Luke 20:41

Jesus addressed the religious leaders who had been questioning Him. Matthew has Jesus asking the question of the Pharisees (Matthew 22:41). Mark has Him asking generally how the scribes could say that Messiah was David’s son (Mark 12:35). Luke has Jesus alluding even more generally to those who taught that Messiah was David’s son. Luke’s wording focuses on the question more directly by playing down the identity of the teachers. The people listening to the discussion were those whom Jesus addressed as well as His critics (Luke 20:45). The question itself was, in what sense could Israel’s teachers say that Messiah would be David’s son.

"People who used the title ’Son of David’ (Luke 18:38-39; Matthew 21:9) clearly envisaged the Messiah as someone who would defeat all Israel’s foes and bring in a new kingdom of David. They thought of David’s son as similar to David in being, outlook and achievement. There are not wanting Jewish writings of the period which speak of the Son of David in terms of a narrow nationalism that looked for Israel’s triumph over all its foes (e.g. the Psalms of Solomon). Jesus means us to see that the Messiah was not David’s son in that petty sense. He was Lord, Lord of men’s hearts and lives. To call Him Lord meaningfully is to see Him as greater by far than merely another David." [Note: Morris, p. 293.]