Story About People Invited to a Dinner (Lk. 14:15-24)

22 ¹Jesus used stories to say some other things to the people. Jesus said, ²"The kingdom of heaven is like a king that prepared a wedding dinner for his son. ³The king invited some people to the feast. When the feast was ready, the king sent his servants to tell those people to come. But the people refused to come to the king's feast. ⁴"Then the king sent some more servants. The king said to the servants, 'I have already invited those people. So tell them that my feast is ready. I have killed my best bulls and calves to be eaten. Everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.' ⁵"[The servants went and told the people to come]. But the people refused to listen to the servants. Those people went to do other things. One person went to work in his field, and another person went to his business. ⁶Some of the other people grabbed the servants, beat them, and killed them. ⁷The king was very angry. The king sent his army to kill those people that killed his servants. And the army burned their city. ⁸"After that, the king said to his servants, 'The wedding feast is ready. I invited those people, but they were not good enough to come to my feast. ⁹So go to the street corners and invite all the people you see. Tell them to come to my feast.' ¹⁰So the servants went into the streets. They gathered all the people they could find. The servants brought good people and bad people to the place where the wedding feast was ready. And that place was filled with people. ¹¹"Then the king came in to see all the people. The king saw a man there that was not dressed in the right clothes for a wedding. ¹²The king said, 'Friend, how were you allowed to come in here? You are not wearing the right clothes for a wedding.' But the man said nothing. ¹³So the king told some servants, 'Tie this man's hands and feet. Throw the man out into the darkness. In that place, people will cry and grind their teeth [with pain].' ¹⁴"Yes, many people are invited. But only a few are chosen."

Some Jewish Leaders Try to Trick Jesus (Mk. 12:13-17; Lk. 20:20-26)

¹⁵Then the Pharisees* left the place where Jesus was teaching. They made plans to catch Jesus saying something wrong. ¹⁶The Pharisees sent some men to Jesus [to trick him]. They sent some of their own followers and some men from the group called Herodians.* These men said, "Teacher, we know that you are an honest man. We know that you teach the truth about God's way. You are not afraid of what other people think about you. All men are the same to you. ¹⁷So tell us what you think. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar*? Yes or no?" ¹⁸But Jesus knew that these men were trying to trick him. So he said, "You hypocrites*! Why are you trying to catch me saying something wrong? ¹⁹Show me a coin used for paying the tax." The men showed Jesus a silver coin.* ²⁰Then Jesus asked, "Whose picture is on the coin? And whose name is written on the coin?" ²¹The men answered, "It is Caesar's picture and Caesar's name." Then Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar* the things that are Caesar's. And give to God the things that are God's." ²²Those men heard what Jesus said, and they were amazed. They left him and went away.

Pharisees The Pharisees were a Jewish religious group that claimed to follow carefully all Jewish laws and customs. Herodians A Jewish political group. Caesar The name given to the emperor (ruler) of Rome. hypocrites Bad people that act like they are good. silver coin A Roman denarius. One coin was the average pay for one day's work.