The last week of Jesus’ life on earth was an eventful one. He arrived in Jerusalem to thronging crowds shouting, “Hosanna!” And, His enemies peppered Him with questions. They questioned His authority. They asked Him a Catch-22 question, which was admittedly impressive since it would be almost 2000 years before Catch-22 was written. They even asked Him a gotcha questioned designed to make the resurrection look ridiculous. But after He had answered all of their questions, He had one for them. Matthew’s account of this is in chapter 22, verses 41 and following:
“While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, ‘What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?’
They said to Him, ‘The Son of David.’”
Now, at this point, especially in my younger years, I could see myself nodding along in agreement with the Pharisees. Yes, the Christ is the Son of David. That’s in prophecy, isn’t it? Wasn’t important enough that Matthew opened his gospel account with a genealogy of Jesus going back to David and Abraham? Didn’t Luke also trace Jesus’ genealogy through David back to Adam? But this is what Jesus said:
“He said to them, ‘How then does David in the Spirit call Him “Lord,” saying: “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand Till I make Your enemies Your footstool’”? If David then calls Him “Lord,” how is He his Son?’ And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.”
Jesus pointed out something very important, which the Pharisees were missing: the Messiah was more than David’s son, He was David’s Lord. The Pharisees missed it because they were expecting an earthly kingdom, with an earthly king like David who would put Israel back on top, overthrow the Romans, and rule in Jerusalem. But God had in mind something much better; instead of freeing them from the Romans, the Christ would free them from their sins—a much more powerful and implacable enemy. In another place, Jesus talked about God giving good gifts and said, “If your son asks for bread, would you give him a stone?” An important cultural note about the way they baked bread in Jesus’ time is that they used clay ovens and heated stones, and the stones in the area were very round and smooth, resembling loaves of bread. It wouldn’t be much of stretch of the imagination to think it wouldn’t be uncommon for a small Jewish boy to point in the oven and say, “Father, I want that one,” but be pointing at a stone. And what kind of father is going to give his child that? No, he’ll give him bread instead even if it isn’t what he wanted because it’s better than what he wanted.
That’s the way God operates; He always gives us what’s better than what we want. He did it back then. When they wanted to be free of Rome, free of their taxes, free of their rules, God offered them freedom from sin, which is of infinitely greater value. It is a shame, though, that when offered bread, sometimes people still want the stone.
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