“Thus,
David calls him
Lord!
How can he be
His son?”
Δαυεὶδ οὖν αὐτὸν Κύριον καλεῖ, καὶ πῶς αὐτοῦ υἱός ἐστιν;
Luke left this question unanswered. Jesus asked them, since David called the Messiah Christ Lord (Δαυεὶδ οὖν αὐτὸν Κύριον καλεῖ), how can he be his son (καὶ πῶς αὐτοῦ υἱός ἐστιν)? There is something similar in Matthew, chapter 22:45-46, and Mark, chapter 12:37. However, there it was a complete victory for Jesus. What did David mean when he called the future Messiah Christ, a son of David? The traditional belief was that the Messiah Christ would be the son or descendant of David. Jesus then posed this big question. Mark indicated that Jesus asked how could David call the Messiah Lord (αὐτὸς Δαυεὶδ λέγει αὐτὸν Κύριον) and yet be his son, the son of David (καὶ πόθεν αὐτοῦ ἐστιν υἱός)? This was a trick question. Why would David call his future son or descendant his own Lord or master, or consider him greater? The implication was that Jesus, the Son of Man, and descendant of David, was greater than David. Peter, in fact, repeated this citation of Psalm 110 in his preaching in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2:34-35, also. Only Mark had the comment that a large crowd was listening to Jesus with delight or gladly (Καὶ ὁ πολὺς ὄχλος ἤκουεν αὐτοῦ ἡδέως). Matthew indicated that neither the Pharisees nor anyone else were able to give him any kind of verbal response (καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐδύνατο ἀποκριθῆναι αὐτῷ λόγον). Matthew remarked that from that day on (ἀπ’ ἐκείνης τῆς ἡμέρας), no one dared to ask him any more questions (οὐδὲ ἐτόλμησέν τις…ἐπερωτῆσαι αὐτὸν οὐκέτι), as this was a complete verbal victory for Jesus against the Pharisees. Have you ever left anyone speechless?
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 