Day 9 of 14 — What Do You Think About the Christ?
Yesterday, we watched Jesus walk into the temple and tear down the marketplace that had overshadowed His Father’s house. The response of the Pharisees and scribes was to come at Jesus with questions intended to trap Him publicly. They wanted to discredit Him and have a reason to hand Him over to the Roman authorities.
But, they failed. Every question they brought, Jesus answered in a way that silenced them while simultaneously astonishing those watching. Matthew documents the attempts and Jesus’ response, leaving them trying to find a way forward. And then, after all of their attempts, Jesus turned the tables, asking,
“Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: ‘What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?’ They said to Him, ‘The son of David.’ He said to them, ‘Then how does David in the Spirit call Him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies beneath your feet? If David then calls Him Lord, how is He his son?’ No one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question.” (Matthew 22:41-46)
The question Jesus laid out wasn’t hard. Not for a Pharisee, at least. He was pressing the most important issue in their theology, the identity of the Messiah, and in doing so, He exposed a contradiction they couldn’t answer. They knew Christ would be a descendant of David, a fact that was uncontested. But Jesus pointed to Psalm 110, where David referred to the coming Messiah as “my Lord.” In their culture, a father never called his son “Lord.” The authority went one way. But David, the greatest king in Israel’s history, looked ahead and addressed a future descendant with supreme authority.
The question Jesus was really asking is one the Pharisees couldn’t answer without admitting something. How can the Messiah be David’s son and David’s Lord at the same time? The only sufficient answer was standing in front of them. Christ is David’s descendant according to His human nature and David’s Lord according to His divine nature. He is both the son of David and the Son of God, and the Pharisees were staring at Him while they fumbled for an answer.
Their silence is the most important detail. Matthew says that no one could answer Him, and no one dared to ask Him anything from that day forward. The religious leaders who spent the week trying to trap Jesus with their questions were now trapped by His. And rather than follow the logic of Jesus’ question, they chose silence, because the conclusion would’ve required them to acknowledge the man standing in front of them. He was more than a prophet and more than the political deliverer they were waiting for. He was their Lord, and they would rather kill Him than admit it.
The question Jesus asked the Pharisees is the same question that stands over every person who encounters Him. What do you think about Christ? The Pharisees couldn’t answer it. The cross, which is now only days away, will answer it for them.
Tomorrow, we move deeper into the final week.