Son of David?

 Greetings!

We will finish up Luke chapter 20 today.  Here is my translation of verses 41-47.  

41 Then Jesus asked them, “Why is it said that the Christ is the son of David?  42 Even David says in the Book of the Psalms:
       ‘The Lord said to my Lord, 
          Sit at my right hand,
        43 Until I place your enemies as a footstool beneath your feet.’
44 If David called him Lord, how can he be his son?”
45 As the people were hearing this, he said to his disciples. 46 “Be on your guard against those experts of the law, those who like to walk around in long robes, and who love to be greeted in the marketplace, and sit in the best seats in the synagogues and in the honored places at banquets, 47 yet they cheat widows out of their homes and make long pretentious prayers. Such people will receive greater condemnation. 

Jesus has taking questions from everyone that wanted to trap him in his words, but since he constantly outsmarted them, they have given up on it.  Now it is his turn to ask questions. Jesus asks a question about whose son the Messiah is. In Matthew's account, this question is asked directly to the Pharisees, while in Luke, no specific audience is mentioned. The question: "Why is it said that the Christ is the son of David?”

Jesus quotes from Psalm 110, in which David says, “The Lord said to my Lord.”  Jesus questions how the Messiah could be David’s son, when David calls him Lord.  In his commentary on Luke, Robert Stein points out that this is not a rejection of the Messiah’s Davidic origins.  Luke has already established that Jesus is a descendant of David.  Stein says this, “It is unlikely that Jesus or the early church sought to reject this established and accepted belief of Judaism.  Rather for Luke and the other Evangelists, this incident taught that the Messiah was indeed the Son of David, but he was more.  He was greater than David.  He was David’s Lord.” (Stein, 505.) Of course, the assumption was that the Messiah would come in, drive out the Romans and restore the Davidic throne.  Jesus had a far greater enemy than the Romans, and a much greater throne to sit on than David's, but no one really understood this yet, particularly the Pharisees. Matthew tells us that the Pharisees could not respond to Jesus' question. (Matt. 22:46.)

It appears that Jesus challenged the Pharisees with this question openly, within the hearing of the people. Then, he followed it with a challenge to the people, within the hearing of his enemies, that they should not be like the Pharisees.  

Here is the picture that Jesus paints of the these experts in the law:

• They look good. Walking around in long robes. They like to show off their fancy and expensive clothing. 
• They are self-seeking and they love attention. Seeking honor in the marketplace, synagogue and at banquets.
• They cheat the vulnerable. Cheating widows out of their homes.
• They are pretentious. Making long showy pretentious prayers.

Added up, these things paint a picture of a group that appears righteous, but are not. This is not the first time that Jesus has covered this territory.  He rebukes the Pharisees for some of these things back in Luke 11. We have seen a pattern throughout Luke.  Jesus loves the 'sinners' and they love him, while he saves his harshest criticism for the super-religious, like the Pharisees, who look really good, but hide their sin with a big show of religiosity, while being very critical of others.  The reality that their "righteousness" was all a big show, put on to receive praise from other men. Jesus says that we are not to be like that.