My Son, My Lord

As Jesus continued to teach in the temple courts, He presented to the teachers a paradox:

“How is it that the teachers of the law say that the Christ is the Son of David?”

Jesus cites David speaking by the Holy Spirit in Ps. 110:1Ps. 110:1
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110 A Psalm by David. ¹ Yahweh says to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, Until I make your enemies your footstool for your feet.”

WP-Bible plugin as calling the Christ “Lord”. He is affirming that the Messiah will be a descendant of David. Jesus then presents to them a paradox: “David himself calls Him Lord. How then can He be his son?”

Scripture doesn’t seem to give us an answer. But Mark tells us that the crowd “listened with delight” (Mark 12:37Mark 12:37
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37 Therefore David himself calls him Lord, so how can he be his son?” The common people heard him gladly.

WP-Bible plugin). Why would they be delighted at this paradoxical question, which Jesus does not appear to have answered?

We know that Jesus was born of a virgin named Mary, whose father was Heli, a descendant of David (Luke 3:23Luke 3:23
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23 Jesus himself, when he began to teach, was about thirty years old, being the son of Joseph, the son of Heli,

WP-Bible plugin). We also know that Jesus’ adoptive father was Mary’s betrothed, Joseph, also a descendant of David (Matt. 1:1-16Matt. 1:1-16
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The Gospel According to Matthew ^{1 1} The book of the generation of Jesus Christ Christ and Messiah both mean “Anointed One”, the son of David, the son of Abraham. ² Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac became the father of Jacob. Jacob became the father of Judah and his brothers. ³ Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron. Hezron became the father of Ram. ⁴ Ram became the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon. Nahshon became the father of Salmon. ⁵ Salmon became the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse. ⁶ Jesse became the father of David the king. David became the father of Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. ⁷ Solomon became the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam became the father of Abijah. Abijah became the father of Asa. ⁸ Asa became the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat became the father of Joram. Joram became the father of Uzziah. ⁹ Uzziah became the father of Jotham. Jotham became the father of Ahaz. Ahaz became the father of Hezekiah. ¹⁰ Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh. Manasseh became the father of Amon. Amon became the father of Josiah. ¹¹ Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the exile to Babylon. ¹² After the exile to Babylon, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel became the father of Zerubbabel. ¹³ Zerubbabel became the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim. Eliakim became the father of Azor. ¹⁴ Azor became the father of Sadoc. Sadoc became the father of Achim. Achim became the father of Eliud. ¹⁵ Eliud became the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan. Matthan became the father of Jacob. ¹⁶ Jacob became the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus “Jesus” is a Greek variant of the Jewish name “Yehoshua,” which means “Yah saves.” “Jesus” is also the masculine form of “Yeshu‘ah,” which means “Salvation.”, who is called Christ.

WP-Bible plugin). Finally, and of greatest importance, we know that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35Luke 1:35
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35 The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God.

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With this background, we are able to solve the great paradox, that Jesus is biologically a Son of David through Mary, the Son of God through the Holy Spirit, and an adopted son of David through Joseph.

Are you delighted yet? Let’s explore the meaning of this.

• Jesus was without sin – He was not born into sin as all of mankind was (1Jn. 3:5Jn. 3:5
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  5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into the Kingdom of God!
  
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• Jesus, like us, was tempted in every way, but did not sin (Heb. 4:15Heb. 4:15
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  15 For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.
  
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• We’re all adopted into God’s family through Jesus (Eph. 1:5Eph. 1:5
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  5 having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire,
  
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So Jesus, both a descendant of David, and the Son of God is not only the Jewish Messiah, but also our Messiah by adoption!

So join with those in the crowds who listened to Him with delight that Messiah has come!