THE LAST WEEK OF JESUS' PUBLIC MINISTRY AND HIS CRUCIFIXION

-Jesus Asks A Question Regarding His Descent From David

-Matthew 22:41-46; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44

-While the Pharisees were still gathered together, Jesus asked them a question about the

 heritage of the Messiah - “...whose son is he?” (Matt 22:42).  They answered, “The son of

 David.”

            -“This was a thing well known among the Jews, and universally acknowledged, see John

             7:42; and is a most powerful proof against them that the Messiah is come. Their families are

             now so perfectly confounded that they cannot trace back any of their genealogies with any

            degree of certainty: nor have they been capable of ascertaining the different families of their

            tribes for more than sixteen hundred years. Why, then, should the spirit of prophecy assert so

            often, and in such express terms, that Jesus was to come from the family of David; if he

            should only make his appearance when the public registers were all demolished, and it would

            be impossible to ascertain the family? Is it not evident that God designed that the Messiah

            should come at a time when the public genealogies might be inspected, to prove that it was

            he who was prophesied of, and that no other was to be expected! The evangelists, Matthew

            and Luke, were so fully convinced of the conclusiveness of this proof that they had recourse

            to the public registers; and thus proved to the Jews, from their own records, that Jesus was

            born of the family mentioned by the prophets. Nor do we find that a scribe, Pharisee, or any

            other, ever attempted to invalidate this proof, though it would have essentially subserved

            their cause, could they have done it. But as this has not been done, we may fairly conclude it

            was impossible to do it” (Clarke). 

-Jesus then referred to David’s writings in Psalm 100:1.  [Notice, Jesus attributed this writing to

 the Holy Spirit - “For David himself said in the Holy Spirit...” (Mark 12:36, NASB).]  Jesus

 then accompanied this with a question:  Since David referred to the Messiah as Lord, how is the

 Messiah David’s son?  In other words, how could David call one of his descendants, Lord?

            -“Here was the point for them to explain.  They cannot admit it without acknowledging that

             while he is human as descended from David, so he is divine as the right Messiah sent of

             God; it shows that his royalty is not on earth but in heaven” (Boles, Matthew, pg 440). 

            -“The question could only be answered by acknowledging both the divinity and humanity of

             Christ.  It is thus answered in Rom. 1:3,4.  But the Jews, especially the scribes and Pharisees,

             in their worldly views of the Messiah, had lost sight of his divinity, and only held to his

             humanity as a royal descendant of David” (Dorris, pgs 291-292).

-Despite the attempts of the Jewish leadership to drive a wedge between Jesus and the people,

 the people still looked favorably to Jesus and heard Him gladly.