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Matthew 22 General Notes
Structure and formatting
Some translations prefer to set apart quotations of the Old Testament. The ULB and many other English translations indent the lines of verse 44, which is a quotation from the Old Testament.
Special concepts in this chapter
Wedding Feast
In the parable of the wedding feast (Matthew 22:1-14), Jesus taught that it was important to accept God's invitation of salvation. In Jewish culture, paradise—life with God after death—was often pictured as a feast. Here Jesus pictures it as a wedding feast that a king prepares for his son, who has just gotten married. In addition, Jesus emphasizes that not all people whom God invites will properly prepare themselves to participate. These people will be thrown out from the feast.
Other possible translation difficulties in this chapter
Implicit meaning
Like the other gospel writers, Matthew assumes that his readers will understand many situations that he presents, so he does not give much explanation. He says, for example, in Matthew 22:15-22, that the Pharisees attempted to trick Jesus into saying wrong things, but he assumes that the readers will understand why their question for Jesus was a dangerous one to answer (Matthew 22:16). They expected that Jesus in his answer would anger either the Jewish people or the Roman authorities.
Paradox
A paradox is a seemingly absurd statement, which appears to contradict itself, but it is not absurd. In this chapter, Jesus quotes a psalm referencing that David calls his son "lord," that is, master. The Jews always expected that ancestors would be greater than their descendants. In this passage, Jesus is trying to gradually lead his hearers to the true understanding that the Messiah will himself be divine, and that he, Jesus, is in fact the Messiah. (Matthew 22:43-44)