Matthew 22:1 Cross References

Matthew 22:1

1: Jesus told them several other stories to illustrate the Kingdom. He said,

Jesus replied with this illustration: "A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations.

"When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none.
Then it says, 'I will return to the person I came from.' So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and clean.
Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation."

He told many stories such as this one: "A farmer went out to plant some seed.
As he scattered it across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them.
Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The plants sprang up quickly,
but they soon wilted beneath the hot sun and died because the roots had no nourishment in the shallow soil.
Other seeds fell among thorns that shot up and choked out the tender blades.

"But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.'
The son answered, 'No, I won't go,' but later he changed his mind and went anyway.
Then the father told the other son, 'You go,' and he said, 'Yes, sir, I will.' But he didn't go.
Which of the two was obeying his father?" They replied, "The first, of course." Then Jesus explained his meaning: "I assure you, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do.
For John the Baptist came and showed you the way to life, and you didn't believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to turn from your sins and believe him.

"For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the owner of an estate who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard.
He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.
"At nine o'clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing.
So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day.
At noon and again around three o'clock he did the same thing.

Jesus responded, "Should the wedding guests mourn while celebrating with the groom? Someday he will be taken from them, and then they will fast.
And who would patch an old garment with unshrunk cloth? For the patch shrinks and pulls away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger hole than before.
And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. The old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. That way both the wine and the wineskins are preserved."

He replied, "You have been permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God. But I am using these stories to conceal everything about it from outsiders, so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled: 'They see what I do, but they don't really see; they hear what I say, but they don't understand.'

He used many such stories and illustrations to teach the people as much as they were able to understand.
In fact, in his public teaching he taught only with parables, but afterward when he was alone with his disciples, he explained the meaning to them.

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