Word to the Wise
Friday, June 9, 2023 - Friday in the 9th Week in Ordinary Time
[Tob 11:5-17 and Mark 12:35-37]"How do the scribes claim that Christ is the son of David? David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said: The Lord said to my lord, 'Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies under your feet.' David himself calls him 'lord'; so how is he his son?" The great crowd heard this with delight. [Mark]
This bit of rabbinical argument comes at the end of a series of confrontations between Jesus and the religious authorities in the Jewish community. It builds on the cultural understanding of father-son relationships. The father would not consider his son to be his superior. But in the psalm [110], written by David under God's inspiration, the father does exactly that. So, Jesus asks how can the Christ be considered the son of David if David considers him to be superior?
In the context of the Gospel According to Mark and its presentation of the disputes between Jesus and the religious authorities, descendance from David does not have the importance it would have in the later gospels according to Matthew and Luke. Jesus is asserting his own authority as being greater than David's. At the moment in this scene, it would seem more like a rabbinical debate because Jesus' true identity in Mark will only be realized at his death and resurrection. Since such debates were popular as well as educational, the crowd acknowledges that Jesus has won the debate!
It would all seem like ancient history of no relevance to us except that the identity of Jesus in relation to all that had gone before him in the scriptures as well as what has happened since his death and resurrection (the New Testament and Tradition) is ever a challenge to us. The theological disputes of scholars may pass us by or even entertain us (as in the scene today), but we are always left to respond to Jesus' question: "Who do you say that I am?" [Mark 8:29] AMEN