A windy and wet day, Father, but a wonderful time both in worship this morning and then with family for the rest of the day. Thank you for watching over us as we enjoyed our time together.
Luke 20:41-44 (<<click here to read the passage)
We’ve already spoken of Jesus’ turning the tables on the teachers of the Law who continued to grill Him with every intention of trying to trip Him up in what He said so as to discredit Him and ultimately to incriminate Him. They never once succeeded but now it was Jesus’ turn to grill them a bit!
The core of all their problems was the fact that they refused to accept the fact that Jesus was the Messiah that they and all of Israel so eagerly anticipated. Their greatest hurdle was that they did what we all tend to do – they wanted to keep God shoved neatly into a box of their own making. And I will tell you right now, that is an impossibility!
We want everything neat, tidy, and under our control. As I typed a wonderful character in a series of books written years before even I was born came to mind. The series of books is The Chronicles of Narnia written by C.S. Lewis, and the character is Aslan, the Great Lion.
If you haven’t read the books, it’s hard to communicate the totality of who Aslan is, but maybe this will help.
In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe the Pevensie first hear of Aslan. They think he is a man but come to find out he is a lion, at which point one of the children asks,
“Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver … “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you… He’s wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.”
As Jesus conversed with the religious leaders, He made it very clear that just because they assumed that they would have the final say in who the Messiah was and what He would be and do had no bearing whatsoever on the reality of it all.
In Matthew’s rendition of this occurrence in Jesus’ life, Jesus asked a question that we must answer as well. “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” Matthew 22:42 NLT
First of all, we must remember that the name Messiah (Hebrew), and Christ (Greek) both mean “anointed” – they refer to the same person – Jesus. Jesus was his given name at birth, per his heavenly Father, but He is the Anointed One. So, what do we think about Him? Whose son is He?
Jesus references Psalm 110:1 to point the Pharisees (and us) to who He is – the Son of God.
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
….Sit in the place of honor at my right hand
until I humble your enemies,
….making them a footstool under your feet.’
Basically, it boils down to the fact that David – Jesus’ ancestor – by inspiration of the Spirit, refers to the Lord (the Father) speaking to David’s Lord (the Messiah, i.e. Jesus). And Jesus then asks the “experts” of the Law, “Since David called the Messiah ‘Lord,’ how can the Messiah be his son?” v44
They may not have liked the answer but the Messiah – Jesus – was greater than David. He, in fact, was God!
Many throughout history have balked at that answer, as well. Many have tried – unsuccessfully, I might add – to refute the fact that Jesus is who He said He is. We can debate all kinds of theological issues but until we believe that, everything else is irrelevant and a waste of time.
Lord, may we all be drawn to find the indisputable reality of You in our lives. Amen.
Nov 15th, 2020, Sun, 7:34 pm
