Son of David (Mark 12:35-37)

In Mark 12:35-37 it’s Jesus’ turn to ask the questions, and he begins with a question about the Messiah. It causes us to ask a question of our own: do we have Jesus right?

Over the last three weeks, we’ve seen Jesus answer questions from three different groups of religious leaders.  The religious leaders weren’t seeking to discover truth with these questions. 

They were questions meant to trap him, alienate him from his supporters, or get him in trouble with the Roman government. 

• Pharisees’ tax question
• Sadducees’ resurrection question
• Scribe’s law question

He has answered each of them with such skill and wisdom that the text says no one else dared to ask him any questions. The debate is over.  Jesus stands victorious. 

But these antagonistic questions were not enough to reveal who Jesus really is. It’s now his turn to ask the questions, and he begins with a question about the Messiah.  Unlike the religious leaders, whose questions were meant to trap, Jesus wants to reveal himself.  Essentially, he’s asking, “Do you know who I am?”  

This is one of the great attributes of God – he seeks to reveal himself to us.  It’s hard to imagine when you really think about it.  The God of the universe longs to reveal himself in a personal way – to me?  King David wrestled with this idea in Psalm 8.

Psalm 8:3-4 When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers— the moon and the stars you set in place—4 what are mere mortals that you should think about them,  human beings that you should care for them?

Jesus is the pinnacle of God’s revelation to humanity. He is God in the flesh and at the heart of his question to the Pharisees he is asking – do you know who I am? 

That’s the question I want to use as a framework for today’s message: Do you know who Jesus is?  

Jesus is going to use Psalm 110 as the means to reveal himself 

The LORD said to my Lord,“Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.”The LORD will extend your powerful kingdom from Jerusalem; you will rule over your enemies. When you go to war, your people will serve you willingly.You are arrayed in holy garments, and your strength will be renewed each day like the morning dew. The LORD has taken an oath and will not break his vow “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord stands at your right hand to protect you. He will strike down many kings when his anger erupts. He will punish the nations and fill their lands with corpses; he will shatter heads over the whole earth.But he himself will be refreshed from brooks along the way. He will be victorious.

• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) Ps 110 is quoted or alluded to thirty-three times in the NT, and an additional seven times in early Christian authors. See D. M. Hay, Glory at the Right Hand. Psalm 110 in Early Christianity (Nashville/New York: Abingdon Press, 1973), 15, 45-47.
• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) The preceding story ended with the note that “from then on no one dared ask [Jesus] any more questions” (12:34). The wording of v. 34 (particularly in Gk.) is strong and unequivocal, signifying that Jesus has prevailed over challenges from the Sanhedrin (11:27-33) and its various constituencies – the Pharisees (12:13-17), Sadducees (12:18-27), and scribes (12:28-34). Jesus has bested the field and debate is closed. Jesus does not quit the field, however, but he takes it. The meaning of his person and the kingdom he proclaims cannot be understood by mere responses to human interrogation – especially when the interrogation is antagonistic. The questions and categories of the Sanhedrin, the supreme authority in Judaism, are not sufficient to reveal and encompass Jesus. And if theirs are not sufficient, no human agenda is sufficient to reveal or obscure, to prove or disprove, the meaning of Jesus.

What They Got

The religious leaders thought they knew the Messiah, but they had only a partial understanding of his identity. Their idea of “Son of David” was missing the mark. Mark 12:35

Mark 12:35 (NLT) Later, as Jesus was teaching the people in the Temple, he asked, “Why do the teachers of religious law claim that the Messiah is the son of David?”

• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) Although Jesus and the early church did not accept the military-political connotations normally associated with Messiah, early Christianity certainly affirmed that the Messiah would come from the “house” (Luke 1:69) or “throne” (Luke 1:32) or “seed” (Rom. 1:3; 2 Tim 2:8) of David.
• References to Son of David in Matthew: 1:1; 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 21:9; and 21:15 – Matthew’s gospel is directed more to a Jewish audience so he uses this title more than the other gospels.  
• 2 Samuel 7:12-16 Furthermore, the Lord declares that he will make a house for you—a dynasty of kings! 12 For when you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will raise up one of your descendants, your own offspring, and I will make his kingdom strong. 13 He is the one who will build a house—a temple—for my name. And I will secure his royal throne forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he sins, I will correct and discipline him with the rod, like any father would do. 15 But my favor will not be taken from him as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from your sight. 16 Your house and your kingdom will continue before me[b] for all time, and your throne will be secure forever.’”
• Isaiah 11:1-2 Out of the stump of David’s family[a] will grow a shoot— yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 
• Jeremiah 23:5-6 “For the time is coming,” says the Lord,“when I will raise up a righteous descendant[a]from King David’s line.He will be a King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land.6 And this will be his name:    ‘The Lord Is Our Righteousness.’[b] In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety.
• It wasn’t that the religious leaders were wrong about the Messiah being from the line of David. They were right about that.  But the Messiah was more than that.
• Jesus was called “Son of David” by the blind beggar, Bartimaeus, in Mark 10.  The crowds shouted “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father, David” in the triumphal entry in Mark 11. 
• No doubt many of the religious leaders knew that people were calling Jesus the Son of David. 

What They Missed

They took the bulk of Ps 110 – the military part that got them excited. But they missed the first verse – the part that held the key to the Messiah’s identity. Mark 12:36-37 

Mark 12:36 (NLT) For David himself, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said, ‘The LORD said to my Lord, Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies beneath your feet.’

