GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 12:37
Conundrum
Etymologists think the word “conundrum” entered the English language in the 16th century. However, Dr. Donald Brehm, my Medieval History professor, claimed that the word originated among medieval college students who often faced problems, usually in philosophy, for which there was no easy answer. The students created a word with no meaning for problems with no solution. In modern parlance, the word has come to stand for problems that are difficult or impossible to solve.
St. Mark recounts that, while Jesus was teaching in the temple, he presented his audience with a conundrum. “And answering, Jesus said, as he was teaching in the temple, ‘How do 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 place your enemies under your feet.’ David himself calls him Lord, and how is He the son of him?” And the large crowd heard him gladly.”’” (12:35-37)
It seems Jesus was answering a question about the scribes’ claim that the Christ—the Messiah—must be the son of David. Jesus asked how, if David called him Lord, the Christ could be David’s son. A conundrum.
Jesus was not denying that he was a descendant of David’s lineage. He wanted his audience to understand that while the Messiah may be a physical descendant of David, his spiritual lineage was beyond David to the LORD, Yahweh. The people were taught that David’s descendant would be a conquering king; Jesus wanted them to see that the Messiah might be physically a descendant of David, but spiritually descended from the Father — and therefore something entirely different from what they had been taught. Then Mark added, “And the large crowd heard him gladly.” That almost certainly did not include the scribes, whose teaching he was challenging.
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