“If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
Having endured unscathed the onslaught of questions from the Sadducees and Pharisees, Jesus ends the session of questions with a question of His own regarding the nature of the Messiah in relationship to King David.
Without context, Jesus’ question may seem to be about about timeline, but it’s actually about hierarchy. In the time of Jesus, the general sentiment was that the best of times had come and gone in the first Golden Age. This generally accepted belief meant that every subsequent year was expected to be worse than the first.* Moreover, in Jewish culture, sons could not be greater than their fathers. Therefore, anyone in the line of David who came after him could not be greater than him.*
This framed the predicament of Psalm 110 when King David refers to the Messiah as Lord. To refer to the Messiah would not be strange, as David himself played the role of a messiah to the people of Israel. With the historical context we have, we see that David calling someone who came later in history and further down his line Lord would fly against the cultural understanding. In this moment, Jesus exposes yet another misunderstanding of the Pharisees and Sadducees of the Messiah, His purpose, and His nature.
The coming Messiah came as the Suffering Servant, not as a warring king like David, yet the Messiah was greater.
How many of us have prayed, tried, and failed to be better than the leaders or parents before us? How many of us have vowed that we would be or do better? How often have we looked at our culture and thought, “the best of times is in the past?”
Jesus comes as a reminder, that with the power of the Holy Spirit, cultural norms, generational issues and beliefs, and expectations fall away in the wake of the purpose of God.
God has a purpose for your life. You may not understand all that Jesus wants to do in your life, but rest assured of this: He isn’t limited by our understanding.
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to reject some of the lies you have believed about your situation or destiny. Perhaps God wants you to set aside your expectations of Christ and allow Jesus the Messiah to work His way in your life. Maybe God wants you to hear Him speak to you about your family or past leadership and how it impacts your behaviors.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.
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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 564–567, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 22:41–46).) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).