The Son of Man (#2 and last)

As noted earlier, Jesus used parabolic teaching methods using questions and riddles to lead people to the answer to his divine mystery on their own so he wouldn’t have to blab out, “I’m God, here I am!”  The next story from the Synoptic gospels that I’ll touch on is when Jesus was teaching in the Temple in Jerusalem about the Messiah.  Jesus questioned why the Messiah was called the Son of David when Psalm 110 shows David referred to the Messiah as Lord. How can the Messiah be David’s son when he is David’s Lord? The servant is not greater than the master.

The term Son of David is mentioned nowhere in the Old Testament. It came into use as a Jewish tradition after the Law was written. Jesus was pointing out the actual translation of Psalm 110 should be Lord of David when referring to the Messiah. The Bible makes it clear the Messiah is a direct blood descendant of King David while at the same time pre-existent and equal to God.  Since there is only one God, the Messiah is also God and the Son of Man is also the Messiah. By his words Jesus was leading the Jews to the logical truth of his divinity. A triune Godhead is a difficult concept for some to accept but in heaven all will become clear.

The last example from the Synoptic gospels is the story of the rich man who came to Jesus and asked “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life”? Jesus responded “Why do you call me good”? “No one is good but God alone.”  Detractors have seized on this statement by Jesus to assert Jesus is saying he is not good and he is not God. The truth is just the opposite. Jesus is trying to get the man to connect the dots. If Jesus is good and God alone is good then Jesus must be God.

Jesus goes on the tell the young man to inherit heaven he must observe the commandments of God. Jesus added one more commandment to give away all his possessions and follow Jesus. The Jews know the ten commandments were written by the, “finger of God.”  Jesus, by adding another commandment was doing what only God can do. Jesus was telling the Jews he was on a par with God, that he was God. The stories in the Bible fulfill Old Testament prophecy and show who God is while revealing the attributes of God that he wants to reveal to his creation. Praise God!