Mark 12:35-37-- No Answer

And Jesus began to say, as He taught in the temple, "How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself said in the Holy Spirit, 'THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I PUT YOUR ENEMIES BENEATH YOUR FEET."' David himself calls Him 'Lord'; so in what sense is He his son?" And the large crowd enjoyed listening to Him.

Jesus was teaching in the temple, and he offered one more question to perplex his listeners.  Jesus quotes from Psalm 110:1, which is generally recognized as written by David, and also is about the King of Jerusalem.  In this verse, Jesus says, David calls the Messiah his “lord”.  But how can that be, if the Messiah is the son—descendent or under the authority—of David?  Jesus states it as a contradiction—one cannot be both a “son” of someone and the “lord” of someone.  So how does anyone put it together?  

The answer is not given, but in all probability Jesus saw himself as the Son of Man and the Son of God, not so much the son of David.  In other words, Jesus’ line is greater than that of David, and his authority is greater than that of David—the Messiah is not just ruling over what David ruled, but he is ruling over what God rules.  Thus David would call him “lord”.  Even so, the question mystified some and entertained many.  At the end of the confrontation, Jesus came out ahead, for he answered all of the questions of the rulers, but they could answer none of his.

There are many Bible passages that are a mystery, a difficulty, a puzzler.  Some think they have found the answer to this or that passage, and then it becomes "orthodox" to them  "Orthodox" is just another way of saying, "You either accept my answer to this mystery or God hates you."

Notice that Jesus asked the question, and no one felt free to give an answer.  This isn't because they didn't have an answer.  But they knew their answer had holes in it, it wasn't complete, and they didn't want to expose their incomplete answers to Jesus, and so have him show it to be inadequate.  

There's nothing wrong with our incomplete answers. We are only human, we aren't expected to know everything. Jesus leaves us with a question, an enigma, and he doesn't give an answer.  There are times that a specific answer isn't necessary.  I may not need to know how the atonement works or the nature of God or how God works in my life.  All I really need to know is that I can trust Him to deliver me when I am enslaved.  If my theology gets in the way of my trust, or someone else's trust, then perhaps my answers aren't so important after all.