Jesus' questioners having fallen silent, He now took the offensive and asked them a question. Its purpose was to clarify the identity of the Messiah.
20:41 Jesus addressed the religious leaders who had been questioning Him. Matthew has Jesus asking the question of the Pharisees (Matt. 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 (v. 45). The question itself was, in what sense could Israel's teachers say that Messiah would be David's son.
20:42-43 Jesus' point was that Messiah had to be God as well as a descendant of David. He quoted Psalm 110:1 to show that this messianic psalm presented David as addressing Messiah seated at Yahweh's right hand, a position that only God could occupy.451Moreover the title "Lord"as David used it the second time (Heb. adonay) was a title of deity in the Old Testament. The psalm also spoke of Messiah coming from heaven to reign on the earth, another indication of His deity.452
20:44 Jesus drew the logical conclusion by framing it as a question. Messiah must be both divine and a descendant of David (cf. Rom 1:3-4). No synoptic writer recorded an answer. Apparently no one offered one. The conclusion was obvious but unacceptable to the religious leaders. They did not want to admit that Messiah was God. If they did, they would have to prove that Jesus was not God since He claimed to be Messiah. They did not want to do that because of popular support for Jesus' messiahship and because they would have had to submit to Him.
"This title of Lord' was a more important title than Messiah, for it pictured Jesus' total authority and His ability and right to serve as an equal with God the Father."453
