Pieces of the Puzzle

My Puzzle Problem

Confession time. My wife and I have got a puzzle problem. Jigsaw puzzles to be exact. And the bigger, the better. 

It all started with a few of those 500-piece deals. Before we knew it, we’re putting together puzzles that have 1,000 and 2,000 pieces! We worked on one so big that it took not just two tables but two weeks to complete.

But there’s nothing like those closing moments when those final pieces click into place. After days when you’re totally convinced some are missing and some are from another puzzle, you become almost giddy fitting the last ones together.

Click.

A Picture of Grace

I’m guessing Jesus never put together a table-sized puzzle picture of beer bottles or breakfast cereals from His childhood. But all throughout the Gospels, we see Him putting the pieces together. Pieces of God’s amazing story of salvation.

Christ didn’t do it for Himself. He did it for others. He did it to show how everything God had done, is doing, and will do snaps together into an amazing picture of grace. And get this. When it’s finished, it’s a self-portrait of Jesus.

Tuesday at the Temple

That’s what we see in Mark 12:35-37. These three verses in the second Gospel show our Savior showing how the God who speaks to Moses from a burning bush, the promise of a Hero from heaven, a royal Descendant, and the lyrics of one of King David’s psalms fit together perfectly.

This all happens in the Tuesday before public execution on Friday in Jerusalem. We find Jesus in the temple courts. He’s just wrapped up five rounds of accusatory questions from the chief priests, scribes, elders, Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees (Mk 11:27-12:34).

Five up, Five down

Christ has taken on all comers and sent them packing. Like an ace pitcher on the mound, He’s sent everyone of them back to the dugout with a strikeout. 

Five up. Five down. 

Mark ends his description of that five-round rout by simply saying, “And after that, no one dared to ask Him any more questions” (Mk 12:34). Are we done here, boys? 

Back to Business

With His enemies speechless, Jesus gets back to business. Let’s see where were we. “Later, as Jesus was teaching in the temple” (v35). That’s what He was doing before He was so rudely interrupted (Mk 11:27).

A quick check in Matthew’s version of the story tells us this went down while the Pharisees are still standing right there…just after Jesus drops the mic on their question on the greatest of God’s commandments (Mt 22:41). 

That’s kind of a big deal since He’s going to talk about them. You see, a big chunk of these teachers are actually Pharisees.

The Hero from Heaven

Christ continues by tossing a question on the table? “Why do the teachers of religious law claim that the Messiah is the son of David?” (v35).

Most NT translations of these verses will say “Christ” here instead of “Messiah” as the NLT does. What’s up with that? That’s because Christ (Gr. Χριστος/Christos) is the Greek word for Messiah. 

Messiah is the long-awaited and long-promised Hero from heaven. How long? Did you know that God mentions Him for the very first time right after our first parents go rogue in the Garden Eden (Gen 3:15)? 

Putting the Funk in Dysfunction

Anticipation of Messiah is THE Big Story of the Old Testament. It reaches a climax when God tells King David that one of his descendants would eventually rule and reign forever (2Sam 7:11-13).

But have you read about Dave and his crazy family? It’s a dumpster fire of adultery, incest, backstabbing, betrayal, sexual assault, and murder. We’re talking Jerry Springer kinda stuff. They totally put the funk in dysfunction!

Straight Lines and Crooked Sticks

Yet God uses them in a powerful way to bring about His purposes. What an awesome reminder that He can use anyone. Yup, anyone. That includes you and me. 

Oh He knows that we may have our issues. But, as the old saying goes, God can draw a straight line with a crooked stick.

Could HE Be the One?

For thousands of years God’s people waited and watched for the One to come. And in Jesus’ day, it was common knowledge among the Jewish people that Messiah would eventually come from David’s family tree (Jn 7:42).

The radical Rabbi/Carpenter from the boondocks of Galilee had folks scratching their heads. Could HE be the One? In the front half of Mark’s bio of Jesus, there’s a truckload of speculation on just who He really is (Mk 1:1-8:26).

A Peek Behind the Curtain

Eventually the Lord gives His team a peek behind the curtain and lets them in on His true messianic identity (Mk 8:27-10:52). For the rest of the second Gospel, the Lord demonstrates that He’s not the kind of Messiah anyone is expecting (Mk 11-16).

That all comes to a climax when during what we on what we now call Palm Sunday, the first day of Passion Week. The huge crowd in Jerusalem goes bonkers when it clearly sees Jesus as the messianic Son of David. It was part of their cheers and chants on His ticker tape parade into town (Ml 11:10; Mt 21:9).

Inspired Lyrics

Fast forward back to Tuesday at the temple as another big crowd surrounds our Savior. He continues His examination of the Messiah’s identity with a look into one of David’s hit songs.

But before getting to the specific lyrics, Jesus points out something supernatural about the great king’s songwriting process. He tells the crowd, “For David himself, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit” (v36).

The Holy Ghost Writer

In other words, the king was truly inspired when he wrote the lyrics to his hit song. And when I say “inspired,” I mean with a capital “I.” As in inspired by the Holy Spirit. Yup, the Third Member of the Godhead.

That’s because God’s Spirit has inspired the human authors to write every single word in the 66 documents we call the Old and New Testament. Think of Him as the Holy Ghost writer ensuring God gets His message across.