• First, note: In explaining the Psalm, Jesus affirms the Holy Spirit’s role in the writing of scripture. It’s another example of a prophecy that had partial fulfillment and then complete fulfillment in Christ.
• They took the bulk of Ps 110 – the military part that got them excited. But they missed the first verse – the part that held the key to the Messiah’s identity!

Mark 12:37 (NLT) Since David himself called the Messiah ‘my Lord,’ how can the Messiah be his son?” The large crowd listened to him with great delight.

• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) The quotation in v. 36 is from Ps 110, the most frequently quoted OT text in the NT. The point, which hinges on a twist in wording, may escape us without further explanation. The crux is the first line, “‘The Lord said to my Lord. . . .'” Psalm 110 was originally a coronation hymn that would have been sung, chanted, or recited at the inauguration of the kings of Judah and Israel. The opening line in Heb. reads “‘The Lord (Yahweh) declared to my lord (adonai).'” The first Lord refers to God and the second to the king, i.e., at his coronation the king of Israel was inducted as God’s vicegerent and seated symbolically at God’s right hand. The right hand signified honor and closeness to God, and legitimacy to rule with dominion and justice. The Psalm thus originally referred to God and the king of Israel. With the destruction of the monarchy in 586 B.C., Ps 110 was reappropriated, with the rights of the king frequently being transferred to the Messiah, whose kingdom would not fail as had the Davidic monarchy. It was this subsequent interpretation that is reflected in Jesus’ quotation of Ps 110:1 and question in v. 36, where the first Lord refers to God and the second to the Messiah. A comparison of the two interpretations of the Psalm may arouse suspicion or skepticism in us today that the interpretation assumed by Jesus is less valid than its original sense, or even bogus. It surely cannot have seemed so to Jesus. It is more probable that in his day the true and ultimate meaning of Ps 110 was understood with reference to God and the Messiah, of whom the earthly Israelite monarchy had been a shadow or preparation. Thus, to return to the implication of the Psalm in Jesus’ question, if David, who was believed to be the author of the Psalm, said, “‘The Lord (= God) said to my Lord (= Messiah): Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet,'” then the Messiah is obviously a superior to David, and not merely a descendent, as Judaism popularly held.
• As outlined in the commentary, this was originally a psalm of coronation.  The LORD is Yahweh, the Lord is Adonai – the king.  As we saw in the 2 Samuel passage, there would be consequences for the Davidic kingdom because of disobedience.. It would be split. Its earthly rule would come to an end.  This Psalm points to something greater.  It points to the Messiah.  The LORD is Yahweh, the Lord is the Messiah. 
• David was the king and yet he calls him Lord – Adonai, Master.  This is clearly someone greater than David. This is God the Son.
• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) In Jesus’ preceding argument with the Sadducees (12:18-27) he argued that the resurrection is not simply an extension of earthly existence; here in the question about David’s son he argues that the Messiah is not simply an extension of his Davidic precursor. The Messiah will indeed be a recognized descendent of David, but he will surpass David’s lineage. “Son of David” may assert certain truths about the Messiah, but it falls short in essential ways of capturing his identity. The quotation from Ps 110 is used here, as it was later used throughout Christian writings, ultimately not as a description of Jesus’ purpose and work, but as a description of his transcendent status, sitting at God’s honored and authoritative right. That is signaled in Jesus’ final cinching question, “‘How then can [Messiah] be [David’s] son?'” It is the same question Mark poses to his readers. The answer, of course, is that Messiah is not simply David’s son; he is God’s Son.
• Revelation 22:16 I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this message for the churches. I am both the source of David and the heir to his throne. I am the Bright Morning Star.  

Two Natures

Jesus is a single person with two natures: divine and human. These two natures are united in his person without confusion, change, or loss.

The Two Natures of Christ – Hypostatic Union as affirmed by the Communicato Idiomatom.

Jesus is a single person with two natures: the divine nature that he shares equally and eternally with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and the human nature he took on in his incarnation. These two natures are united in his person without confusion, change or loss. Jesus is not part God and part human, but both are fully integrated in him.

His Divinity:

• Jesus identified himself with the God who appeared to Moses in Exodus 3:14 (John 8:58).
• Revelation 1:8 calls God the Father “Alpha and Omega,” a title Jesus applies to himself later in Revelation 22:13.
• The Bible attributes to Jesus works that only God can do. 
  • He is the agent of creation (John 1:1-8) and exhibits power over what he made (Matthew 14:22-36). 
  • He forgives sins (Mark 2:5-7) and judges the world for sins (John 5:22-30). 
  • He receives prayer (Acts 7:59-60) and is worthy of worship (Philippians 2:9-11; Hebrews 1:3-6).

His Humanity:

• The Bible attests that Jesus was fully human in body, soul, mind and will (Hebrews 2:17).
• He had a real human body, subject to weariness (John 4:6), hunger (Matthew 4:2) and thirst (John 4:7).
• He was capable of experiencing every human emotion (Matthew 26:37; John 2:15).
• He was tempted as we are (Matthew 4:1-11), yet Jesus never sinned (Hebrews 4:15).

Close

God and man have been reunited in the person of Jesus. When we get the identity of Jesus right, we can respond to him in faith.

• Psalms 110:4 (NLT) The LORD has taken an oath and will not break his vow: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
• Very beginning of Mark’s gospel – This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. 
• The relationship between God and man is reconciled through the person and work of Jesus.  It required Jesus’ divine nature to be able to live a sinless life.