Our Lord

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

OUR LORD

Mark 12:35-37

35 While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, "How is it that the teachers of the law say that the Christ is the son of David? 36 David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: "'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet." ‘37 David himself calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?" The large crowd listened to him with delight.

NIV

This is somewhat of a difficult truth to understand if we were to look just at how Mark records it and how the language is used. But if we incorporate how Matthew records this conversation and the language he uses, then we can see how this truth fits all together. In addition, we have to look at the Hebrew language of the 110th Psalm, which is what Jesus is quoting. In Matthew, he records that Jesus asked the teachers of the law or the scribes, who they say is the ancestry of the Messiah, maybe not in those exact words, but that is the intended question and of course, they say the Messiah comes from the line of David or is the son of David. The answer Jesus gives is simple in the sense that Yahweh says to Adonai come can sit at my right hand. Therefore the Father says to his Son, or God says to himself, sit at my right hand, which we know is where Jesus is now. The fact the scribes were looking at a human lineage from which the Messiah would come and Jesus was telling them the Messiah or himself was divine, and not human, although he was fully human at the point of this discussion, and still also fully divine. We, on the other hand, have the perfect knowledge that Jesus is the Son of God who sits at the right hand of the Father, for we have the perfect knowledge given to us by the Spirit of God who dwells within us. We are completely convinced of the three in One, and that God is one who manifests himself in three persons, who are all the One and only True God. Now, there are many people, who we have known over the years, who do not see the truth as we do, for they have rejected the prompting of the Spirit and only have their own weak, imperfect human knowledge. They only see Jesus as a good teacher, perhaps even a prophet, and maybe even someone to model how to live an upright life, but only a human, who came from the line of King David, a historical figure who is dead like all others who lived and died before us. Yet, David called Jesus Lord, or the Messiah Lord, so that even in human thinking, it would be incorrect to think the Lord was solely from the line of David. So if David who was the king of Israel referred to the Lord as his master, how much more should we, who are not kings of anything refer to our Lord as not only our Savior but as our Lord and Master. Although he came not to be served, but to serve, we have been called to wait upon the Lord, or hope or trust upon the Lord, to love him with all our being, and live as obedient children, as sons and daughters of God. Just as Paul in his letter to the Colossians insists the children should obey their parents, we are the children of God and therefore our duty is to obey our Father who is in Heaven. But how well do we do that? Still, here in this narrative, the point is that Jesus is the Lord, and it is the relationship between David and the Lord that Jesus is referring to and therefore he is also pointing to our relationship with Him, our Lord, and we have the perfect, Spirit revealed, knowledge of what it means that he is our Lord.