Luke 20:44Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

David in truth was both the Father and the servant of Christ, the former indeed according to the flesh, the latter in the Spirit.

Although our Lord was shortly about to enter on His Passion, He proclaims His own Godhead, and that too neither incautiously nor boastfully, but with modesty. For He puts a question to them, and having thrown them into perplexity, leaves them to reason out the conclusion; as it follows, And he said unto them, How say they that Christ is David’s son?

Or, that He sits on the Father’s right hand proves His heavenly glory. For whose throne is equal, their Majesty is equal. But sitting when it is said of God signifies a universal kingdom and power. Therefore He sitteth at the right hand of the Father, because the Word proceeding from the substance of the Father, being made flesh, putteth not off His divine glory.

By the sitting we must not conceive a posture of the human limbs, as if the Father sat on the left and the Son on: the right, but the right hand itself we must interpret to be the power which that Man received who was taken up into Himself by God, that He should come to judge, who at first came to be judged.

They are not blamed here because they acknowledge Him to be David’s Son, for the blind man for so doing was thought worthy to be healed. (Luke 18:42.) And the children saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, (Matt. 21:9.) rendered to God the glory of the highest praise; but they are blamed because they believe Him not to be the Son of God. Hence it is added, And David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The Lord said unto my Lord. (Ps. 110:1.) Both the Father is Lord and the Son is Lord, but there are not two Lords, but one Lord, for the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father. He Himself sits at the right hand of the Father, for He is coequal with the Father, inferior to none; for it follows, Sit thou at my right hand. He is not honoured by sitting at the right hand, nor is He degraded by being sent. Degrees of dignity are not sought for, where is the fulness of divinity.

In the fifty-fifth chapter of Matthew, it is recorded that when the Pharisees assembled, Jesus inquired of them, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is He?” This passage is elaborated on with a detailed interpretation.

During these discussions, the identity of the Messiah was briefly explored. The Lord inquired of the Pharisees surrounding Him, “How is it that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls Him Lord, and yet He is referred to as the son of David?” This inquiry was likely posed to demonstrate scripturally His teaching on the exalted, Divine essence of the Messiah, which was dismissed by those blinded by rigid interpretations, similar to the events during the Feast of Tabernacles and the Temple's restoration. However, the question went unanswered. Just as they refrained from addressing John to avoid self-contradiction, they also evaded answering regarding the Messiah Himself.

In posing this question, Jesus Christ seeks not to dismiss the widely held Jewish belief and anticipation that the Messiah would be a descendant of David, but rather to refine and elevate the understanding of His identity. The Pharisees, and subsequently the entire nation, failed to acknowledge that, as indicated by David’s own divinely inspired declaration, the Messiah was also his Lord, the Son of God. This inquiry was prompted, as previously noted, by the Pharisees recalling the Lord's testimony about Himself as the Son of God and their desire for a renewed affirmation of this claim to use against Him as a charge of blasphemy.

Indeed, you perceive Christ as merely a son of David, meaning solely a human being. Yet, how does David himself refer to Him as his Lord? Have you not considered how he eloquently speaks of Christ in his Psalm: ‘The Lord said to my Lord: sit at my right hand’ (Psalm 109:1). If He is David's Lord and was present at the time David penned these words, how can He also be a descendant of David, who had not yet come into existence? The Pharisees, blinded by a strict interpretation of Scripture and lacking the insight to grasp its deeper significance, failed to realize that Christ the Messiah, in His dual nature, is both the Son of God in His divinity and a descendant of David in His humanity. They anticipated the Messiah to be a figure who would liberate the Jewish people from Roman rule and dominate all nations. With such misguided beliefs, it is no wonder they could not provide a response to Jesus' question.

Christ initiated a dialogue with the knowledgeable examiners, posing a question intended to reveal the genuine majesty of the Messiah. Blinded by their misconceptions, they anticipated a political leader who would vanquish the world and seize its riches for them. When Jesus did not meet these expectations, they labeled Him a fraud and a misleader of the people. To steer them toward the truth, Christ inquired, “What do you think of Christ? Whose son is He?” Their response was, “The son of David.” However, their comprehension of sonship was limited to the mere physical lineage of Christ to David. It was clear from a familiar psalm (Psalms 109:1) that David himself referred to Him as his Lord, who resides at God's right hand.

The inquiry posed by the Lord regarding the Messiah's lineage is recorded in Luke in the same manner as it is in Matthew and Mark. Luke's depiction of this question mirrors the accounts found in Matthew and Mark. Refer to Matthew 22:41-46 and Mark 12:35-37, noting that no one ventured to challenge Him. Following the public rebuke of the Sadducees, a teacher of the law posed a question about the greatest commandment (Matthew 22:35-40, Mark 12:28-34), after which, as Mark notes, no one dared to engage Him further; Matthew concurs with this observation after the Lord's statement concerning the identity of the Messiah.