Different Lenses
In today's Gospel reading, Jesus makes his strongest claim yet about who he is.
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: ‘What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘The son of David.’ He said to them, ‘How is it then that David by 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 David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?’ No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. - Matthew 22:41-46
The most common way of describing the Messiah in Jesus' day was to call him the Son of David, which implied that the Messiah would be a king like David, someone to go into battle to reclaim what was rightfully promised.
But Jesus quotes Psalm 110, where David calls the Messiah his Lord. By challenging the traditional way of looking at the relationship between David and the Messiah, Jesus is challenging the authority of the Pharisees who were supposed to be the ones with the knowledge and understanding of God.
He forces them to see things differently, and the lens he uses changes everything.
Sometimes, when we are struggling with a situation or have trouble finding a clear path free of stress and anxiety, we may want to shift our focus, to look at things through a different lens. What does this look like form another perspective, the perspective of my friend or my enemy?
We are so used to assessing the world in terms of good and bad or right and wrong, that we find it difficult to know where we stand when we are somewhere in the middle.
Jesus addressed the Pharisees, but his message was to everyone who followed them blindly.
How many times have you felt uncertain about something but were afraid to speak up for fear of looking foolish among those who "know better"?
After Jesus spoke, no one had any more questions. They were afraid to look foolish. I wonder if he was disappointed in them.
More to come...