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 22:41-45

In the next section of our Matthew narrative, we will look at these verses in the context of Matthew’s narrative more fully. Here, however, I hope we can just sit back and take in the sweeping view of the massive impact of this little dialogue. It comes originally from Psalm 110:1, yet just looking at that one verse doesn’t begin to reveal the totality of the Psalm.

As I sit here writing this, it occurs to me that it would be easy enough to write an entire book about Psalm 110. But, for right now, we’re talking about Matthew 22…

This dialogue doesn’t just appear in Matthew, it also appears in Mark:

While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, “Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David? David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared:

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
    under your feet.”’

David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”

The large crowd listened to him with delight

Mark 12:35-37

It also appears in Luke:

Then Jesus said to them, “Why is it said that the Messiah is the son of David? David himself declares in the Book of Psalms:

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
    a footstool for your feet.”’

David calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”

Luke 20:41-44

Finally, we find it in Acts…

For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
    a footstool for your feet.”’

“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Acts 2:34-37

In these four accounts, there are two slightly different versions. Matthew and Peter were eyewitnesses, while Mark and Luke were not, and they make it seem that Jesus quoted Psalm 110:1 without any direct prompting from the teachers of the law, but I’d suggest that whether the prompt was direct as in Matthew or indirect as in Mark and Luke, the prompting isn’t the point, the point is that Psalm 110 demonstrates that the Messiah is the Son of God and also heir to the Davidic throne.

And when 110:1 was quoted, everything changed forever. When Jesus quoted this to the Authorities, their attempts to trap Jesus, or to trick Him were over, and the only thing left to do was to kill Him as agents of Satan. When Peter used the quote to the crowd at Pentecost, all objections disappear, the people are cut to heart and desire to give their lives to Jesus Christ, right on the spot.

So here we are: Is Matthew 22:41 ff. the biggest dialogue of all time? I’ll let you decide that one, but as for me, I can’t think of a bigger one.