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Matthew 22:33-46

Matthew 22:29-46 The Message (MSG)

Jesus answered, “You’re off base on two counts: You don’t know what God said, and you don’t know how God works. At the resurrection we’re beyond marriage. As with the angels, all our ecstasies and intimacies then will be with God. And regarding your speculation on whether the dead are raised or not, don’t you read your Bibles? The grammar is clear: God says, ‘I am—not was—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.’ The living God defines himself not as the God of dead men, but of the living.” Hearing this exchange the crowd was much impressed. When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: “Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?” Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.” As the Pharisees were regrouping, Jesus caught them off balance with his own test question: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said, “David’s son.” Jesus replied, “Well, if the Christ is David’s son, how do you explain that David, under inspiration, named Christ his ‘Master’? God said to my Master, “Sit here at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” “Now if David calls him ‘Master,’ how can he at the same time be his son?” That stumped them, literalists that they were. Unwilling to risk losing face again in one of these public verbal exchanges, they quit asking questions for good.

Matthew 22:33-46 Amplified Bible (AMP)

When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching. Now when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced (muzzled) the Sadducees, they gathered together. [Mark 12:28-31; Luke 10:25-28] One of them, a lawyer [an expert in Mosaic Law], asked Jesus a question, to test Him: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” [Mark 12:28] And Jesus replied to him, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ [Deut 6:5] This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for others].’ [Lev 19:18; Matt 19:19] The whole Law and the [writings of the] Prophets depend on these two commandments.” Now while the Pharisees were [still] gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: [Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44] “What do you [Pharisees] think of the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed)? Whose Son is He?” They said to Him, “The son of David.” Jesus asked them, “How is it then that David by the inspiration of the Spirit, calls Him ‘Lord,’ saying, ‘THE LORD (the Father) SAID TO MY LORD (the Son, the Messiah), “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I PUT YOUR ENEMIES UNDER YOUR FEET” ’? [Ps 110:1] So then, if David calls Him (the Son, the Messiah) ‘Lord,’ how is He David’s son?” No one was able to say a word to Him in answer, nor from that day on did anyone dare to question Him again.