Son of David

April 29

Joshua 20-21

Psalm 51:16-19

Proverbs 12:13-14

Luke 18:24-43

Son of David

“And he called out, saying, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’  And those who went ahead were rebuking him so that he would be quiet,  but he kept crying out all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ And Jesus stopped and commanded that he be brought to Him,  and when he came near, He questioned him, ‘What do you want Me to do for you?’ And He said, ‘Lord, I want to regain my sight!’  And Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight; your faith has saved you.’  Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him, glorifying God.  And when all the people saw it, they gave praise to God.” 

Luke 18:38-43  LSB

2 Samuel 7 contains the Davidic Covenant where God promised to establish David’s Kingdom forever.  By the time of Jesus, the promise of a descendant of David who would establish a never-ending kingdom had taken on a political as well as spiritual meaning.  The Jews were waiting expectantly for a Messiah to save them from Roman rule and bring peace and justice to their people.  The term “Son of David” had become synonymous with the “Messiah.”  By calling Jesus “Son of David,” Bartimaeus was expressing faith that Jesus was indeed their long-awaited Messiah.  Jesus was referred to 10 times in the New Testament as the “Son of David” usually by people crying out for mercy and healing expressing their faith in Him.    

Matthew 1 gives Jesus’ genealogy through his adopted father, Joseph, and Luke 3 traces His lineage through His biological mother, Mary.  Royal lineage was generally passed down through the father’s side, so it was important that it be established both by blood through His mother and by adoption through His father.  Jesus clearly met the criteria of the Messiah that He be a descendant of David.  The Pharisees knew exactly what the people meant when they called Jesus the “Son of David.”  Unfortunately, Jesus did not meet the expectations of what they were looking for in the Messiah.  They wanted a military king who would make them the leaders in His new kingdom, not someone who questioned their rules and authority.  The Pharisees had become very powerful and were enraged by Jesus’ lack of respect for them.  The Messiah that they had been looking for their whole lives was right before their eyes and they were blinded by their pride and unable to see the answer to their prayers.  Unrealistic or misguided expectations can cause us to be blinded to Jesus’ presence and interventions in our lives as well.  When He does not do what we want or think He should, we can become disillusioned and think He hasn’t answered our prayers.  Often we just refuse to accept His answer.   We have to be careful that we are guided by Biblical truth and not our own desires.  Our faith cannot be in getting a desired outcome.  The object of our faith must be Jesus, trusting that He will do for us what is right.  We can be confident that He will answer our prayers in the way that is best for us and for the situation.  We need to be like Bartimaeus who was physically blind but had spiritual sight, instead of like the Pharisees who had physical sight, but were spiritually blind. 

April 30