Matthew 22: What Do You Think of the Christ and His Invitation?

Introduction

“What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?” This is the question Jesus asks the Pharisees at the end of Matthew 22, and it is the theme of the worship service of October 25, 2026 at the Vrije Evangelische Gemeente in Kampen (IJsselmuiden), in the Netherlands. Jan de Westen, who led the service that morning, had Psalm 110 and Matthew 22:34-46 read aloud.

He starts from an ordinary experience: an invitation we set aside, with a polite excuse that does not tell the whole truth. The religious leaders did the same thing with Jesus. From there, he walks through the second half of Matthew 22: the wedding feast where good and bad alike are invited, the traps set for Jesus, the greatest commandment, and finally the question the Lord asks you too.

Message Outline

1. The Invitation We Decline with an Excuse

The preacher admits it: he has sometimes set aside an invitation he received, at least having “the courtesy” to apologize. But the excuse often hides the real reason: “I can't come, my schedule is full, next time.”
The real reason would sometimes be: I don't feel like it, these people don't respect us, they touch who we are. The word “ego” comes up, and so does the word “status.” Saying so would end the relationship.
That is the reasoning the Jewish leaders must have had toward Jesus. It fed their desire to get rid of him: to trap him with his own words and accuse him before the council.
In the religious world of the day, there was an inner struggle that had “everything to do with status, honor, power and even jealousy.” Those who were supposed to guide the people put their own interest well above that of the people.
How do we get out of it? “The solution is relatively simple: the Lord Jesus. Jesus alone.” Put him at the center of your life. Before him, what is left of your greatness? He says to each one: “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

2. The King's Wedding Feast: Good and Bad Are Invited

Just before the passage that was read, Matthew 22 tells of the wedding feast of the king's son. Not all the guests come, far from it: one goes to his field, another to his business. The invitation is ignored in favor of their own gain.
A second invitation follows, and verse 10 says the servants gather “both bad and good.” The preacher hopes this strikes you “like a sledgehammer”: even bad people responded to the invitation.
Some had not put on wedding clothes and were turned away. For him, these are the garments of faith, the ones Revelation describes as washed: they must be put on.
The application is clear: the Lord invites his people Israel, but the spiritual leaders refuse. We too, who come from the non-Jewish world, can accept this invitation personally, good and bad alike.

3. Receiving the Gift: Choosing the Christ

You still hear people say: “Choosing is not possible. God chooses his own and you have to wait and see whether you are one of them.” Many in Kampen grew up in a “heavy” Church with this message: it must be given to you, and it is pride to say that you have peace with God.
Of course faith is a gift from God: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). But a gift has to be received. The garments of faith, the armor of faith, must be put on.
With food, no one hesitates to take what comes from above. But when it comes to receiving Jesus, “we start making things very complicated,” and that is not consistent. John 1:12 says it: to all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God.
A drowning man who is thrown a life buoy does not first ask whether it was really meant for him. That would be absurd: he grabs it.
The role of the law is to show you that you need help because you are a sinner. It is a lock that separates you from this world without God, a mirror that shows you who you are in God's eyes, and a measure: with the ten commandments alone, you cannot make it. As soon as you admit it, God shows you the Savior who sent you the invitation.
“Accept him as your Lord and Savior. Choose him. It sounds like a commercial, but that is not the intention. I am as serious as can be.”
The Old Testament gives examples of people who chose: Rahab, who made the choice herself and was spared, and Ruth the Moabite, who said in faith: “Your God will be my God.” Both appear in the genealogy of Jesus and chose to accept the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. “These are women who dare to choose. Men reason, women choose. Choose life,” the preacher stresses.
God's election is evident and predominant. At the same time, you can choose yourself: “they are two sides of the same coin.”

4. Three Parties United to Make Jesus Disappear

The Pharisees hold a council to trap Jesus in his words. Pharisees, Herodians and Sadducees, very different from one another, unite under the motto: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” They agree on one thing: Jesus must disappear.
“It is sad to say, but in quite a few Churches the Lord Jesus has disappeared. He used to still stand in the parking lot; today he is not even there.”
First trap, that of the Pharisees and Herodians: “Teacher, we know that you are true.” A flattering and false beginning. Then the question about the tax to Caesar. Jesus, who knows their intentions, answers: “Hypocrites!” And he concludes: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”
The preacher smiles: today, in church, we would rather say that what you are saying is “in tension with the truth.” The Lord Jesus does not pull his punches.
Second trap, that of the Sadducees, who do not believe in the resurrection (“there are still people in the Church who do not believe in it”): the question about marriage after death. Jesus' answer to the most educated: “You are mistaken, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.”
If even Satan, three times in the wilderness, did not manage to make Jesus fall, ordinary men will succeed even less.

