Seeds for 01/02/2024 - Matthew 22:41-46

Scripture: While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is He?”

“The son of David,” they replied.

He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls Him ‘Lord’? For he says,

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

If then David calls Him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask Him any more questions.

Observation: Having been peppered with theological questions from the religious leaders and teachers of the day, Jesus turns the tables by putting a question to the Pharisees about the Messiah’s lineage.

The Pharisees answer correctly, of course. The Messiah is to be a son of David. Just the same, they are missing a dimension of the relationship.

God’s promise to David through the prophet Nathan was the establishment of his house. “House” here has the double meaning of physical structure and royal dynasty.

David had in his mind to build a house—a temple—for God. But God informed David that he would not built the Lord’s house (temple), He would establish David’s house (dynasty). David’s son Solomon would build the temple. In arranging it this way, God would make clear to David that everything he had was by sheer grace and not by any works on his part in the form of bargaining or paybacks. You can hear this in David’s stunned and grateful reply (see the link below).

“The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you… Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” (2 Samuel 7)

This promise established the basis for the expectation of an eternal sort of Messianic kingdom. Part one of the promise was accomplished when Solomon built the temple. But part two—the eternal royal dynasty—awaited fulfillment.

So Jesus affirms the Spirit’s inspiration of the human authorship of the Psalms and brings this Messianic juxtaposition to the foreground (the quotation is Psalm 110:1). Flummoxed by the Messianic riddle, the leaders give up on trying to outsmart Jesus.

Three things I take away from this:

1. Trust Jesus’ wisdom instead of trying to outsmart Him. Teaching is an act of grace. Receive it and, in the words of Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

2. Read the Old Testament in light of Jesus as God’s promised Messiah. Jesus does that here, modeling something for us that the New Testament authors all practice too. It can and should be done with wonder and intelligence.

3. This reaffirms the conviction expressed famously by C.S. Lewis that Jesus cannot only be a good teacher or moral example. He explicitly refers to Himself in Messianic terms that venture into the eternal and divine. If He is wrong, He is either egomaniacal or crazy. If He is right, He is the Lord of lords and King of kings and we owe Him all of our worship and devotion.

Application:

• What other Old Testament stories or verses point you to Jesus?

• What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?

Prayer: Lord, give me eyes to see how all the scriptures reveal you more clearly. Grant that I may translate spiritual insight into steady devotion. Amen.

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“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)

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