Hearing Him Gladly

And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?” Mark 12:37 ESV As Jesus responds to the question of the greatest commandment by pointing to the oneness of God’s essence, He also asks a question, a paradox that points to the mystery of the Holy Trinity. We often have many questions, some of which reveal the very heart of our issues. For the scribes they asked Jesus to summarize the whole of God’s law, yet for Jesus his question points to God’s grace and mercy in Jesus’ own person as both the son of David, and yet at the same time David’s Lord.

Today at International Lutheran Church, we are observing All Saints’ Day, the time in the church year where we remember and give thanks to God for those who have died in the LORD. It is perhaps a paradox that during our prayers, we will speak the names of those who have died this year and ring the church bell as we give thanks to God for their life and witness. Since we do not mourn as those who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), this is a special time for us to give thanks to God for His mercy and grace that He has revealed to us in His One and Only Son, Jesus. We see this again today in Jesus’ interchange of questions with the scribes in the Temple court. As He teaches the throngs of people gathered for the festival of Passover, Jesus preserves us by reminding us that His coming, suffering, death, and rising again brings us into that “Tent not made with hands” (Hebrews 9:11 – a reference to the Tabernacle that was at the heart of the wilderness journey of the people of God as they were led by Moses).

In our reading of Mark’s Gospel, we have come into the heart of Holy Week. As Jesus is nearing His destination and teaching in the Temple. He is questioned about paying taxes to Caesar, the resurrection, and the greatest commandment. But then He turns the tables and asks His own question about the greatest mystery or paradox of all – ‘How is the Messiah, the Christ, both David’s son and yet David’s Lord’ (Mark 12:37)? Not only does this question end all the questions but it makes us glad to hear Him.

Like all good questions, Jesus’ inquiry into the Oneness of the Messiah in both who He is and what He does helps us to see that the whole Trinity is at work in our salvation, in forgiving our sins, and making us new. The unity of love that is at work in Him calls us to faith and trust in God alone through the person and work of Jesus. His blood shed for us makes us to be saints before God now. This is the paradox of faith. Even as we celebrate the rest of those who now rest in Christ until the Day of Resurrection, we, like them, live by faith in the forgiveness of our sins. In Jesus we now seek to love Him with all our being and love our neighbor as ourself. We are not then divided but instead created to be one in Him, a unity that the blood of goats and bulls, or even our own blood, could never win for us.

Today, we can easily see the divisions in our world, and even in our own selves. It would be easy to throw up our hands and simply join in that division. Yet, here Jesus is showing Himself to be One with the Father and the Spirit to bring us together in Him even as we live by faith in Him. And in the simplest of ways through the paradox that Jesus lays before those who question Him, and His work, He also makes us glad as He opens us to hear and believe in Him.

Pastor Carl