"If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?" And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore

Nativity of Christ, Byzantine fresco.  Omorphe Ekklesia ("Beautiful Church"), 1282, Aegina, Greece

But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.  Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"  Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:

'The LORD said to my Lord,
"Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool" '?

"If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

- Matthew 22:34-46

Yesterday we read that, on same day that Jesus was tested regarding paying taxes to Caesar,  the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were with us seven brothers.  The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.  Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be?  For they all had her."  Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.  For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.  But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?  God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."  And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

 But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.  Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"  Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."   My study bible tells us that the Pharisees had found 613 commandments in the Scriptures, and that they debated about which one was central.  One gets the impression, indeed, that such debates were central to their understanding of their role in the leadership of the temple.  But Jesus answers their question by setting forth two great commandments, and in the order of the first and then the second, which constitute the grand summary of the Law.  Although this lawyer has come with malice to test Christ, St. Mark tells us that this man is converted by Jesus' answer (Mark 12:28-34).   My study bible also elaborates upon the meaning of the second commandment.  It says that this commandment must be understood as it is written:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself, or more clearly, "as being yourself."  This commandment is often misinterpreted as reading, "You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself," which damages the force of the statement.  How much we love ourselves isn't the standard of love Christ asks of us.  Instead, we are called to love our neighbor as being of the same nature as we are -- that is, as being created in God's image and likeness, as we are.  The saints testify and the tradition of the Church teaches that we find our true self in loving our neighbor.

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:  'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool" '?  If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.  My study bible says that Jesus asks this question in order to lead the Pharisees to the one logical conclusion possible:  that He is God incarnate.  The Pharisees have the expectation that the Messiah will be a mere human being, therefore reply that the Messiah would be a Son of David.  But David, as king of Israel, could not and would not address another as "Lord" -- with one single exception, God.  In Psalm 110:1, David refers to the Messiah as "Lord."  Therefore, the Messiah must be God.  The one possible conclusion is that the Messiah is a descendant of David according to the flesh, but also is truly divine, sharing Lordship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Indeed, the Pharisees dare not answer nor ask further questions because they realize the implications, and they are afraid to confess Jesus to be the Son of God.

It's remarkable how great Jesus is at debating.  One might assume that He quite loves doing so.  We certainly know that the common people heard Him debating the leadership in the temple with delight.  In his report of the very same dialogue we read in today's reading, St. Mark tells us that "the common people heard Him gladly" (Mark 12:37).  If we explore the roots of this pleasure in debate, we might be able to uncover something about Christ's nature and our own.  In Greek, the word for "gladly" in the verse from Mark is ἡδέως/edeos.  It's a word that denotes sweetness, or pleasure.  It's the same word that gives us the root for a modern English word hedonist, which means a person who indulges in pleasure as the primary pursuit in life.  It's also the root for anhedonic, which is a negative form, signifying a component of depression, the lack of ability to feel pleasure.  But what gives us delight in debate?  Surely in endless political or personal or other debates, there can be little pleasure involved for listeners.  In the kind of debate that involves pure selfishness and manipulation, one can only find pleasure if one delights in forms of corruption, or in the injustice given to another, even a clever web of lies.  But the delight to hear Jesus is something quite different.  It is directly related to His nature as the Word (or Logos).  Christ refers to Himself as the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).  As the Word, He is the Person who is Truth.  In His divine identity, He is the Lord who gives us meanings and values.  He teaches us what reality is.   In the 8th chapter of John, Jesus is involved in yet another debate with the leadership.  He tells them, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (8:31-32).  In Jesus' debates, the common people listen with delight because, instead of being manipulated, they are being given truth, and truth gives us freedom.  Jesus is the debater par excellence,  one so skilled in His use of language that no one can better Him or trap Him.  But this also comes from the truth that runs so deep that it belongs to Creator, the One who spoke all things into existence in Genesis, the Person who is the very Word or Logos.  This is why we read Scripture, and why the common people hear Him with delight.  If the purpose of debate is not for truth, not to reveal the things that give us freedom -- that is, our very nature as human beings with souls of value to the Creator, of infinite possible worth for the angels who minister to us -- then debate is tiresome and has no meaning but to oppress.  But Christ gives us, and the Pharisees, the truth, in fullness of expression for us all.  There will always be some who wish to deny the truth, and there will always be those others who are, above all else, grateful for it.  Let us delight in the truth, and relish the gifts He has given us, the truth He will die to give us.  Let us remember that it is to give us this gift of His truth that He was born, and live our gratitude -- and our delight -- in appropriate response.  In the icon above there is depicted the Nativity or Birth of Christ.  True to the meanings we find in Christ's debate in the temple, in this icon we see Christ, the Word, born into a world filled with dangers to that Word, to Truth.  If we look closely, on the right side there is a wolf opening its jaws toward a small sheep.  Joseph seems to be pondering what exactly has taken place, while the shepherds watch and hear the announcement of the angels who proclaim the birth of Christ.  The great star, symbolic of the good news and the divine and angelic participation in this event, shines at the top, while the Magi or Wise Men who love truth come bearing their gifts.  All these respond with delight and joy to the truth in the light of that star.  Most striking about this fresco is an addition of folk tradition around Mary who is nursing her Child.  We can see small patterns of eyes in the white cave around her.  These are meant as protection against the "evil eye" -- a malignant form of envy or jealousy.  We may recall, in the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (see this reading), when some workers complain that each is paid the same wage regardless of when they began, the owner of the vineyard replies, "I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.  Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?  Or is your eye evil because I am good?"  This "evil eye" is that which would look upon good and call it evil, something which Jesus condemns when He speaks of the blasphemy of the Spirit (12:31-32).   Such is the world into which we're born, in which the truth and those who bear it will face dangers and hostility, envy which will call good "evil."   This is the world in which Jesus comes into the temple, giving us His truth, which the common people hear gladly, with delight.  So great are the reasons for that delight! Let us remember who it is we worship, as we head toward our celebration of His birth into our world.