Luke 20:40-47

Posted by DJL on Nov 30, 2013 in Daily Bread | 0 comments

Then he said to them, “How can they say that the Messiah is David’s son? For David himself says in the book of Psalms,
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand, 
until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’ 
David thus calls him Lord; so how can he be his son?”
In the hearing of all the people he said to the disciples, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love to be greeted with respect in the market-places, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

Jesus, it seems, is determined to press his advantage. He does this on two fronts. First, he challenges the common conception that the Messiah will be a descendant of David and thereby David’s son and, by the logic of the time, David’s inferior. In contrast, Jesus claims that the Messiah is not simply a descendant of David but is also his superior. Why? Because he is not only David’s son but also the Son of God.

Second, and in what seems to be his very next breath, Jesus makes a side comment to his disciples – but a side comment that everyone can hear! – warning them against the scribes. His critique is that they are shallow and that their religious faith is more for show than particularly meaningful.

But before we sit back too smugly and give thanks that we are not like those self-righteous scribes (sound familiar?), we should note that Jesus’ chief critique is that their faith seems to justify their own comfort and material well-being while others – and particularly the vulnerable, like widows – go destitute. Perhaps they believed that people get what they deserved. Or maybe they told themselves that the poor must be poor for a reason. Or maybe they advocated for laws that favored the wealthy. Who knows? I just know that such behavior, at least according to Jesus, deserves the greater condemnation.

Which leads me to think that before we get too excited, or feel too triumphant that the one we call Lord is greater than David, we should probably pay attention to the values of the Son of God lest we, too, act in ways that deserve not his praise but condemnation.

Prayer: Dear God, always and everywhere you insist that we take care of the most vulnerable, and you promise to judge us not according to our piety but by our treatment of the poor. Help us to listen. Help us to act. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

 

Post image: “Jesus and the Pharisees,” by Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678).