Fifth Sunday in Lent
Text: St. Matthew 22:41-46
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 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 is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet”’?
If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
You’re here this morning because you trust in God’s grace as offered to you in the substitutionary death of the Christ, Who rose from death victorious—with your sins paid for, and in Whom you know that you will rise to life eternal. That’s why you’re here this morning, because you believe this.
But it isn’t your nature to believe this. Jesus illustrates it in His parable of the Wedding Feast (it’s earlier in the same chapter as our text). Certain ones reject a king’s gracious invitation. They simply don’t want it; they have other priorities. Another in the parable appears to want it, but he wants it on his own terms, and ends up offending the host and getting tossed out. And, of course, that’s what happens with a lot of people when it comes to God’s kingdom; they’re either completely uninterested (again, the way of our nature), or they’re interested as long as it can be their way. Again, the nature.
Jesus’ audience in our text are the ones He’s illustrating in the parable. They’ve been opposing Him at every turn—these Pharisees and Sadducees (Jewish leaders of sorts). Right after He tells the parable they take turns trying to trick Him with questions they think He won’t be able to answer about paying taxes to Caesar, the Resurrection of the dead, which of the Law’s commands is the greatest. They hope He’ll look silly, and prove Himself to be just an ordinary man (and even a liar about who He’s been presenting Himself to be). Instead He has answered all of the questions indisputably. Even these very knowledgable Pharisees and Sadducees are no match for Him.
So, for these same men, Jesus has a question of His own in our text for this morning: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is He?” In asking the question, Jesus isn’t talking about anything that’s foreign to them. When they say that He’s David’s son, they’re giving an answer that’s very common among Jews. They’re awaiting one God is sending to help them, and they know that He will be David’s descendant.
Many have thought Jesus is that one Who is being sent, based on what He’s been doing and authoritatively teaching. Two sets of blind men have called Him Son of David, when they are asking for His mercy and healing—the crowd present with the second pair as well (Matthew 9:27; 20:30-31). A crowd amazed at Him having healed a demon-oppressed man has called him the same (Matt. 12:23). A Canaanite woman with a demon-oppressed daughter, too (Matt. 15:22). The Palm Sunday crowds, and specifically the children who were present also call Him that (Matt. 21:9, 15).
Jesus isn’t even asking His audience in our text, whether or not they think He’s the Christ; He’s just asking whose son the Christ is (according to Scripture, He means). And again, their answer isn’t a surprising answer; it’s what Jesus had been anticipating, that He’s David’s Son. And it’s correct, though it’s only part of the answer.
Jesus wants to give them the rest of the answer.
They correctly know the Christ as David’s descendant. He wants them to recognize from Scripture, that the Christ is the eternal Son of God as well as David’s descendant in human flesh (and also to know why that’s important).
Him being also the eternal Son of God is very important. It means
His purpose is more significant than people have been thinking. It isn’t merely to help them with difficulties they might be having in this world (though He cares about those things too, as He has demonstrated repeatedly in His ministry). His even greater purpose, is to make payment for them, to secure forgiveness and eternal life.
They can’t do it themselves; they need Him to do it for them. So, again, that detail of the Christ being also the eternal Son of God amounts to a lot. The people can’t be saved from their sins if it isn’t the case.
“In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” That’s what God said to Abram in our Old Testament lesson. In Abram they’d be blessed because Abram’s descendant would be Messiah or Christ. The families of the earth would be blessed through His sacrificial death that makes payment for their sins. He’s the Lamb without blemish talked about in our Epistle lesson (it’s what all the sacrificing of animals in Old Testament worship was about), He’s the sacrifice, as well as the High Priest of the good things that have come. He’s the One Who makes atonement for sins with His own blood (the blood of goats and calves had stood in for it before; a priest had stood in for Him—now He’s here).
This issue of the Christ being God’s eternal Son comes up in our Gospel lesson too, in Jesus’ implication of Himself as being before Abraham. They ridicule the idea in the lesson, saying, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” The same idea is expressed in John the Baptist’s statement, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me (though Jesus had been born after John, in terms of the flesh; He’s before John because He is God’s eternal Son—John 1:30).’ Of course, at the beginning of the Apostle John’s gospel he speaks of the Christ, saying, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Again, he’s saying the Christ is the eternal Son of God. The angel Gabriel referred to Him that way when he appeared to Mary, announcing that she would be the Savior’s mother. Though Jesus would be her son according to the flesh, the angel called Him Son of the Most High, and Son of God (Luke 1:26-38).
In giving His audience the rest of the answer about whose Son the Christ is, Jesus asks a follow up question: “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet”’?
If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”
Of course, that passage from the Psalms is another one that demonstrates Christ’s divinity—the fact of His being God’s eternal Son as well as David’s descendant in human flesh. David calls this descendant of his, LORD. There are two natures in Christ: divine and human. He’s God and He’s man. Our text is another one of the texts that demonstrates it.
And, of course, this is difficult for his audience to grasp. It says no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
They’ve been left with something puzzling.
If the purpose of the one God is sending is to make them righteous before Him, it means (like we said earlier), that they can’t do that for themselves.
They can’t impress God with their lives, they can’t stand before Him in the judgment and say, remember all those good and important things I did; wasn’t that great? If they could, what would be the purpose of God sending His own Son to die (which He’s just demonstrated the Christ to be)?
So then, Jesus audience has some soul searching to do. They have the Christ in their presence. He has been doing all of the things the prophets said the Christ would do. Others have seen it, and acknowledged it. Jesus says to them on another occasion, as recorded in John’s gospel: Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?
But if they’re to believe He’s here to save them, then they can’t save themselves. But again, it’s our nature to think we can.
The one in the parable who insists on taking part in the wedding feast according to his own terms represents every self-righteous person; he represents every person who says, Oh, yeah, Lord, I want your kingdom; I just have my own way of getting there. Thanks but no thanks on Your Son. Maybe others need what You’re offering there, but not me. I’ll make do in my own way.
It’s so tempting to think that our going to heaven will be in some way based on our own goodness. You’ve caught yourself thinking that way, haven’t you? It’s your nature to do so. It’s your nature to be concerned in some moments about whether your life will have been good enough to get into heaven, and to be defiant in others, thinking something like: it better be good enough for God! Look how good it is—especially compared to other people!
Jesus wants His audience to see that the Christ isn’t just someone who is coming to help them in this world, or to help them along in getting themselves to heaven. He is God’s eternal Son sent to redeem them. They’re going to have to let Him save them entirely. Nothing about them is going to contribute in the matter. Either they will put it entirely in His hands, or they will perish in their sins.
Put it entirely in His hands, dear sinner?! God’s eternal Son has done for you what you couldn’t do for yourself. He’s the only one qualified for the job. He doesn’t have a sinful nature. There isn’t any self-righteousness in Him like there is in you and me. He God has provided Him as the solution to your sinfulness that would have condemned you to death and hell. There isn’t anything for you to worry about, if He is the one in charge of your salvation.
You’re here this morning because you trust in God’s grace as offered to you in the substitutionary death of the Christ, Who rose from death victorious—with your sins paid for (with your forgiveness secured), and in Whom you know that you will rise to life eternal. That’s why you’re here this morning, because you believe this. God has given it to you through Baptism, and through His Word. He supports it for you this morning through preaching and through the Supper. Having it from Him on His terms is the most blessed thing that could ever be. God be praised. Amen.