So much more!!!
| While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, He asked, "How is it that the teachers of the law say that the Christ (the Anointed One) is the son of David? David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: "The Lord said to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.'" David himself calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?" The large crowd listened to Him with delight. (Mark12:35-37) |
In this unusual passage Jesus is engaging with a scriptural argument style that Hebraic people of the time would have been more familiar with than we are.
Let's unpack a few concepts:
- CHRIST: We tend to see this as a kind of surname for Jesus, but in the New Testament it is often accompanied with the article "the". It means "the Anointed One" which is another title for "Messiah."
- SON OF DAVID: This is a common description for the Messiah. It was one that was very prominent in the Triumphal Entry and points to the fact that the Messiah would be a descendant of David.
- MY LORD: Jesus is quoting from Psalm 110:1 which is attributed to David.
In the Hebrew of Psalm 110 it reads "The LORD ("Yahweh") said to my Lord ("Adonai")."
Yahweh is the Covenant Name of God given to Moses at the burning bush, and He ("Yahweh") is speaking to the Messianic King("Adonai"). It's a prelude of the Father sending the Son.
Greek does not have as many words and titles for God as Hebrew does. It uses the word "Kurios", which means "Lord and Master", for both.
He's saying that the Teachers of the Law are lacking in their grasp of who the Messiah is. They've fixated on a military Messiah (the Son of David) who will bring Israel back to the heydays of David, but the Messiah is much more than merely the genetic offspring of an earthly line of kings. This Messiah pre-existed David and David honoured Him as "my Lord."
This is the mystery of the incarnation: He fully human (Son of David) but also fully Divine: the pre-existing Son of God (My Lord).
The teachers are baffled at this - they can't explain it - and the crowd are delighted.
But before we are too critical of the law-teachers, let's be honest to ourselves.
We often think that Jesus only started in Bethlehem.
We often limit Him to the pages of our children's Bible stories.
We often picture Him in the dusty streets of ancient Palestine.
Yes, He's the Son of David.
But He was there at creation and He was there in the time of Moses and David.
Even more significantly, He was there in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve fell into sin and the world was broken and He answered God's call to be the One who would crush the head of the serpent. Over a thousand years later, He came to earth, died on the cross, rose again, and ascended into heaven.
Jesus' quote of Psalm 110 is the summary of His journey:
"The Lord said to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.'"
Do I hear a HALLELUJAH?