Inspired by God

Paul puts it like this. “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong with our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare His people to do every good work” (2Tim 3:16).

So who better to drop some knowledge on what God inspired through David than the Son of God and the Son of David? Buckle up, boys and girls. Jesus is about to do some good work with His take on the opening riff of Psalm 110.

The Top of the Org Chart

Christ continues, “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit in the place of honor at My right hand, until I humble Your enemies under Your feet’” (v36). Lordy, it gets a kinda confusing when it comes to all this “Lord” and “Lord” stuff.

Let’s start with a definition of “Lord” (Gr. Κυριος/Kurios). It describes the person in charge, the boss, the owner, the one at the top of the org chart. Pretty easy to see why we say this about Jesus, isn’t it?

Lord of All or Not Lord at All

When we call Jesus our Lord, we’re admitting that we should do what He says. If we’re going to place our trust in what He’s DONE for us, we must trust in what He WILL DO for us. 

That means trusting in His leadership and obeying His commands. As the old saying goes, He’s either Lord of all or not Lord at all.

Two Lords

But why are there not one but two Lords here? Okay, hang with me. 

Throughout the Old Testament, God says His personal name is actually Yahweh (or actually YHWH, since these are the four consonants that make up the name in the original Hebrew). 

Transformer or Dinosaur?

Smarter folks than me call this name the Tetragrammaton. Sounds way more like one of the Transformers or a genetically modified dinosaur from the Jurassic Park franchise.

 

Yahweh is kinda hard to define, but it’s basically a form of the Hebrew verb “to be.” That’s where we get the idea of “I Am Who I Am” (Ex 3:14) or “I Will Be Who I Will Be.” You’ve probably heard of God as the Great I Am. This is where we get that.

A Biblical Word Swap

That’s all well and good but where does Lord come in? So glad you asked. When Hebrew scholars translated the Jewish Bible into Greek around 300 BC, they were so worried that they would misuse God’s name that they actually swapped it out for “Lord.” And that’s we see in just about every translation of the OT today.

The Second Lord

So what about the second “Lord” here in verse 36 and Psalm 110:1? You are SO smart and ask all the right questions! This is how the writers of the NT translated the Hebrew word “adonai” from the OT.

The meaning of adonai is almost identical to κυριος/kurios. Again, it’s the boss, the one in charge, or the master. When we understand that, it’s pretty easy to see how this second “Lord” got there, right? Still with me?

The Seat of Honor

Now put yourself in the sandals of a first century Jew hearing or reading the words of David’s psalm in the original Hebrew. They understand it to go a little something like this. “The Great I Am says to my Master.”

Yahweh invites David’s Boss to have a seat next to Him. “Sit in the place of honor at My right hand, until I humble Your enemies under Your feet” (v36). Think of your host inviting you to sit in their favorite chair.

Haters Gonna Lose

Check out the word translated “enemies” (Gr. εχθρος/echthros). It paints a picture of a bitter foe or hostile opposition. It comes from a root word describing hate.

Take a load off, Lord. Allow the Almighty to grab a stool for You. A stool that He’s going to make out of all those who hate You. Haters gonna hate. But haters of Jesus also gonna lose.

That just means that our Savior will eventually get the W over every single one of His enemies. Specifically, we’re talking about Satan, sin, and death. They’ll go down with a whimper while Christ kicks back with His messianic feet on them.

David’s Connection

It’s at this point where Jesus comes back to David’s connection to the Hero from Heaven. “Since David himself calls Messiah ‘my Lord,’ how Messiah be his son?” (v37). 

In other words, how can the king, the guy who’s the ultimate ruler of his world, call his own descendent his own boss? Unlike today, kids and grandkids didn’t tell grownups what to do back in the ancient world.

Jesus says the big idea is that David realized, under the influence of God’s Spirit, that one of his descendants would actually be the One in charge. Someone from his royal lineage would not only be king but THE Messiah!

The Crowd Explodes

Mark lets us know that the mass of people packed into the temple courts knows EXACTLY what Jesus is saying! “And the large crowd listened to Him with great delight” (v37).

I’m sorry but the translation of “great delight” just doesn’t cut it for me when we dive into the original language. This is the Greek word ‘ηδεως/hedeus, which comes from the same root word where we get “hedonism.”

So they don’t give the Son of God some polite golf clap. The crowd explodes when they realize what’s just happened! He leaves them buzzing with excitement. 

The Final Pieces

Our Savior puts the final pieces of the messianic puzzle into place and the crowd goes wild!! After centuries of waiting and wondering how all of these promises and prophecies would eventually come together, Jesus snaps them all together perfectly.

Click. 

It’s at this point in the story where you probably expect the people celebrate Jesus as the Christ. It’s one of those “and they all lived happily ever after” moments. I hate to disappoint you but that’s not how it goes.

A Few More Pieces

There’s just one problem. Friday is coming. In just three days, the same big crowd that is cheering for Him now as the Son of David and Messiah will demand His murder.

You see, there’s still a few more pieces of the puzzle to go. And the picture won’t be complete until Jesus comes strolling out of the cemetery on Sunday morning. 

Click.

©2020

Jay Jennings