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Serious Q&A
Jesus has been teaching through some serious Q&A with the scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees since his arrival in Jerusalem. Their questions reveal the hardness of their hearts and Jesus’ answers reveal the real issue behind their inner stone. They refuse to admit He is Lord. I like what John Frame says about this passage.
The climax of the Gospels’ use of kyrios comes in Matthew 22:43-46 (cf. Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44), where Jesus silences his Jewish critics by quoting Psalm 110:1,
The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”
Jesus then asks them how the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of David, could also be David’s Lord. The kyrios here is the covenant Lord even over David (a divine title); he takes the place of Yahweh, to the amazement and scandal of Jesus enemies (Doctrine of God, p. 655).
Christ is hours away from His humiliation on the cross but that also means He is hours away from His exaltation as Lord where everything is placed underneath His feet. He is victorious over Satan, sin and death. Redemption is a reality. That is the picture you find in Psalm 110. The Gospel turns on His question. Luke records evidence of this in Acts 2:34, 35 and 7:49. The writer of Hebrews points us to this new reality as well (10:11-18).
Jesus’ question can only be answered through eyes of faith that see the spiritual reality of His present reign but also understand how He could be both a descendant of David (his “son” in the physical realm) and David’s Lord (Kyrios, in the spiritual realm). It is precisely because of His reign in the spiritual realm that we can live a new reality in the physical realm (2 Corinthians 5:17). This new life is immediate and eternal and has all the benefits of salvation and faith to the praise of His grace and glory.
This makes me long for the day when there is no divide between realms. I’m not anxious to depart this life. But the struggle between old man and new, spiritual and physical, faith and sight is one I will gladly shed on that “great gettin’ up morning”. Thank God for that great hope. Until then I suppose it is a necessary exercise to walk by faith, to trust and experience his grace, and to strive. His reign IS my reality… even as I am inadequate, and forgetful. Thanks Mark. Your are greatly missed on those late Monday night get-togethers.
Mark, thank you.
Jesus came to save all of us, even the most obtuse, hard hearted, and arrogantly stupid. So we should treat all people with the kindness he shows here. He did not have to talk to these folks. He could have walked away and told them where to go right then. But He makes it a point to engage the unbelieving on the Resurrection, life after death, and eternity, and that he is the reason for it and the source of it.
Eternal life is a literal fact, not an abstract concept. It is as real as the death we’ll go through to get there. Jesus is King. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is alive. There is no faith or hope without Him alive. David sings to him now, as we soon will.
I for one am greatful that Jesus answers questions. Where would I be without Jesus? I praise Him today because my life has meaning and purpose because Jesus answers questions. Mark thank you for serving CCC as an elder but you know once an elder always an elder
Take care of Shannon it is hard to be a mother of three young children.
I’m not certain that tall’s an adequate descriptor.
I still ponder in silence for long stretches the simple fact that Jesus was a son, one in a line (and not a distinguished line when you take into account the lives of the women, at least, who are mentioned in the genealogy). How sweet that God would choose a path even more profoundly unlikely at its beginning than its end to capture our attention and our selves. That something as small as a man can fill a role as large as this gives us hope and motivation: go, get going, live God’s life in your tiny corner of the world.