Now
while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “Of David.” He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying,
Matthew 22:41-43
Matthew 22 [37.] Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22 [41.] Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?”
They said to him, “Of David.”
Matthew 22 [43.] He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying,
Matthew 22 [44.] ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
sit on my right hand,
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?’
Meaning:
Jesus had been questioned all day in the temple courts. The Pharisees and Herodians asked about taxes, the Sadducees about the resurrection, and a lawyer about the greatest commandment (Matthew 22:17-21; Matthew 22:23-29; Matthew 22:36-39). Now Jesus turns the tables and asks a question of his own, the most important question of all: who is the Christ? Mark and Luke record the same exchange (Mark 12:35-36; Luke 20:41-44).
- “What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?”
“The Christ” means “the Anointed One”, the Messiah promised in the Scriptures. Jesus does not ask the Pharisees what they think of him personally, but what they believe about the Messiah. Behind the question, though, lies the question he once asked his disciples: “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15).
- “Of David”
The Pharisees gave the expected answer, and it was correct. God had promised David, “I will set up your offspring after you, who will proceed out of your body, and I will establish his kingdom” (2 Samuel 7:12). The prophets spoke of “a shoot” from “the stock of Jesse”, David’s father (Isaiah 11:1), and of “a righteous Branch” raised up to David (Jeremiah 23:5). Matthew begins his Gospel by calling Jesus “the son of David” (Matthew 1:1), and only days before, the crowds had shouted, “Hosanna to the son of David!” (Matthew 21:9).
- “How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord”
Jesus accepts that the Christ is David’s son, but shows that this is not the whole truth. In Psalm 110 David calls the Messiah “my Lord” (Psalm 110:1). In that culture a father would never call his descendant “lord”; the son honored the father, not the other way round. Jesus also says that David spoke “in the Spirit”. David himself said, “Yahweh’s Spirit spoke by me. His word was on my tongue” (2 Samuel 23:2). So these words are not merely David’s opinion; they are God’s revelation. The psalm Jesus is about to quote (Matthew 22:44) shows that the Messiah would be greater than David, sitting at God’s right hand.
- The psalm the apostles remembered
Psalm 110 became one of the Old Testament passages most often quoted in the New Testament. On the day of Pentecost Peter quoted it and declared, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:36). The letter to the Hebrews uses it to show that the Son is greater than the angels (Hebrews 1:13). Jesus’ question in the temple prepared his hearers for this truth.
The Significance of Matthew 22:41-43
- Both David’s son and David’s Lord
The answer to Jesus’ riddle is found in who he is. As a man, Jesus was born in David’s royal line; as the Son of God, he is David’s Lord. Paul described the Good News as “concerning his Son, who was born of the offspring of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be the Son of God with power” (Romans 1:3-4). Jesus himself says, “I am the root and the offspring of David” (Revelation 22:16).
- The most important question
People may hold correct ideas about Jesus, as the Pharisees did, and still miss who he really is. Everyone must answer Jesus’ question personally: what do I think of the Christ?
Cross-References:
Mark 12:35: “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?” Mark’s account.
2 Samuel 7:12: “I will set up your offspring after you.” God’s promise to David.
Revelation 22:16: “I am the root and the offspring of David.” Jesus is both before and after David.
Romans 1:3: “born of the offspring of David according to the flesh.” The human descent of the Son of God.
Conclusion: Jesus asked the Pharisees whose son the Christ is, and they rightly answered, “Of David.” But David, speaking by the Spirit, called the Messiah “Lord”. The Christ is not only David’s descendant but his Lord, the Son of God. Jesus invites everyone to think carefully about who the Christ is, and to recognize him as Lord.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible