[20].2i.2i.[22].23.23.[24].26^ cf. lO^^'^^). It csnnot be Said, of course, that this supreme authority is explicit in every case of the actual use of the term: in a number of instances the term may express no more than high respect and a general recognition of authority, and in several instances it is represented in parallel passages in the other evangelists by one or another of its lower synonyms. ^^ But its tendency is distinctly upwards; and no reader can fail to catch a very high note in its repeated use, or can feel surprise when it is observed to be connected usually with at least Messianic impli- cations (15^^ 20^°'^^ ^21,21^ ^j^j jg found occasionally to be suggestive of something even higher (25^''''^^). Nor will he be surprised to perceive that in its highest connotation it appears characteristically upon the lips of our Lord Himself, who represents men as seeking to enter the Kingdom of Heaven by crying to Him 'Lord, Lord' (7"^), and as addressing Him on the Day of Judgment as He sits King on the throne of His glory by the appropriate title of ' Lord ' (25^'^'^^) . In the latter case, of course, nothing Is lacking of rec- ognition of divine majesty Itself: this 'Lord' Is not only " the Son of Man " come In His glory with all the angels with Him (verse 31), 'the King' (verses 34, 40) seated on the throne of His majesty (verse 31), but 'the Judge of all the earth,' distributing to each man his eternal destiny, according to the relation in which each stands to His own person.
It Is clear enough from passages like these that
21 ^afi^ei Mk 9^ (174) ; ^a^i^ovi Mk lo^i (aoSi-s^) . S^UffxaXe Lk 488 (825)^ Mk 917, Lk 938 (1715) ; irziardra Lk 82* (825) 933 (174).
J2 The Designatio7is of Our Lord
our Lord is represented by Matthew as conceiving ^ ^ His relation to His followers as very
an Appella^tLn properly expressed by the term 'Lord.' But the appellative use of the term of Jesus is nevertheless not common in Matthew. No more in Matthew than in Mark is Jesus spoken of by the evangelist himself or represented as freely spoken of by others as ' the Lord.' Even in the words of the angel at the tomb, " Come, see the place where the Lord lay" (28*'), the words "the Lord" are probably not genuine. Nevertheless, on the lips of our Lord Himself the appellative use of the term does occur, and that in no low significance. He declares Himself as ' the Son of Man ' to be ' Lord of the Sabbath '
(12^). He instructs His disciples in requisitioning the ass and her colt for His formal entry into Jeru- salem to reply to all challengers with the simple words, "The Lord has need of them" (21^), — and the nar- rator connects this instruction with the fulfillment of the prophecy that the King of Zion shall enter it " rid- ing upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass " (verse 5), He warns His followers that as they know not on what day 'their Lord' cometh (24*-), — that Lord who is the Son of Man, who is to come in glory for the judgment of the world (verse 44), — they are to preserve a constant attitude of watchfulness. And in accordance with these declarations He explains that though David's son. He, the Christ, is much more than David's son, — as David himself in the Spirit recog- nized,— even David's 'Lord' (22^^'*^), and that, a Lord who sits on the right hand of the Lord who is Jehovah. It is in full harmony with these definitions of His Lordship cited from the Lord's own lips that
The Designations in Matthew 73
the evangelist himself (3^) applies to Him the term ' Lord ' in that prophecy of Isaiah, in which there is promised " a voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ye ready the way of the Lord," Jehovah; thus identifying His coming with the promised advent of Jehovah and His person with Jehovah who was to come. However little therefore the mere form of address ' Lord ' as applied to Christ may necessarily imply in Him a superhuman dignity, it is clear that the actual Lordship accredited to Him by Matthew, and by Himself as reported by Matthew, stretches above all human claims.
We cannot fail to have observed, as we have con- templated these honorific addresses and titles accorded ,, . . to our Lord, that it is His Messianic
Al€ssi3.nic
Titles dignity which proximately underlies