Jesus used known Rabbinic techniques for reasoning through Scripture

"And as he taught in the temple complex, Jesus began to ask, 'How is it that the scribes say that the Messiah 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 put your enemies under your feet.'" [Psa 110:1]

David himself calls him "Lord," so in what sense is the Messiah [David's] son?' And the large crowd enjoyed listening to him" (Mark 12:35-37).

Some observations:

1. After a positive encounter with a scribe who was, in Jesus' own words, "... not far from the kingdom of God" (Mar 12:34), Christ uses some of the scribes' own teachings as a jump-off point for him to hint at the Messiah's Deity. He uses a statement by king David everyone was familiar with, then he draws out implications. The text he sites (Psa 110:1) contains a "hint" that the Messiah is in some sense greater than David himself. Jesus is here employing a rabbinic interpretational framework called רֶמֶז / REMEZ ("hint") which notes that the Scriptures sometimes set the reader / hearer up to draw logical inferences. The Bible requires its students to reason through its contents in order to arrive at some matters' true and faithful implications.

2. The scribes were right on this, and on most doctrinal points (Mat 23:1-3). Jesus wasn't saying that they were wrong to call the Messiah "son of David" (E.g. Mat 1:1; Mar 10:47,48; Rom 1:2; etc). He was hinting that the Messiah is shown in Israel's Scripture to be more than a mere Davidic king, like Solomon or Hezekiah.

3. It was right before Passover, remember. The holiday crowds in the temple complex were often treated to teachings by Jewish rabbis from various parts of the country, and world. Jesus was by no means the only rabbi teaching in the temple complex that day. However, the crowds seemed to have especially enjoyed this Galilean rabbi, who had only recently thrown money-changers and other merchants out of the temple area, ridiculed then silenced the chief priests, scribes and elders, told some Sadducees that they were wrong and that they didn't know the Scriptures, and he had intelligently and faithfully answered a scribe's honest inquiry about which commandment of the Law is the foremost of all. So for now at least, the holiday crowds were enjoying rabbi Jesus and his biblical teachings.

- Michael Millier