5. The Greatest Commandment: Hearing and Listening

Last attempt: they send the best, a teacher of the law who knows it inside out. Again “Teacher,” again false: “Which is the greatest commandment in the law?”
The preacher is surprised that Jesus answers. Isn't that casting pearls before swine? Usually, he stays silent when it becomes useless. Yet he answers with divine wisdom, and according to Mark, the scribe is touched by it.
In Mark 12:29, Jesus begins with the Shema: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Hearing is not listening: “I hear an enormous amount and rarely listen. I must listen more, I know it.”
Loving God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself: no commandment greater under the old covenant. In the new one, Jesus says: “Love one another; as I have loved you.” It is no longer our norms and values that are at the center, but those of the Lord Jesus, the eternal high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Jesus says to the scribe: “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Not far, but not yet inside. He did not see that the one standing before him was God himself, the lawgiver. The kingdom is reached only by faith in Jesus Christ.

6. Son of David and Lord of David

No one dares to ask a question anymore. So Jesus asks his own, to the Pharisees and “to you and me”: “What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?” The expected answer: David's.
Jesus quotes Psalm 110: “The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand.” If David calls him Lord, how is he his son? Psalm 110 is one of the greatest messianic prophecies of the Old Testament, quoted several times in the letter to the Hebrews.
Hebrews 1:1-3 confirms it: God, who spoke long ago through the prophets, has spoken to us through the Son, the radiance of his glory. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. “That is where your Lord is seated now.”
Soon, at Christmas, we will celebrate his first coming. Through him, God will bring down all his enemies. The preacher finds it “almost unbelievable” that, with such evidence, some still deny that David wrote this psalm with its messianic message.
The teachers of Israel are left speechless. And the saddest part: when they open their mouths again, it will be to shout “Crucify him!”

7. Bending the Knee and Accepting the Invitation

In the Netherlands too, an inner struggle stirs the spiritual world, with status, honor, power and jealousy. “Do not be deceived.”
What would happen if knees were bent, if good and bad stood side by side before this great Lord and looked in the mirror? The fault would be confessed, and a confessed fault is taken away, as if it had never existed.
Then the Holy Spirit shows the way. God's people were led by the pillar of fire in the wilderness; at Pentecost, something of that pillar came to rest on the heads of believers in the form of a small flame.
Whoever has had this experience hears Jesus say: “Come, come, my dear child. I am the one who can save completely.” Those who go to God through him have peace with God.
The message ends on the question of the day: “What do you say about the Christ? Who is he to you? Will you accept his invitation? I leave it to you to answer.”

Key Takeaways

Behind many excuses hide ego, status and pride. The only way out is to put Jesus at the center.
The wedding invitation goes out to good and bad alike. It asks you to put on the garments of faith.
Faith is a gift from God, but a gift has to be received: election and choice are two sides of the same coin.
The law is a lock, a mirror and a measure. It shows you your need of a Savior.
Jesus is both son of David and Lord of David, seated at the right hand of God. His question concerns you: what do you think of the Christ?

Personal Application

Is there an invitation from God that you are setting aside with a polite excuse? What is the real reason?
Are you waiting for faith to “be given to you,” when the life buoy has already been thrown to you?
When you look at yourself in the mirror of the law, what do you see of yourself in God's eyes?
Do you merely hear the Word, or do you truly listen to it?
If Jesus asked you today, “Who am I to you?”, what would you answer him?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Jesus' question “What do you think of the Christ?” mean in Matthew 22?

After answering every trap, Jesus asks the Pharisees a question of his own: whose son is the Christ? They answer “David's.” Jesus then quotes Psalm 110: if David calls him Lord, how is he his son? For Jan de Westen, this question is addressed to everyone today: who is Jesus to you?

Is faith a gift from God or a personal choice?

Both, the preacher answers. Faith is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8), just as food comes from above, but a gift has to be received. John 1:12 says that to all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God. God's election and a person's choice are two sides of the same coin.

What is the law for, according to this message?

Jan de Westen describes it as a lock, a mirror and a measure. It separates you from the world without God, it shows you who you are in God's eyes, and it makes you see that you cannot fulfill it. Its role is to lead you to the Lord Jesus, the Savior who is waiting for you.