July 30, 2023 ~ Matthew 22:41-46
Matthew 22 presents a series of contentious conversations between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders. They tried to trap Jesus with insincere questions. They intended to undermine public opinion about Jesus' knowledge of scripture. They also wanted to trap Jesus into saying something blasphemous, subjecting him to prosecution under Jewish law. Jesus answered in ways that showed the flaws in the logic of the religious leaders.
The chapter closes with Jesus asking the Pharisees two questions:
First, he asked, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David."
Like many Jews, the Pharisees believed that Christ, or Messiah, would be in the line of the sons of King David. Genealogically, Jesus was a son of David. And according to the prophecy about the birthplace of the Messiah, Jesus was born in Bethlehem and fulfilled that prophecy. Just on these two facts, the Pharisees could have connected the dots and honestly wondered if Jesus was the real deal. Their pride, need for social standing, and authority would not allow them to wrestle with the truth.
Second, Jesus asked a question about the Messiah in David's lyrics of Psalm 110. Jesus asked:
How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, "The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet'"?
David is describing a vision given to him by the Holy Spirit. The phrase "The Lord said to my Lord" is confusing in English. But in Hebrew, two people come into focus. A hybrid of Hebrew and English reads like this:
(Yahweh) said to my (Adonai), "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet."
The Pharisees understood that God is at the front of this verse, but they never really understood what David meant when he said, "My Lord." They just assumed that David's Lord was the Messiah whose feet would be on the neck of the Romans. However, no father called his son "Lord." Therefore, the Pharisees did not answer Jesus' question. They couldn't explain why David would call a son of his, "My Lord." We know that the Messiah was more than a Son of David.
One of the marks of being a follower of Jesus is being a student of the evidence of Jesus from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21. Jesus is in Psalm 110:1. You can read it with confidence in this way:
The Lord God (Yahweh) said to Jesus my Lord (my Adonai), "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet."
The good news is that Jesus is the Son of David and the Son of God. As David saw and heard, Jesus sits at the right hand of God and has authority over his enemies. The enemies that God put under Jesus' feet are sin and death. Know this: Forgiveness of your sins and eternal life are yours by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
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