Whilst we may at first glance think that this encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees is some sort of riddle, there is much more at stake. The Pharisees are attempting to put Jesus to the test with their questions. However, very quickly the tables are turned on the Pharisees, who have been busy asking questions, as Jesus effectively now asks them who they think the Messiah was. In fact, Jesus’ response is a direct challenge for those gathered to recognise him as the Messiah. It was commonly anticipated that the long-awaited Messiah would be a descendant of David, however no one expected the Messiah to be God. Yet, as Jesus quotes Psalm 110 (i.e., “The Lord says to my Lord...”) he’s making it abundantly apparent that the Messiah would indeed be even greater than David (after all, David calls him Lord!). This is a shocking revelation to those gathered, and as Jesus challenges their understanding of who the Messiah would be, it must have crossed at least some of their minds that Jesus was the one. No one dared to say anything in reply. No one dared to ask any more questions! Perhaps this great and glorious news was just too much for them to process, or perhaps they simply couldn’t accept the reality of God when the truth was outside of their expectations. What’s clear is that they were far more comfortable in discussing God in theory, rather than submitting to God with their lives.

The challenge for humanity is not only to recognise the true identity of the Messiah, but to actually submit to Jesus with our lives. The Pharisees, at this stage, couldn’t bring themselves to do that, but many others saw Jesus for who he was and decided to make him the Lord of their lives. How wonderful it is that God not only desires us to know about him in theory, but that we would know him personally and submit our lives to him. AL

Questions

Prayer

Loving God, we thank you that you desire for us to know you and make you the centre of our lives – not just to know about you! Please help us to more clearly see Jesus for who he is, that we might rightfully enthrone him in our hearts. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.