Mark 12:35-37

Passage

Since the people were done asking questions of Jesus, He began to ask questions of the people.  Jesus starts with the identity of the Messiah.  Jesus quotes Psalm 110:1 as a means of pointing to the identity of the Messiah.  There David says, “The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put my enemies under your feet.”  David calls the Messiah, “Lord.”  Jesus then asks how it is that David’s son could be his Lord.  The crowd gladly received His teaching.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

I’ve never really liked these verses.  When I read them, I always feel like something got lost in the translation.  What exactly is Jesus’ point here?  I’ll get to that.  But I think one of the lessons that we can approach today in this passage is that sometimes certain parts of the Bible are difficult for us to grasp.  Not all parts of the Bible speak equally to us in our current context.  That’s actually a really neat thing about the Bible.  It speaks to people where they are.  It is a diverse book capable of reaching all kinds of people in all kinds of walks of life.  So the difficult passages for me might be just what someone else needs to hear.

Why should we study the passages that are very meaningful as well as the passages that we have to work hard to get just a little bit out of?  What does it say to God when we study hard over a difficult passage just to glean what small truth we can?  What does it say to others when we try to master what is difficult so we can teach it to them?

Second Thought:

 David calls the Messiah, “My Lord.”  He is clear about it because David says “The Lord” and “My Lord.”  In David’s grammar, these are two different people.  Clearly “David’s Lord” would have to be a pretty significant person to be told to sit at God’s right hand.  David was a pretty important king – a man after God’s own heart, if not a bit sinful.  But the Messiah will be even greater than David.

What can David’s stance with respect to the Messiah teach us about submission and humbleness?  What does it say about David, who is regarded as the most important Hebrew king?

Third Thought:

Christ’s point is a bit obscure, but it is still present.  The only way that the Messiah could be greater than David is if He were God.  Yet, the Messiah is said to be offspring of David.  Thus, the Messiah has to be both God and man.  God must do the impossible and come down to earth in the form of a man.

What do you think it meant for Jesus to be both fully human and fully divine?  How much of that can you really understand?  How does our inability to grasp the true nature of Jesus help our inability to truly grasp what Jesus is teaching here?

Passage for Tomorrow: Mark 12:38-40