Whose Son is the Messiah?

Then he said to them, “How can they say that the Messiah is the son of David? For David himself says in the Book of Psalms:

The Lord declared to my Lord,
‘Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool.’

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

While all the people were listening, he said to his disciples, “Beware of the scribes, who want to go around in long robes and who love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and say long prayers just for show. These will receive harsher judgment.” Luke 20:41-47 (CSB)

I think it’s fair to say that the religious authorities did not like Jesus. At this point the crowd still did though, so it was a tough tension for them. 

Let’s be clear, no one likes losing authority and influence. Not a single person. And when someone is brash enough to pull up to your own territory and threaten it, it is going to evoke a response. But this isn’t some Republican upstart campaigning in a Deep Blue state, this was a people who had been temporarily given authority with a purpose. They were representing God. At the beginning of this chapter we see the parable about the vineyard owner for a reason (Luke 20:9-19), and it really needs to be read to understand this rebuke. Jesus is challenging those who, in authority, are in authority on behalf of God. It’s a vassal authority. And the parable is clear: how would God feel if not only did the people reject the warnings about their waywardness (Prophets that came before Jesus), but were they also to kill the very beloved son that he sent. 

Jesus knew what they were going to do to him, and was showing it to them before they even did it. There is always the opportunity to repent, and the ability to restrain oneself from an inappropriate course of action. In many ways, it’s amazing that Jesus was as tolerant towards them as he was, although he will go on to warn everyone to beware of this sort. 

But today’s text represents a very challenge to the authority that they claimed to represent, and foreshadows the great debates about the nature of Jesus that would emerge over the coming centuries. The temple authorities, and indeed most of Israel, were looking for a Messiah that would save them with political force. The term Messiah is the same as Christ in Greek, and is simply Hebrew for “anointed one”. Plenty of people were anointed in the Old Testament, but most specially, Priests, Prophets, and Kings, with the most notable being the Messiah (or Christ in Greek) David, who was the epitome of Israel’s Golden Age. It is from these anointed ones that the current temple establishment got their authority, and it was one like them that they were looking for to save them from Rome. 

But Jesus makes a bold statement about himself. Whose son is he?  Meaning from where does he draw his authority? In a shocking statement, he quotes a Psalm (110) where David (the author) refers to someone as Adonai (Lord). The text literally says Yahweh said to Adonai (my Lord), sit at my right hand. In other words, David said God told his Lord that he had full authority. Jesus is a master of this type of semantics (of course). He understands the religious authorities specialized in using scripture to their advantage, and were going to use it to attack him. Instead, he uses it to point to who he really is, thwarting the attack, and giving another opportunity for repentance.

The Psalm was a prophetic text referencing him. David was calling Jesus “Lord”. This should have been a dumbfounding proclamation. It means the authority Jesus brought was the very authority that gave the Scribes, Priests, Prophets, and Pharisees the anointing that they had. If they saw this, they would be bowing down instead of challenging. But of course, their hearts were hard, and they were resistant. 

The danger for us is the same. Jesus is “Lord” over all parts of our lives. Everything. All of it. And yet, we claim authority over many dimensions of it refusing to allow him in, from our finances, to our free time, and from our personal decisions, to our sex lives. And yet, Jesus stands before us asking us to recognize who he is. He is the very one who created us. We can harden our hearts, and refuse to hand over authority (as this troupe did to their own demise). Or we can recognize the authority of Jesus, and realize that he is the true Messiah and Lord referenced in scripture, longing to lead us back to life and health. Which will we be? The Scribes he warns about in the chapter, or the disciples who drop everything and chase after him? It’s really the only choice we have to make.