It was fitting for these shepherds, teachers, and leaders of the people to be privy to this mystery, which had long been foretold by the law of Moses in various forms, and had been proclaimed by a glorious assembly of holy prophets. This is why Christ is referred to as “the fulfillment of the law and the prophets.” Consequently, the Saviour questioned them, asking, “How is it said of Christ that he is the Son of David? For David himself says in the book of Psalms, ‘The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool.’ David therefore calls Him Lord; and how is He His son?” The foundation of comprehension is faith, for unless, as he states, “ye believe, ye shall not understand,” but the pursuit of essential truths also leads to salvation. Thus, Emmanuel is both the Son and Lord of David, but anyone wishing to grasp this must earnestly investigate His mystery, which “was kept in silence from the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last ages of the world.” The Pharisees, however, remained silent in response to Christ's inquiry, not out of ignorance but out of malice, fearing that the truth embedded in His question might reveal their own shortcomings. They were unwilling to recognize the truth; rather, they grasped onto their earthly inheritance while denying the Heir, ultimately leading to His wrongful death. The pursuit of power and material gain caused them to reject the faith. They even stoned Him, and when asked about their violence, they foolishly stated, “We do not stone You for a good deed, but for blasphemy, because You, being a man, make Yourself God.” On other occasions, they labeled Him a Samaritan, a drunkard, a winebibber, and the son of a carpenter, suggesting that He came from unworthy origins. It is not surprising that they even dared to malign His birth from the holy Virgin, saying bitterly, “We are not born of a harlot.” To deter them from their pattern of speaking about Him in a demeaning and scornful manner, He posed the question: “How do they say that Christ is the Son of David?” Yet, as I have noted, they remained silent, driven by malicious intent, thus condemning themselves as unfit for eternal life and the understanding of truth. Like them, we too must ask modern-day Pharisees a similar question: let those who dispute that He, born of the holy Virgin, is both the Son of God the Father and God Himself, and who divide Christ into two separate sons, explain to us how the son of David can also be his Lord—not merely in respect to human authority but in the divine realm. To sit at the right hand of the Father signifies the highest glory; those who share the same throne hold equal dignity, and those crowned with shared honors are, by nature, equal. To sit beside God signifies nothing less than sovereign authority, and the throne declares that He possesses dominion over all creation, a right inherent to His essence. How can David's Son also be David's Lord and yet be seated at the right hand of God the Father on the throne of divinity? It is consistent with the immutable truth of the mystery that the Word, being God and proceeding from the very essence of God the Father, existing in His likeness and being equal with Him, became flesh—fully human—while retaining the flawless perfection of His divine nature. He remains God while taking on the likeness of humanity. Thus, He is David's Lord in terms of His divine glory, nature, and sovereignty, while being His son in the flesh. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the Jewish leaders, who prided themselves on their understanding of divine law, to heed the words of the holy prophets. The blessed Isaiah proclaimed, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, God with us.” The Word was with us as God when He took on our likeness and did not reject the humility of humanity to bring salvation to all under heaven. Again, it is written, “But you, Bethlehem, house of Ephrathah, are small among the thousands of Judah; out of you shall he be born to me who shall be the head of Israel.” While Bethlehem was indeed small and its population negligible compared to the broader Jewish community, out of it came forth Christ, born of the holy Virgin—not subjected to the shadows of the law but as the sovereign over both the law and the prophets. Therefore, we avoid ignorance and the misguided notions of foolish men, lest we fall into corruption; instead, we align ourselves with the pure teachings of the holy apostles and evangelists, who consistently affirm that Christ, the Saviour of all, is both the Son and Lord of David, as we have elaborated. “One Lord therefore, one faith, one baptism: one Lord hath purchased us ‘not with corruptible things, silver or gold, but with His blood,’ as it is written, so that we may serve Him, and through Him, and with Him, the Father. For in Him and through Him we have access to the Father.” Yet, as I previously mentioned, the Jewish leaders disregarded the truth; and those seeking an explanation for their ongoing rejection of divine precepts will find it here: they clung fiercely to their inherent desire for esteem and their cursed avarice. The Saviour Himself reprimanded them by saying: “How can ye believe, who receive glory one from another, and desire not the glory which cometh from the only God?” They should have sought after the honor that comes from God, rather than that which is merely fleeting, like a dream, destined to fade away.
THEOSIS