Life Project Blog

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.

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:34-40

With the repulse of the second assault team comprised of the Sadducees, the third wave assault team advances, this time comprised of Pharisees. Unlike the first two waves of attack, this one included an “expert” in the law; they were bringing in one of their “big guns” at this point. It’s interesting to note a slight variation in Matthew’s account in relation to that of Mark 12:28 ff., Mark portrays the third wave as asking a genuine question, while Matthew, the eyewitness, indicates that the question was a test.

Yet in just reading the text, it seems like a fair question; where is the test? Here’s the “behind the scenes story”, as revealed in ancient rabbinic writings:

The Pharisees, sticklers about the law, identified 613 laws of Moses, 365 of which were negative commands, and 248 of which were positive. Of the 613, they differentiated between those they considered “light” and those they considered to be “heavy”, meaning that some of them were a bigger deal than others. However, just because one of these commands was “light” did not mean that it could be neglected, for as they wrote, “Be as heedful of a lighter precept as of a weighty one, for thou knowest not the recompense of reward of each precept” (m. Abot 2:1; Str-B 1:904-5).Since the whole idea of which commandment was greatest was commonly discussed and debated in Pharisaic circles, their trap was that Jesus, and notice they called Him “teacher” (Rabbi) when they asked, might give an answer that implied that one or more of the commands could be neglected, and in doing so could be charged with a violation of Torah that would discredit Him with the people− Back to our story…

Jesus not only avoided their trap, but He rejected their entire (unspoken) premise in mentioning the two love commandments; love God, love your neighbor. In fact, He stated these as the backdrop for His entire approach to the Law, for the Law must not be understood as simply a list of do’s and don’ts, ordinances and violations, but rather in relational terms, a concept that was as foreign to the Pharisees as it was appealing to the crowds. Sadly, it is foreign to a lot of Christians as well.

The third wave assault team was stopped in its tracks.

When we get together again next time, Jesus counter attacks; you won’t want to miss this one!