28 December 2026 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malabar Rite · മലയാളം
““What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.”” Matthew 22:42
Three days after Christmas the Church remembers David, the shepherd boy of Bethlehem who became king, poet and prophet. God promised him a house and a throne forever. Jesus, born in David's town, asks the Pharisees: “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They answer, “The son of David.” Then he quotes Psalm 110, where David calls the Messiah “my Lord”. How can he be both David's son and David's Lord? Only if he is the eternal Son of God who became David's descendant. The mystery of Christmas is hidden in that question.
Hebrews lists the heroes of faith, among them David, “who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions.” Others suffered mockery, chains and death. “Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised”: they were waiting for Christ, and for us. The child of Bethlehem fulfils all their hopes.
Theme: “Whose son is he?”
David and the Messiah.
“Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.” 2 Samuel 7:16
““What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.”” Matthew 22:42
Apply: Thank God for keeping his promises to you.
“The LORD says to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”” Psalm 110:1
“If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” Matthew 22:45
Apply: Adore Christ as Lord before the crib.
“But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” 1 Samuel 17:45
“who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,” Hebrews 11:33
Apply: Bring one great difficulty to God in the Lord's name.
David's hope is fulfilled in Bethlehem.
Let our faith rest in the Son of David.
Take-home resolution: Pray one psalm each day of the Christmas season.
Dear friends, today our Church remembers David, king and prophet. The Letter to the Hebrews lists him among the heroes of faith: Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises (Hebrews 11:32–33).
Hebrews also remembers those who suffered: they were stoned, sawn in two, killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy (Hebrews 11:37–38). Faith does not always win in this world; but it always wins with God.
David was a great sinner and a great penitent. He committed adultery and murder, yet when the prophet Nathan confronted him, he repented with all his heart. His psalm of repentance, Psalm 51, is prayed by the Church every day. God promised that the Messiah would come from his line.
In the Gospel Jesus asks the Pharisees: what do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he? They answer: the son of David. Jesus asks: how is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord? (Matthew 22:42–43). The Messiah is David's son, but also David's Lord: truly man and truly God.
The Child of Yaldo is born in the city of David as son of David, yet he is David's Lord and ours. In him the promises to David are fulfilled.
Let us learn from David both his faith and his repentance. When we fall, let us not hide, but return to God with a contrite heart: have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love (Psalm 51:1). Amen.
Children, David was a shepherd boy from Bethlehem who became a king. Jesus, born in Bethlehem too, is our King and Shepherd!
Lord Jesus, Son of David and David's Lord, you fulfil every promise made to the fathers. Give us David's faith and his love for prayer, and keep us faithful until we receive all you have promised. Amen.
The day's title names David, King and Prophet, and both readings speak of him. Hebrews places David in the long line of those who lived by faith and did not yet receive what was promised. In Matthew, Jesus asks how the Messiah can be both David's son and David's Lord. Three days after Yaldo, the question points straight to the Child of Bethlehem, born in David's town.
Setting.
Hebrews 11 is the great roll of faith, from Abel onward. The preacher has reached the judges and kings, and sees that he cannot go through them one by one: “time would fail me”. So he lists a few names and then a string of deeds, and those who know the Scriptures can fill in the stories. The chapter prepares for the climax in 12:1–2, where these witnesses surround us and Jesus is “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith”.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets” (11:32)
The list includes people with grave faults, and Scripture does not hide David's sin (2 Samuel 11–12). The faith that the list honours is trust in God, kept or found again.
“who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,” (11:33)
David fits every phrase: he subdued kingdoms (2 Samuel 8), he did justice for his people (2 Samuel 8:15), and he received the promise of a lasting house (2 Samuel 7). The lions recall Daniel in the den (Daniel 6:22), and also David and Samson.
“Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection.” (11:35)
Probably the martyrs of the Maccabean persecution, Eleazar and the seven brothers (2 Maccabees 6–7). “Sawn in two” in v. 37 recalls a Jewish tradition about the death of Isaiah. A note on the text: in v. 37 some manuscripts have another word in the list, “they were tested”, which the POC includes in its own wording and the NRSV omits.
“Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.” (11:39–40)
The Church before Christ and the Church after him are one people of faith, moving toward one goal.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that the Old Testament is rich in witnesses to faith, and that the “something better” God foresaw is the grace of believing in his Son (CCC 147). It tells us to look to this cloud of witnesses (CCC 165), and it calls David the king “after God's own heart”, the shepherd who prays for his people and in their name (CCC 2579).
Setting.
We are in Jerusalem, in the last days before the Passion. Jesus has been questioned in the Temple about the tax to Caesar, the resurrection and the greatest commandment (22:15–40). Now he asks the question himself. Many in Israel hoped for a king from David's line, on the strength of God's promise in 2 Samuel 7:12–16 and of texts like Isaiah 11:1, and the Pharisees give the expected answer. Jesus does not deny it. He shows that it is not the whole answer.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” (22:42)
This is the question of the whole Gospel, and it stands in front of each reader.
“The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”” (22:44)
Psalm 110 is the Old Testament text most often quoted or echoed in the New. In a culture where a father does not call his son “lord”, the question has real force.
“If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” (22:45)
The answer is not given in words. The reader of Matthew already knows it: he is “the son of David” (1:1) and also “God is with us” (1:23). He is David's son by birth and David's Lord as Son of God. Compare Romans 1:3–4.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that Jesus ascribes the title “Lord” to himself in a veiled way when he disputes with the Pharisees about the meaning of Psalm 110 (CCC 447). It also teaches that Christ's sitting at the right hand of the Father is the start of the Messiah's kingdom (CCC 663–664). The Fathers, and the Council of Chalcedon after them, taught the mystery this text points to: one person, true God and true man.
Did David really write Psalm 110?
The heading says “Of David”, and in Jesus' day this was the common understanding. Jesus' argument starts from that shared ground. Many scholars today think of the Psalter as growing over time around David's name. Whatever the history of the text, the Church reads Psalm 110 as inspired and fulfilled in Christ, which is the point Jesus is making.
David's voice is never far away in the Malankara Church, since the Psalms run through its daily prayer and its liturgy. To remember him in this week of Yaldo is to remember the promise that brought the Child to Bethlehem.