Mark 12:35-37 — Hearing Him Gladly?

And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, 
“How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? 
David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
    until I put your enemies under your feet.”’
David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?” 
And the great throng heard him gladly. (v.35-37)

Comments:

By this point, all the different groups have taken their best shot at trapping Jesus and come away with their own intellectual egos bruised instead. Now it was Jesus' turn to rhetorically question their doctrine and theological understanding. 

Jesus doesn't avoid difficult passages but leans into them. Here he used this quote and question to show that their concept of the Messiah was too small—merely a son of David, when he was actually more…even the Son of God. Jesus made the point based on the fact that the son was never considered greater than the father, but David indicated that the Messiah was to be his Lord as well. Jesus was implying that he was the legal son of David, in reality, substantially; he was the Son of God.  

It is interesting that there was no response from the experts in the temple. Not only were they afraid to ask Jesus any more questions, but they were also unable to answer the ones that he asked them!

·       Imagine that…they were intimidated by a Galilean carpenter on their own home court. But the common people heard him gladly.

·       Imagine that…a teaching that was too deep and a logic too strong for the scholars, but simple and stimulating enough to be heard gladly by the common people.

May we still hear him gladly and may our teaching of his gospel be just as captivating today!