Luke 20:41-44 41 But he said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is David’s son? 42 For David himself says in the Book of Psalms, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 43until I make your enemies your footstool.”’ 44Therefore, David calls him Lord, so how is he his son?”
In the next passage, Jesus goes on the offensive and gets to the heart of the matter: the identity of the Messiah. He asks two rhetorical questions that should have caused the scribes of verse 39 to wonder. We can assume others were present, such as the Sadducees and any spies from the Pharisees.
The first question focuses on the Davidic lineage of the Messiah. It builds on the common belief of many Jews who were listening to Jesus. Luke already showed in chapter 3 that Jesus was a descendant of David. This passage now provides further proof and connection to the Jewish belief that the Messiah would come from the special Davidic line. Part of this belief was the hope that the Messiah would be a king like David and restore Israel to its glory, which would include freedom from foreign oppressors like Rome. The belief of the Messiah being a descendant of David is based on many passages in the Old Testament, including 2 Samuel 7:8–16; Psalm 89:20–37; Isaiah 9:6–7; 11:1–16; Jeremiah 23:5–6; 30:8–9; 33:14–18; Ezekiel 34:23–24; 37:24; and Micah 5:2.
Jesus’ next strategy is a quote from Psalm 110:1, one of the favorite messianic psalms quoted in the New Testament. Jesus again uses Scripture interpreted literally to prove his point. This is a psalm written by David, who is the person speaking. The key is the word Lord. The first Lord refers to God, with the divine name Yahweh being translated as in the Septuagint as kyrios. The second Lord refers to the Messiah. Following the logic, the Messiah, the second Lord, must be greater than David, who the greatest king in Israel’s history.
The next step of logic was to make the claim that the Messiah was divine. The highest honor imaginable is to sit at God’s right hand. The right hand was the highest place of honor, and so to sit at God’s right hand would be beyond human thinking. The sovereignty of the Messiah is further emphasized by how all the enemies will be conquered and will have to submit in honor to the Messiah. Someday, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is indeed Lord (Philippians 2:10-11).
The conclusion to all of the above is that the Messiah is greater than David. The last logical step is to show that the Messiah would be a descendant of David. A son in Bible times would address his father as “lord,” which would be equivalent to “sir” in modern speech. David says in this psalm that the one who would sit at God’s right hand would be his descendant. The Jewish scholars in the temple court could not argue against this logic. The argument Jesus makes in these verses is important because it shows how he fulfilled Old Testament prophecy and was whom the Jews were looking for. Sadly, many people missed the logic because of their prejudices, preconceived ideas, and hardened hearts.
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