PASSION WEEK SERIES: UNQUESTIONABLE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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.

Matthew 22:41-46

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we continue working through Passion Week and the events that created the salvation opportunity for all people, we come to an interesting fact concerning the scriptural accounts of Jesus' final week on earth. For there is no mention of anything that happened on the fourth day, the day we would call Wednesday in modern times. The speculation is that there was a lot of preparation going on, good and bad. Jesus would be getting Himself prepared for what would be His last supper with His disciples while the Jewish religious leaders continued to plot Jesus’ arrest and subsequent demise.  

So given that the scriptures have no account of events on the fourth day, I want to go back to day three and capture a passage that we should not let get by us, a passage that removes any doubt as to Jesus' identity. Look at these words from the 22nd chapter of Matthew:

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.  Matthew 22:41-46

At the beginning of this series, we found Jesus making His triumphal entry into Jerusalem and being treated as royalty even though the scriptures indicate that the people didn’t really know that Jesus was the Messiah who had been predicted by the prophets of old. The word of God tells us that the crowds who welcomed Jesus so warmly thought He was just a mere “prophet from Nazareth of Galilee” (Matthew 21:11).

With this, it’s little wonder that Jesus would return to the matter of who He was and, of interest, He chose to address those who opposed Him the most. We know this because the scriptures tell us Jesus went to the Pharisees who “were gathered together” and thus an easy audience for Jesus to address. Keep in mind that these were the Israelite religious masters of the day, those who knew the law best and strictly enforced it among the people, although they themselves never perfectly adhered to it, a fact we know drew the ire of Jesus.

The Pharisees, with their staunch, legalistic knowledge of the word of God and the messages spoken by the prophets, found themselves facing a simple question from Jesus regarding the lineage of the Messiah, the prophesied holy One who was expected to come in power and authority to rule and reign God’s people and vanquish all their enemies.

Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is He?”

There wasn’t a whole lot of deliberation or disagreement in the Pharisaic response for they told Jesus that they thought the Messiah was “the son of David.”

I think what happened next was simply fascinating as Jesus was building up to the true point He wanted to make. The Messiah question was just setting the stage for a final move that would be as beautiful as a chess master working His opponent toward checkmate.

What did Jesus do to put His opposition right where He wanted them?

He went back into the Old Testament scriptures and drew straight from the words of David himself. Quoting Israel's former king from the 110th Psalm, Jesus said:

The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”  Psalm 110:1

Note that the first Lord, who represents the Lord God Almighty, was not speaking with David nor was He talking to Himself. Rather, He was speaking with David’s Lord, the second Lord mentioned, and that Lord was none other than the Messiah or Jesus Himself.

Thus, if the Lord God Almighty was speaking to the Messiah as Lord and David was identifying the Messiah, not as his son but as his Lord's, then how could the Messiah be David’s son?

Jesus had masterfully debunked the Pharisees' theory and clearly identified Himself as the Messiah, the very Son of God. 

 

It left the Pharisees speechless. 

We know this because the scriptures tell us that “no one could say a word in reply” to the question Jesus answered. In fact after this encounter. we read where "no one dared to ask him any more questions.”

In other words, Jesus’ identity was unquestionable. It was then in New Testament Jerusalem and it still is today.

It was and is unquestionable that Jesus was, and is, God’s Son, the prophesied Messiah, and David’s Lord.

It was and is unquestionable that Jesus went onto sit, and still sits, in authority and power over all creation at His Father’s right hand.

It was and is unquestionable that Jesus had been, and still is, elevated above all of His enemies. As the Psalm proclaimed, they are the footstool under His feet.

Friends, as we come to this fourth day of Passion Week, Jesus has established who He is in unquestionable fashion and as we enter into the final days of His life, we are soon to see that there is one more fact that is unquestionable:

Jesus Christ is indeed the Savior of all, the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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