Matthew 22:41-46 41Now while the Pharisees had gathered together, Jesus asked them a question 42saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “Of David.” 43He said to them, “How then did David in the Spirit call him Lord saying, 44“‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until when I put your enemies under your feet”’? 45Therefore, if David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” 46And no one was able to answer him a word, nor anyone from that day dare question him any more.
The debate with the Pharisees continues, but now Jesus turns the tables over and asks them questions. This next scene continues the episode with the lawyer and the Pharisees who sent him. We can imagine them wondering and being left speechless after Jesus quotes the two most important commandments. Jesus gets to the heart of the issue: his identity. They could debate all day about the interpretation of the law, but there was no debate about who he was. They likely had heard about his triumphal entry into Jerusalem a day or two earlier. The rumors that people were claiming him to be the Messiah had likely reach them. By their questions and animosity, it is clear that they had doubts about this claim. The question Jesus asks gives them an opportunity to acknowledge who he is, but their minds are already made up and their hearts are hardened against the moving of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus’ question gets right to the point and focuses on the ancestry of the Christ. Christ is the Greek translation for the Hebrew “messiah.” The Jews of that time had strong messianic expectations and believed the messiah would be a descendant of David and restore Israel as a kingdom. Their history had glamorized the reign of David as the high point for ancient Israel because of he was a “man after God’s own heart,” united Israel, and led the nation to the peek of its political power (although Solomon continued this but David started it).
Jesus quotes from Psalm 110:1, a passage that became important to early Christians as indicated by its quotation in Acts 2:34 and Hebrews 1:13. He gives an important clue about the inspiration of the Bible by noting that David’s words were inspired by the Spirit of God. The significant part of this quotation that needs interpreting is the identity of the two Lords mentioned. The significance of this is missed in English translations. The Septuagint (Psalm 109) Greek translation uses the same word for “Lord” (kyrios) for both occurrences, but the Hebrew has Yahweh for the first “Lord,”which is the special name for God used in the Old Testament, and Adoni for the second, which is a more generic reference to someone of high honor. The quote can be paraphrased as: The Lord God said to the one who is my Lord. The identity of the second “Lord” is the factor.
The second line of Psalm 110:1 indicates the high honor gives to the second “Lord.” Since David was king, sitting at the right hand would be the highest place of honor in the kingdom. While the Lord sits in this position of highest honor, God, who is speaking through his Spirit, will defeat all the Lord’s enemies. The Messiah would not be the one to fight for Israel and free them from their enemies, like the people were hoping. God would do this while the Messiah would be honored by being exalted to the right hand of God. The period of the messianic kingdom will be a time when God defeats the enemies of the Messiah, but there is no indication that this will be a political defeat as people expected.
Jesus’ next question gets to the heart of the Pharisees’ interpretation of the Messiah. If the Messiah is the son of David, how can he be greater than David and sit on the right of God’s throne? In that culture, fathers were greater than sons, but in this Scripture, the Messiah had to be greater than David. Again, the Pharisees are left speechless and unable to say anything against Jesus’ logic and interpretation. Matthew adds that this debate shut them up permanently. This should not be interpreted to mean that the problem was solved; rather, this situation only made things worse as the Jewish leaders were even more bent on getting rid of Jesus. The fundamental question of our existence is what to do with Jesus. We can learn from the Pharisees’ struggles that Jesus was more than a wandering peasant preacher. He was the Lord of all creation.
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