Gospel of 5 June 2020
Friday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Mark 12:35-37
'David himself calls him Lord'
At that time while teaching in the Temple, Jesus said, ‘How can the scribes maintain that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, moved by the Holy Spirit, said:
The Lord said to my Lord:
Sit at my right hand
and I will put your enemies under your feet.
David himself calls him Lord, in what way then can he be his son?’ And the great majority of the people heard this with delight.
Reflexion
Our gospel passage begins with another question. Up to this point, our Lord has been challenged and questioned from all sides by those who either wish to trap him or by one who honestly wanted to tap on His wisdom, but now His opponents and even admirers have run out of questions - or the courage - with which to confront Him. Today, Jesus takes the initiative by posing this provocative question: “How can the scribes maintain that the Christ is the son of David?”
This question is meant to be taken as a genuine one, not a rhetorical question which ends in a denial. Our Lord is not denying that the Messiah is the son of David, the very title used by the blind man Bartimaeus. Rather, He is inviting His listeners to reflect more deeply on what scripture reveals about the Messiah, the promised son of David.
Drawing from Psalm 110, an exceptionally important psalm for the evangelists, and like all the other psalms, is attributed to King David, Jesus raises an apparent dilemma. But first our Lord emphasises the authority of this text by noting that David was “moved by the Holy Spirit” when he wrote it. It is not just a beautiful human composition. It is the inspired Word of God.
What is the dilemma that Jesus wishes to highlight? Our Lord is trying to ask His listeners to think of the implications of the fact that, David should revere the Messiah as someone superior to himself, to the point of even addressing Him as “Lord” - a title which was reserved for God. This is earth-shattering. The Messiah is no earthly monarch, descended from the line of David and heir to David’s throne. He is something much greater.
Our Lord points once again to the mystery of the Incarnation, foreshadowed in the Psalms. The Messiah is the son of David with regards to His humanity but He is also the son of God by virtue of His divinity.
When the crowd heard this explanation, St Mark tells us that they “heard it with delight.” So should we. We know our Lord is the fulfilment of the Messianic prophecy in Psalm 110, but more than that - the prophecy finds its fulfilment in the deepest sense in Our Lord’s resurrection. It was here that He won victory over His enemies - sin, Satan and death - and is now enthroned at the Father’s right hand.