Matthew 22:34-46

³⁴ But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they assembled together.

³⁵ And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷ And he said to him, “You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

³⁸ This is the greatest and first commandment.

³⁹ And a second is like it: You are to love your neighbor as yourself.

⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets are based on these two commandments.”

⁴¹ So while the Pharisees were assembled together, Jesus asked them a question,

⁴² He said, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.”

⁴³ He said to them, “Why is it then that David, under the Spirit’s influence, calls him Lord, saying,

⁴⁴ “‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I place your enemies under your feet’?

⁴⁵ So if David calls him Lord, how can he be his son?”

⁴⁶ And no one was able to answer him a word. In fact, from that day no one dared to ask him any more questions.

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no further questions

Two really good questions are asked in today’s text. First, a lawyer from the Pharisee sect asks Jesus what is the greatest commandment in the Law. Doubtless, the lawyer had rebuttal questions already in mind when he asked that one. But Jesus’ reply was immediate and definite. The lawyer found that he could not refute Jesus’ answer. There is something fundamental about loving God and loving others. We all know instinctively that the LORD wants us to do those things.

Now, Jesus approaches the group of Pharisees with a comeback question. He asks why David, in Psalm 110, referred to the Messiah as his Lord, when the Messiah is supposed to be David’s descendant. Actually, Jesus is both. It was at this point of Jesus’ unique qualification that the Pharisees were stumped as well.

Now, the groups who had been trying to catch Jesus off guard and humiliate him with a theological question finally wise up. They do not stop attacking him, but they realize that he cannot be stopped by arguments. The interrogation is over, but the trial is not.

LORD, may we live our lives based on the answers to these important questions. May we focus on loving you, loving others, and witnessing to the uniqueness of your Son.