Mark 12:35

And Jesus answered and said, as he taught in the chapel. How say the scribes that the Christ is the son of David? David himself said in the Holy Spirit, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet. David himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he his son? And the common people heard him gladly.

All critical objections to this paragraph, based largely upon the variations between Mark and Matthew, come to naught in the light of the obvious unity of the whole chapter. How natural it was that Jesus should conclude a series of questions asked in turn by Herodians, Sadducees, and Pharisees, with a question of his own. To suppose Mark's account to have been original and Matthew's an extension of it is as illogical and unreasonable as making Mark's one parable (1-12) the original of the three (!) recorded by Matthew. The essential agreement of both accounts, not only with regard to the placement in this context, but also in every other important detail, places the ineffaceable stamp of independence and originality upon both. Each account is probably the abbreviation of a conversation that lasted half an hour (certainly, far longer than the twenty-one seconds required for reading either of the gospel accounts); and if we knew all that was said in that interview, the absolute accuracy of every word and every detail could be proved. Any believer of the inspired gospels is untroubled by the omission from both records of most of the details and circumstances leading up to the profound truth Jesus here uttered, a truth so important that an understanding of it underlies all adequate understanding of the Old Testament and of the person of Jesus Christ. McMillan was correct when he wrote: "It is difficult to imagine what particular set of circumstances preceded and developed into the incident described here ... However, because of the arresting content of the question, the Gospels show no extensive interest in the circumstances."[14]

David himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he his son? ... How could Jesus Christ have been both the Son of David and the Lord of David? This fingers the dual character of our Lord Jesus Christ as both God and man. As a man, he was the son of David; as God come in human form, he was the Lord of David. In the great prophecies of the Old Testament foretelling the coming of the holy Messiah into this world, it was absolutely necessary for God to present through the prophets this dual nature of the Holy One. This accounts for the APPARENT contradictions in the prophecies concerning Christ, some prophecies hailing him as "Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6), and other prophecies making him to be "despised and rejected ... man of sorrows ... esteemed not ... numbered with transgressors ... acquainted with grief ... bruised ... wounded ... and afflicted" (Isaiah 53).

Such diverse prophecies foretelling the coming of the God-man could not be understood by the religious leaders; they even premised the coming of two Messiahs; and it was their conceit that led them to reject the less glamorous prophecies and focus upon those more glorious, those being the qualities they wanted in a Messiah. Their rejection of Christ was grounded totally upon their error of misunderstanding in this very sector. This was precisely the point WHERE THEY NEEDED HELP. Lovingly, Jesus raised the issue by this quotation from Psalms 110:1, no doubt hoping that they would ask him to explain it; but the pride of those evil men would not permit them either to ask or to learn anything from their Saviour. Their scornful turning away from the Lord is suggested by Mark's record of the antithesis of it, namely, that "the common people heard him gladly."

This paragraph bears witness to the Davidic authorship of Psalms 110, a fact accepted by Jesus' contemporaries, and incapable of any rational denial by men living nineteen centuries later. It also witnesses to the inspiration of the Psalms, for it was here stated that David "said in the Holy Spirit."

Thus, in this incident, the Lord made one last, bold effort to break through the barrier of blind unbelief in the Jewish leaders.