Maundy Thursday 'What think ye of Christ?'

Readings: Psalm110, Exodus 12:1-4,11-14;1 Corinthians 11–23–26, Matthew 22:36-46
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, on April 21st 2011

A printable PDF file can be found here

As we meet around the communion table this evening I want us to think about some words that Jesus spoke to the Pharisees when He asked them, “What do you think of the Messiah?” (Matthew 22:41) or as the words appear in the Authorized Version, “What think ye of Christ?”

That could be the most important question in the world. How we answer it decides for us the sort of life we are going to live. Whether we are going to live a life that has room for the things Jesus did and said, or whether we are going to live our own way. It’s a challenge that causes us to reflect on what we truly believe.

Let us unpack our gospel reading. First of all we have Jesus asking the Pharisees “What think ye of Christ?”

Matthew 22:42 42 "What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?"

For the Pharisees the ‘Messiah’ or the ‘Christ’ was somebody important. He was the one in whom all their hopes and dreams would come true. They lived under the rule of Rome but longed for a day when they would be free to live the way they wanted to. They had a long history that carried with it the promise that God would raise up from among them a descendant of their greatest King, King David, who would come and put things right.

What are our hopes and dreams as we gather round this table? If I were to come around the congregation and ask you what you hope to happen in our world today, or what you long to see in your own life… what’s your dream?…. I wonder how you would answer?

I’m sure we’d all be different. Some of the younger ones may talk about what they’d like to do when they get older, some of the older ones of their hopes for their families. There may be things like hopes for peace and an end to war, for greater care of the planet, for a fair deal for those who suffer. We all have many hopes and dreams for our selves and our world.

Jesus asked the Pharisees “What think ye of Christ?” for an important reason. He wanted to help them understand that He was the One in whom their hopes and dreams could be fulfilled.

He also wanted them to understand that it wasn’t going to happen in the way that they thought. They were people with very fixed ideas about the way the Messiah would come and the things He would do. So He carries on and asks, about the Messiah, “Whose son is he?"

Matthew 22:42 They said to him, "The son of David."

That was the text-book answer. They were right. The Christ, the Messiah, was to be a descendant of David. But then Jesus throws a huge spanner in the works by asking them another question. Those Pharisees knew their scriptures, particularly the Psalms that they used regularly in their worship. And Jesus throws out to them a quotation from Psalm 110.

Matthew 22:43-45 43 He said to them,
"How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,
44 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet" '? 45 If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?"

This is the argument. Jesus is saying, “Look, are you telling me that the Messiah is going to be a Son of David?” Now in those days they lived in a very paternalistic culture. The Pharisees had strict ideas about authority in the home. Father was the head of the family and his word carried authority. When that Father also happened to be the King then that Father’s word carried absolute power.

"How is it then that David (the Father King) by the Spirit calls him Lord, (Calls who Lord? well… the One who would come into the world as the Messiah) saying, 44 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet" '? In other words, “How could David the King go around saying to one of his sons, ‘You are my Lord’?”

Matthew 22:45 45 If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?"

I guess it’s what we’d call today a riddle! He poses a problem for them to solve. If they could solve the riddle they would understand that Jesus was the Messiah that they had been waiting for. Psalm 110 is known as a ‘Messianic Psalm”. It talks about the Messiah being a great King, a great priest and a great judge between right and wrong. Jesus is trying to get the Pharisees to understand that in His life, all those things were being fulfilled and He was the One who had come to bring God’s Kingdom to the world.

But did they get it? We don’t know. Because the question is greeted with a stony silence. That could mean that they couldn’t work it out or maybe they knew what He was getting at but didn’t want to acknowledge it! All we are told in our scripture passage is this;

Matthew 22:46 46 No one was able to give him an answer,
nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

Now we need to put this whole passage in the right setting. The Pharisees were not asking questions out of a thirst to know more, but asking questions in order to make themselves look right and Jesus look like He was in the wrong.

The section begins in Matthew 22:35 by telling us that “One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.”. Another way of saying that would be that the lawyer was putting Jesus on trial! This was an interrogation, not a teaching moment.

They begin by asking Him which were the most important commandments and Jesus replies that all of the law and all of the prophets hung on two principles; Loving God with all that we were and loving our neighbors with as much love as we have for our selves.
They couldn’t fault Him on those answers. One suspects that it is right there the Pharisees would hope the conversation would end. But Jesus turns it around. Instead of Him being the one on trial, now it’s His accusers who are pushed to give an account of them selves. “What think ye of Christ?”

A similar thing can happen to us as we come to the communion table. This table is laid before us and we are confronted with the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. We are not being asked “Well, what about this teaching or this insight?” We are not being asked to think about our philosophy or theology or understanding.

Here around this table we are confronted with a straightforward question. “What think ye of Christ?” Not what do we think of our this person or that person, or First Presbyterian Baldwin or any other church, but “What think ye of Christ?”

It is a time for us to stop the questions and receive the Savior. Receive Him through taking bread and wine and allowing the Holy Spirit to draw us back to the center. We come to this table with all our hopes and dreams and questions. And it is as though God asks us to for a time lay them aside and consider the most important question of them all.

Is the poured out life represented by the wine truly the One in whom all our hopes are focused? Is His broken body our only hope for salvation? Do we believe that these dry bones can take flesh and live? “What think ye of Christ?”

What do we think of His betrayal and suffering and crucifixion? What do we make of His life of obedience and healing and casting out of evil? What do we think of His teaching and preaching that challenges all that we hold so dear? What do we make of His call to take up our cross and follow Him? What do we think of the glorious Easter message that He has been raised and will send His Spirit to transform and empower our lives both as a church and as individuals? “What think ye of Christ?”

Rev. Adrian J Pratt