Study Desk

"The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding feast for his son.

"But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn't wearing the proper clothes for a wedding.

"For many are called, but few are chosen."

Then the Pharisees met together to plot how to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested.

Here, show me the coin used for the tax." When they handed him a Roman coin,

So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her."

For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven.

Jesus responded, "Then why does David, speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit, call the Messiah ‘my Lord'? For David said,

So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don't follow their example. For they don't practice what they teach.

"Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels.

"Don't let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,' for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters.

And don't address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,' for only God in heaven is your Father.

And don't let anyone call you ‘Teacher,' for you have only one teacher, the Messiah.

"What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people's faces. You won't go in yourselves, and you don't let others enter either.

"What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!

"Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God's Temple,' but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.'

How blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred?

"What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

"What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence!

"What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity.