SUMMARY
After all of the trick questions that he has received, JesusJesus is the Messiah whose life, death, and resurrection are God's saving act for humanity. offers up one of his own.
ANALYSIS
After his arrival in Jerusalem, Jesus endured a litany of questions from different Jewish groups, Jesus evaded his interrogators, playing the role of trickster and causing his opponents to fallThe Fall refers specifically to the disobedience of Adam and Eve when they listened to Satan rather than adhering to God's command not to eat the fruit from the tree. When people act contrary to God's will, they are said to fall from from grace... into their own traps. He caps the sequence off with a tricky question of his own.
Jesus’ question brings a citation from Scripture (PsalmA psalm is a song of praise. In the Old Testament 150 psalms comprise the psalter, although some of the psalms are laments and thanksgivings. In the New Testament early Christians gathered to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. 110) and the traditions of the scribes into seeming conflict by playing upon societal expectations. The expectation of first-century society was that a father would always be master of his children. Thus, it seems impossible that David’s “son” could also be his “Lord.” Like the questions that his opponents formulated, Jesus’ riddle is meant to trap the answerer into denying either the Davidic nature of the MessiahThe Messiah was the one who, it was believed, would come to free the people of Israel from bondage and exile. In Jewish thought the Messiah is the anticipated one who will come, as prophesied by Isaiah. In Christian thought Jesus of Nazareth is identified... or the Messiah’s lordship.
The trickiness of the riddle is evident in two ways. First, MatthewA tax collector who became one of Jesus' 12 disciples. has made sure that his audience already knows for certain that Jesus is both the Messiah and the son of DavidSecond king of Israel, David united the northern and southern kingdoms.. The beginning of the Gospel confirms that Jesus is the Messiah and upon his entry into Jerusalem, the crowds proclaim it, too. Thus, the riddle is not meant to seriously imply a contradiction. Second, the reaction of Jesus’ opponents shows that they know they’ve been beaten. They don’t attempt to answer the question and it puts a stop to their efforts to trap him.
