Matthew 22:34-46 (NRSV)
Read Matthew 22:34-46 on biblegateway.com
Verse 34When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, Verse 35and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. Verse 36"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" Verse 37He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' Verse 38This is the greatest and first commandment. Verse 39And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Verse 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Verse 41Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: Verse 42"What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David." Verse 43He said to them, "How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, Verse 44'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet"'? Verse 45If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?" Verse 46No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
Devotion
Lynn and Derek are father and son. Lynn has worked fifteen years at the factory and this week his son, newly graduated from college, will begin work there too. Lynn is proud of Derek. But the awkward part is that the college graduate will now be his father’s boss.
“How will that work, Lynn?” his friend asks.
“Just fine,” Lynn answers, “as long as he does things my way.”
When the Pharisees test Jesus, he turns their test back on them. “You say that the Messiah will be the son of David. How is it that David, the great King David, refers to that son as ‘Lord’?”
The Pharisees dare not answer, but we do: Jesus, the Messiah, is much more than the son of a king, even a great king like David. Jesus is the Son of God. And as we witness his life we find that this Lord doesn’t do things King David’s way; he does them God’s way.
Prayer
Humble us, Messiah, to hear your words and follow your path. Bless parents who watch their children grow up and find their own ways and, we hope, your way. Amen.