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Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them
this question: "What do you think of
the Messiah? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of
David." He said to them, "How is it then that David by the Spirit
calls him Lord, saying, 'The Lord said to my Lord,
"Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your
feet"'? If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?" No one
was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any
more questions. The Pharisees spent an inordinate amount of time trying to catch
Jesus in a mistake, attempting to make him look like a fool so that all the
people who were beginning to follow him would see that he was really no one
special. They lost every encounter they had with Jesus. Instead of making Jesus
look like a fool, the tables were always being turned and they came away from
the encounters with egg of their faces, much to the delight of the people. You would have thought that the Pharisees would have leaned sooner
rather than later. But they did not. It seems that this encounter was their
final straw, their breaking point when they threw up their hands and said
“What’s the use? Why do we waste our time trying to catch him when he always
winds up catching us? He’s making us look like complete fools and the people
love it.” So they shut up. But they did not give up. If they could not shut Jesus up with
their questions, they certainly found a better way, or so they thought. They
would shut Jesus up permanently, by death on the cross. Of course, as we know,
that did not work either. Jesus’s resurrection put that idea to rest as well.
The Pharisees should have known better. The truth always wins in the end. But
they were blind to the truth or did not want to hear the truth or both. So what else is new? The times have changed but people have not. We
have not. If the truth be told, we all spend an inordinate amount of time
running away from the truth, trying to make the one who is telling us the truth
about our lives by the way he lives his life look like the fool. When all is
said and done, the tables are always turned and we are the ones with egg on our
faces because we are blind to the truth or do not want to hear it or both. Would that we become like the Pharisees in this passage and just
shut up and quit arguing and do what we know we should be doing. That’s the
best way, the easiest way, the only way really. The truth always wins out in the
end no matter what we say or do, no matter how much we want to avoid it. If we
would only learn that simple lesson, this life of ours would be less
complicated. I pray: Lord, so often I know what you would have me do. I just do
not want to do it, so I try to find ways around not fulfilling my
responsibilities. In the end I kick myself for my foolishness. Help me today to
be honest with myself and do what is right. Amen. |