#DailyDevotion Do You Like To Listen To Or Just Hear Jesus?
Mark 12:35-37
35While Jesus was teaching in the temple, He asked, “How can the Bible scholars say the Christ is David’s son? 36 David himself by the Holy Spirit said: The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right until I put Your enemies under Your feet.’ 37David himself calls Him ‘Lord’. Then how can He be his son? The large crowd liked to hear Him.
Not a whole lot has changed from Jesus’ time. Large crowds still like to hear him. Unfortunately, they don’t like to listen to him. People like to hear Jesus when he is calling the religious types to repent of their hypocrisy. They aren’t to keen on Jesus and listening to him when he is calling them to repent of their sins and to trust solely in him for their salvation. You’ll see all sorts of people quoting Jesus, “Don’t judge.” You don’t see a whole lot quoting him, “If you see your brother sin, reprove him. And if he listens to you, you have won your brother.”
Well Jesus had just showed up the Pharisees, the Scribes and the Priests at the Temple. Now he seems to want to take it even a step further to teach the people and indeed, even his enemies who try to trap him. So Jesus now asks them a question. “How can the Bible scholars say the Christ is David’s son?” Well, isn’t that who the Messiah is supposed to be who inherits David’s throne forever, David’s son?
Well that does seem to be a bit of the crux—taking the throne forever. How can he do that? Isn’t David’s son mortal like the rest of us? Well, he certainly is human like us. But Jesus points that the Messiah is something more when he asks, “David himself by the Holy Spirit said: The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right until I put Your enemies under Your feet.’ 37David himself calls Him ‘Lord’. Then how can He be his son?” Well Jesus doesn’t seem to get an answer. This seems to quell all further questions to Jesus by the religious. But it is a question we need to answer.
Well? Do you know? We know Jesus is of the seed of David in Mary’s line and legally through Joseph’s line. That is why he is David’s son. Why is he David’s Lord? He is David’s Lord because he is also the LORD, the God of Israel from all eternity. The LORD the Father says to the LORD the Son, when he ascended into heaven, “Sit at My right until I put Your enemies under Your feet.” All creation is waiting with baited breath to see the Son have everything put under his feet. To some extant, that is already the case. On the other hand, we see evil still pretty rampant running around us. It however, even though we cannot see it all the time, must serve the Gospel of Jesus Christ, strengthening the faith of Christians and bringing people to the faith. The devil thinks he is doing the opposite but Christ in all his wisdom twists the devils works to serve his own. Thanks be to God for that. Perhaps you have seen it come to pass in your own life. Maybe you haven’t seen it yet. You can however believe it is true and bank on it.
Heavenly Father, grant that we may believe your son Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah and through faith in him, listen and do all that he commands us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.