The Jewish Annotated New Testament (19 page)

³³
“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country.
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When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce.
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But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
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Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way.
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Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
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But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’
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So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
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Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
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They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”

⁴²
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:

     ‘The stone that the builders rejected
             has become the cornerstone;
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           this was the Lord’s doing,
              and it is amazing in our eyes’?

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Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.
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44
The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”
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When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them.
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They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

22
Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying:
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“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.
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He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come.
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Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’
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But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business,
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while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them.
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The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
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Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy.
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Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’
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Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

PAYING TAXES

Matthew’s Gospel indicates that tax collectors were associated with sinfulness (9.10), and Luke alludes to the likelihood that office holders routinely took more money than they were entitled to (Lk 3.12–13). Rabbinic sources view tax collecting with disdain (
m. Sanh
. 3.3;
b. Sanh
. 25b). Throughout the larger Roman empire, tax collectors were also viewed negatively (Cicero,
Off
. 1.42.150). Despite this fact, Jesus’ instructions concerning tax collecting are surprisingly tame, to the point that he can be seen as endorsing paying the required tributes to Rome (22.15–22). However, the famous “render … unto Caesar” comment (Mt 22.21 [KJV]) is enigmatic, not to say ambiguous or ambivalent: if one believes Caesar is due taxes, then pay; if one believes everything belongs to God, then do not pay. Thus Jesus avoids the anger of both Rome and Rome’s opponents, even as he forces his interlocutors to answer their question about taxes themselves.

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“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe,
¹²
and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless.

¹³
Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
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For many are called, but few are chosen.”

¹⁵
Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said.
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So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality.
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Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”
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But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?
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Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius.
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Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?”
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They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
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When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

PHARISEES AND JUDAS

Jesus’ enemies are more persistent in Matthew’s Gospel than in Mark’s, as the expanded role of Judas indicates (27.3–5). Judas’s acceptance of the thirty pieces of silver in exchange for his betrayal of Jesus (a Matthean addition) contributes to the stereotype of the venal and disloyal Jew. Jesus’ other opponents, such as the Pharisees, appear more devious than in Mark’s Gospel. Matthew alone contains the famous “woe to you scribes and Pharisees” in ch 23. The Pharisees (sometimes accompanied by other adversaries) constantly question and harass Jesus, especially regarding observance of Torah (9.10–13; 12.1–8,24–28; 15.1–9; 16.1–4; 19.3–9; 22.15–22, 34–40). Even the word “rabbi” has a negative connotation in Matthew: Judas refers to Jesus by that title while betraying him (26.49). Matthew’s Pharisees may represent rival Jewish scribes competing for community loyalty following the Roman war, and thus Matthew’s Gospel may provide a look into the tensions existing between Jesus’ followers and other Jews in the late first century. (See “Jewish Movements of the NT Period,” p.
526
.) Adherents of a particular group or set of beliefs often polemicize most strongly against those who share similar, but not identical, beliefs; this may be responsible for some of the strong anti-Pharisaic rhetoric in Matthew.

²³
The same day some Sadducees came to him, saying there is no resurrection;
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and they asked him a question, saying,
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“Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies childless, his brother shall marry the widow, and raise up children for his brother.’
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Now there were seven brothers among us; the first married, and died childless, leaving the widow to his brother.
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The second did the same, so also the third, down to the seventh.
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Last of all, the woman herself died.
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In the resurrection, then, whose wife of the seven will she be? For all of them had married her.”

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Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.
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For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels
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in heaven.
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And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God,
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‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is God not of the dead, but of the living.”
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And when the crowd heard it, they were astounded at his teaching.

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When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together,
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and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.
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“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
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He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
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This is the greatest and first commandment.
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And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
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On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

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Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question:
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“What do you think of the Messiah?
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Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.”
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He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit
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calls him Lord, saying,

⁴⁴
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
     “Sit at my right hand,
           until I put your enemies under your
              feet”’?

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If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?”
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No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

23
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples,
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“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat;
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therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach.
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They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear,
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and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.
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They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long.
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They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues,
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and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi.
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But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students.
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9
And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father—the one in heaven.
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Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah.
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11
The greatest among you will be your servant.
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All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.