Daily Retreat 06/09/06

2006 Jun 9 Fri: Ordinary Weekday/ Ephrem of Syria, d, dr

2 Tm 3: 10-17/ Ps 118(119): 157. 160. 161. 165. 166. 168/ Mk 12: 35-37

From today’s readings: "In fact, all who want to live religiously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.... O Lord, great peace have they who love Your law.... David himself calls Him ‘Lord.’ "

Lord and Son of David

Jesus is much more than just a great teacher - He is the Messiah and Son of God! Nonetheless, He certainly is also the greatest of teachers. He clearly was adept at using different teaching strategies, such as the thought-provoking question posed in the temple, "How do the scribes claim that the Christ is the son of David?"

For the Israelites, David, of course, was their greatest king, and the Messianic prophecies established that the Christ to come would be a descendent of David. So, naturally, the Messiah was expected to be a great victorious king like David - maybe even as great as David!

But Jesus wants His listeners to understand that the Messianic prophecies pointed to the Anointed One who would transcend even the best qualities of an earthly king such as David. For indeed, even the great King David himself had the inspiration of realizing that the coming Messiah would be more than a noble descendent, and so in psalm 109 (110), David prophesied, "The LORD [God the Father] said to my Lord [Jesus, the Messiah]...." Since David addressed the Christ as his Lord, he recognized Him as much more than just his son, and that’s the insight Jesus was helping His listeners to understand!