen with reverence and gratitude to God’s Word together.

Matthew Chapter 22 Introduction:

Matthew chapter 22 continues Jesus’ teaching ministry through parables and powerful encounters with religious leaders. This chapter focuses on the themes of divine invitation, true obedience, and the nature of God’s kingdom. Through the Parable of the Wedding Banquet, and His wise responses to the Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees, Jesus reveals both the mercy and authority of God’s reign, calling people to genuine faith rather than outward religion.

Main Content of Matthew Chapter 22:

1. The Parable of the Wedding Banquet (verses 1–14)
Jesus tells a parable about a king who prepares a wedding feast for his son, but those invited refuse to come. Some ignore the invitation, while others even mistreat and kill the king’s servants. The king then opens the banquet to anyone willing to come, both good and bad. Yet one guest is thrown out for not wearing wedding clothes, symbolizing the necessity of righteousness and readiness to enter God’s kingdom. This parable reveals both God’s gracious invitation to salvation and the seriousness of rejecting His call.

2. Paying Taxes to Caesar (verses 15–22)
The Pharisees and Herodians try to trap Jesus with a political question about paying taxes to Caesar. Jesus answers with divine wisdom: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” With this statement, He affirms the believer’s duty to earthly authority while emphasizing that ultimate loyalty belongs to God alone.

3. The Question About the Resurrection (verses 23–33)
The Sadducees, who deny the resurrection, pose a hypothetical question about marriage in the afterlife. Jesus corrects their misunderstanding, teaching that earthly marriage does not continue in heaven, where believers will be like angels. He then powerfully declares that God is “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” proving that God is the God of the living, not the dead.

4. The Greatest Commandment (verses 34–40)
When a lawyer asks Jesus which commandment is the greatest, Jesus summarizes the entire Law and Prophets in two commands: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” These words define the essence of true faith—love for God and love for people.

5. The Question About the Messiah (verses 41–46)
Jesus then turns the tables and questions the Pharisees about the identity of the Messiah. When He asks how David could call the Messiah “Lord” if the Messiah is his son, they are left speechless. Through this, Jesus reveals His divine authority and identity as both the Son of David and the Lord of all.

Spiritual Significance of Matthew Chapter 22:

Matthew 22 challenges us to examine our response to God’s invitation. It reminds us that entering His kingdom requires not only acceptance but also transformation—putting on the “wedding garment” of righteousness found in Christ. Jesus’ wisdom in dealing with the religious leaders teaches us to live with discernment, humility, and wholehearted love for God and others. Ultimately, this chapter reveals the heart of the Gospel: salvation is freely offered, but it calls for a sincere and obedient heart.

Through Matthew chapter 22, we are reminded that God’s invitation is open to all—but only those clothed in the righteousness of Christ can enter His eternal celebration. May this chapter inspire us to love God deeply, follow Christ faithfully, and live daily as true citizens of His kingdom.

Matthew Chapter 22 YouTube Bible Reading and Prayer Video:

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

22 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

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.”’

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.