Matthew 22:41-46--Jesus, The Son of David and Son of God

​Matthew 22:41-46 English Standard Version (ESV)
LISTEN:  https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Matt.22.41-Matt.22.46
Whose Son Is the Christ?
41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,
44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
    until I put your enemies under your feet”’?
45 If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” 46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

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Jesus decided to turn the tables on the Pharisees and ask them a question.  Remember we're still in the temple courtyard the week of Passover and practically the whole nation of Israel and all of the Jews who had dispersed among the nations have made the pilgrimage back to Jerusalem for this high holy day (where we get the word holiday from).  The Pharisees have conspired with the Sadducees and the Herodians so far (both political rivals) to try and trick Jesus by asking Him a serious of questions that would get Him in trouble with Rome, show Him to be a law-breaker, or show Him to be the kind of leader that the people wouldn't want--they have just seen the procession from the Mount of Olives to the Temple on Palm Sunday and know this means Jesus is claiming to be the rightful King of the Jews and the Son of David.  They are afraid they will lose their power and influence and position if Rome finds out that the people have coronated a king and given allegiance to one other than Caesar or Rome's puppet-government of Herods.

Knowing this is what was on their mind Jesus just cuts to the chase and asks the Pharisees point-blank, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose son is he?"  Notice that Jesus didn't say, "What do you think about me?  Whose son am I?" because He already knew what they would say about that.....they thought He was an illegitimate child born out of sin, which is why they assumed He could not be Messiah.  They answered Jesus and said, "The Son of David," which is going back to a promise in the Old Testament where David it told by God that he would have a descendant that would reign from his throne (the throne of the united kingdom) forever and ever.  This is the Messiah, the Christ, that the people were looking for but that the leaders didn't want because it would mean a new government would be established that they would not be a part of.

Jesus then uses the Scriptures to ask how it was that David would call his "son" (someone in his lineage yet to be born), "My Lord" in Psalm 110 where David said, "The LORD (the covenant name for God, "I AM,") said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand, until I place all your enemies under your feet.'"  How then is it that David called this person "My Lord" if this person was only a physical descendant of David?  Wouldn't that make David greater?

They realized once again they had missed something obvious in Scripture that the Messiah would not just be the Son of David, but the Son of God, but these would be the very two claims that they would bring Him up on charges for at the end of the week.  First in front of the Jewish rulers, the Sanhedrin and the chief priest, saying He claimed to be the Son of God, and then later to the Romans claiming that He said He was a king.  In fact this is how His charges would read from Pilate, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."

This question and answer from Jesus put a stop to the Pharisee's games of trying to trick Him into answering a question in a bad way--they figured they couldn't outsmart Him and that He knew the Scriptures as well or better than they did (No joke, because He was the Living Word of God), and their tactics once again changed.  We'll see exactly what those tactics are in the upcoming chapters and verses.