Matthew 22 - Will There Be Marriage in Heaven?

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What Happening in Matthew 22?

In this last week of his life, Jesus continues to teach in parables about the kingdom of heaven. He uses an important social occasion, the wedding banquet, to illustrate his spiritual message with an earthly analogy. Again, the Pharisees try to trap him in his words by asking him about paying taxes to Caesar. He also answers questions about life after death, and the relationships we will have in heaven. He continues to reveal who he is as the Messiah, and whose Son he is. 

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

Jesus uses the occasion of the wedding banquet to illustrate the kingdom of heaven. A wedding banquet was a very important occasion in Jesus' culture, perhaps even more than our current society. It was an honor to be invited to a wedding, so the guest list was very important. It would be a huge "faux pas" to show up at a wedding either uninvited, or in the wrong attire. 

So it was shocking when the king sent out the word through his servants that the wedding banquet was ready and each person failed to respond. One just refused to come. Another just blew off the occasion and went out into their fields to work. Some people not only refused to come but mistreated and then killed the servants the king sent.  

The fact that the man was a king made it even more shocking how the men responded. How did the king respond? Understandingly, he was enraged and went out and killed the men and burned their city. 

Because the wedding banquet was still prepared, the king still wanted to hold the event. So, he sent his servants to the highways and street corners and invited anyone who was willing to come. And Matthew adds, "both the good and bad" came.  This would lead one to believe there were some unsavory characters in the bunch. Indeed the wedding hall was full. The king wanted his banquet hall full. In the same way God's wants heaven to be full.  

Then something curious happens. A man had slipped into the banquet without the proper attire. Apparently this was a huge mistake, and the king not only threw the man out after rebuking him, but also through him out into the darkness. 

The parable closes with the punchline. 

"For many are invited, but few are chosen!"

So how should be interpret this last line? Since almost all of the recent teaching Jesus has been doing has been an indictment on the Jewish leaders, there is no reason to believe there was anyone else he was addressing. When the servants went out to the street corners it would make sense that this represented the Gentiles. It was always a plan in the Old Testament for the blessings of God to be extended to the Gentiles, which are also called "the nations". 

The bottom line is that God wants all people to be saved Jews and Gentile. For this reason every person of all backgrounds is invited to the wedding banquet. But some people refuse the invitation for various reasons. 

So who are the chosen? They are people who come to the wedding banquet at Jesus' invitation. God knew that they would come, because God is sovereign and knows all he would know that they are chosen since the beginning of time. 

In this sense, we can say this is a parable about grace. Those who were invited – and who came – were utterly undeserving of the invitation, much less the wedding feast itself. (Guzik)

Who was the man who came in without proper attire?

“He came because he was invited, but he came only in appearance. The banquet was intended to honor the King’s Son, but this man meant nothing of the kind; he was willing to eat the good things set before him, but in his heart there was no love either for the King or his well-beloved Son.” (Spurgeon)

Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar

The Pharisees again try to trick Jesus this time by asking if it was proper for Jewish people to pay a tax to Caesar. The trap was this. If he said to pay the tax, they would say he was colluding with the evil, Roman emperor. If he told them to not pay the tax, they would accuse him of teaching the Jews to break the law. 

So how did Jesus handle this? Once Jesus shows his wisdom, as he asks the leaders to show him a coin and tell him whose image was on it? They answered "Caesar". To which Jesus replied, 

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

The bible teaches that Christians are to obey the laws of the land, unless call a Christian to break God's law. Obvious there is a lot of debate on what this might mean in today's society. When Christians obey the state's laws they show they are good citizens. To the contrary, if a Christian for instance cheats on their taxes, they bring a bad reputation to the Christian faith. Christians should be the most law abiding citizens on earth. The bible also teaches us to pray for those in authority, for they have been appointed by God to keep peace and keep evil doers at bay!

“Every Christian has a double citizenship. He is a citizen of the country in which he happens to live. To it he owes many things. He owes the safety against lawless men which only a settled government can give; he owes all public services.” (Barclay)

“By treating them as distinct Jesus said in effect: The kingdom of God is not of this world, it is possible to be a true citizen of the kingdom and yet quietly submit to the civil rule of a foreign potentate.” (Bruce)

Marriage at the Resurrection

There were two major religious group leading the Israelites. The Pharisees and the Sadducees. They interpreted the Torah (5 books of Moses) in different ways. The Sadducees took a more liberal stance on the scripture. They took liberty with their own interpretations. They also did not believe in the supernatural, which led to them not believing in the resurrection. 

On this occasion the Sadducees are the ones who are trying to trap Jesus. They try to trap him by giving an example of a man who had several of his wives die. He married a new wife in each time his old wife died. The Sadducees asked Jesus, 

Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

Jesus rebuked their silly question by saying, 

You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.

Many people try to frame what heaven will be like using our limited human knowledge and imagination. Although their question was not completely irrelevant, they were trying more disprove the resurrection than truly understand it. 

Like the Pharisees, they did really know the scripture, which clearly teaches about the resurrection in both the Old and New Testaments. Paul clarifies how heaven is beyond our comprehension when he says, 

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9

In conclusion, there is no reason we won't have relationship with those we love who have gone before us. But our understanding of heaven is limited. The bottom line is that heaven will be better than we could ever imagine. The pure joy of being in God's very presence will be something so extraordinary we can't imagine this either. 

The Sadducees were the ancient version of the modern liberal theologians. They were anti-supernaturalistic, only accepting the first five books of Moses as authentic – and disregarding what was written in those books when it pleased them to do so. (Guzik)

If it seems that life in the resurrection that Jesus spoke of here does not include some of the pleasures of life we know on earth, it is only because the enjoyments and satisfactions of heaven far surpass what we know on earth. We can’t be completely certain what life in glory beyond will be like, but we can know with certainty that no one will be disappointed with the arrangements (Revelation 22:1-5). (Guzik)

The Greatest Commandment

After Jesus has effectively shut up the Sadducees, the Pharisees planned their own strategy for discrediting Jesus. They asked him what was the greatest commandment in the Law. Jesus answered, 

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Jesus simplified the many hundreds of laws the Pharisees laid on the people with just two. Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. 

This question was also planned to trap Jesus. In asking Jesus to choose one great commandment, they hoped to make Jesus show neglect for another area of the law. (Guzik)

“The Rabbis reckoned up 613 commandments of the law; and distinguished them into the greater and the lesser. These later they thought might be neglected or violated with little or no guilt.” (Trapp

Whose Son Is the Messiah?

Now it was time for Jesus to ask the Pharisees a question. He asked them whose Son the Messiah was? The clear and obvious answer was that the Messiah would come from the house and line of David. This was the royal covenant made with Israel in 2 Samuel 7

But he asks them how David could say in 110:1, 

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:

    “Sit at my right hand

until I put your enemies

    under your feet.”’

If David called the Messiah his Lord, how could he be his son? The only way was if Jesus was fully human born of a woman from the line of David, but He was also God, therefore the Lord of David. The Pharisees didn't have an answer to this question. 

Jesus’ brilliantly simple explanation of the Scriptures put the Pharisees on the defensive. They did not want to admit that the Messiah was also the LORD God, but Jesus showed this is true from the Scriptures. (Guzik)

“What did Jesus mean? He can have meant only one thing – that the true description of him is Son of God. Son of David is not an adequate title; only Son of God will do.” (Barclay)

What's Coming Next in Matthew 23

Jesus teaches not only the disciples but also the crowds about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He also issues his harshest condemnation of the Pharisees by pronouncing His "Seven Woes" upon them.