No Other Answer Except Jesus
Matthew 22:34-46
October 16, 2022 anno Domini
No one has an answer for Jesus. Last week when Jesus questioned the Pharisees if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath “they were silent.” When He pressed them on whether they would pull an ox or donkey out of a ditch on the Sabbath “they could not give an answer.” This week Jesus asks the Pharisees how the Christ can be David’s Son (a man) and David’s Lord (true God) at the same time and “no one was able to answer him a word.”
Don’t try to get one over on Jesus. Your logic and smart questions won’t fool Him. He’s God after all. He not only invented logic He is Logic. In Jesus Christ alone all of life and death make sense. If you think you’ve got a question that will stump Jesus, you’re a fool and He’s going to take you down and silence you. And that’s good. It was good for the Sadducees and the Pharisees, and it is good for you. For salvation comes when you shut up about yourself, and hear what Jesus says.
The Pharisees sent one of their number to “test” Jesus. That’s the same word used when the Devil tempts Jesus in the wilderness. The Pharisees don’t want to learn from Jesus. They want to knock Him down. He’s popular and they want to be. People are listening to Him and not to them. They send one guy – if he fails that’ll be on Him. If he succeeds in stumping Jesus – they’ll all take credit for a Pharisee victory.
Do you see how this text is shaping up for us? It’s either you or Jesus. Either you’re asking the questions (with your own answers in mind) or Jesus is asking the questions and answering them with God’s Word. Like the Pharisees we try to pin Jesus down. We ask questions with our desired answers in mind. The Pharisees wanted to know the “greatest” commandment. The Sadducees before this wanted to know in the resurrection who would be the husband of the woman who had seven husbands. The Sadducees didn’t even believe in the resurrection. So we ask, “Does remember the Sabbath Day mean every Sunday? Do I have to honor my mother and father when they are old or weird or hypocritical? Isn’t it legalistic when the pastor asks me to give 10% of my income to the church? Can’t I make conversation with that woman at work when my wife is giving me the cold shoulder at home?
Notice the nature of your questions. Your questions are about you. You don’t want Jesus to say anything except “You’re right.” Jesus loves you too much to say that. He loved the Pharisees too much to give them what they wanted.
Jesus gives them God’s Word. He quotes what is called the Great Shema. To this day it is the creed of observant Jews. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord, the Lord our God is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Then, even though the Pharisees had asked for only one commandment, the great commandment, Jesus gives them another. Watch out when you ask Jesus questions. You’ll get more of an answer than you wanted. The second is like the first. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
If the Pharisees heard Jesus, and it is unlikely that they did for they had ears but did not hear, Jesus just crucified them. The Pharisees kept the Law for one reason. That other people would see them and think well of them. They obeyed the Law for the reward it would give them. God did not give the Law for reward but sacrifice. The Law is not given for you to get things, but to give things. That’s why we always seek to dimmish God’s Law. We don’t want to give what it asks. We want to be rewarded. You don’t want to love like the Lord asks. You want to be loved just as you are. Sorry, that’s not going to happen, because you are not very lovely.
That’s why it is good right and salutary that Jesus then asks the Pharisees a question. “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” Jesus is saying, “Stop thinking about yourself. Think about the Christ, whose son is He?” The Pharisees answered, “The Son of David.” Their answer revealed how little hope they had in God. They believed the promised Christ would be a mere man, a descendent of David. All their hope was earthly hope, that the Christ would make Israel great again and give them power. If all we hope for is a Central Minnesota hope. A good marriage. Above average children. Governor Walz giving us our money back now and then. Die without suffering. A nice obituary that only talks about how good I was. If that is your hope from God, you are most to be pitied.
Jesus would give you more. He would give you heaven and earth. That is why He quotes Psalm 110 to the Pharisees. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet. Then He asks, “If David calls Him Lord, how is he his son?”
David’s son is also David’s Lord, which means the Christ is both true man (David’s son) and, at the same time, true God (David’s Lord). With that question and answer, the Pharisees were silenced – no one was able to answer him a word.
Jesus concluded His answer to the Pharisees with these words, “On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” The Old Testament – the Law and the Prophets – God’s way of life for you depends on complete love toward God and total love toward your neighbor. That happens in one man – David’s Son and David’s Lord. Life depends on Jesus. God’s Way of Life is the love of Jesus. Jesus loved His Father by doing exactly what His Father wanted. He was born of the Virgin, suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified by the Romans, and raised from the dead. In loving His Father perfectly, He was loving you completely. He was born for you. Suffered for you. Died for you. His righteous life lived for you. His sacrificial death died for you. Jesus loves by giving, by offering Himself for your sin, that He might win for you His Father’s love.
The Law doesn’t tell you how to be a Christian. Perhaps that is why the Pharisees could not answer Jesus a Word. They thought it was all about what they did. The Law tells you what a Christian is. Jesus is the Christ and He did the Law, perfectly, completely, everything God the Father asked, He did. Everything the Father wanted He gave. When you believe that that Jesus is David’s Son and David’s Lord, everything Jesus did and has is given to you. You are a Christian, a little Christ, Christ like, for you are a son of God now, a daughter of your heavenly Father now.
This is why Christ ticked off the Pharisees and the Sadducees and ticks off every other person who is full of himself. He preached a different Word. He lived a different life. It wasn’t about Him, but about His Father. It wasn’t about Him, but about His neighbor.
This is what ticks us off about the Law. It tells us what being a Christian is – a Christian loves the Lord with all his heart, soul, and might and loves his neighbor as himself. But this side of the resurrection, we wrestle with our old sinful self. Because you are saint and sinner, being a Christian not easy. We would rather excuse sin than fight it. We would rather justify ourselves than repent and seek forgiveness. We want to go on sinning in the false belief that forgiveness is free and easy. But that is not the way of Christ. The promise of life, summarized by love, is completed and fulfilled in Jesus. Love calls sin sin. Love sacrifices for others. Love obeys the Father. Love forgives the worst sinners – even you. Love forgives the sins of those who repent, even the sins that hurt you most. That Love is Jesus, but that’s also you who believe in Jesus. You’re Christian after all. You’re the beloved of your Father, forgiven your sins, righteous in Christ. Believe that and you will love the Lord your God with all you have and love your neighbor as yourself. In the name of Jesus. Amen.