Tobit 11:5-17 / Mark 12:36-37
We might wonder why the people were delighted with what Jesus said in the gospel.
What was it that seemed to be like good news to them?
The topic of discussion was the title "the Christ" which means the anointed one.
The title was closely connected to another title "son of David".
At that time the religious authorities maintained that the Christ must necessarily be a direct descendant of King David.
However the problem was that King David's direct line of descendants was already terminated when the Persians conquered Judah.
So there was this question about the Christ being the son of David because the possibility was almost non existent.
So when Jesus quoted the psalm from David and explained it, He cleared the confusion and doubts the people had in their minds.
That was why they were delighted, because they could now believe again.
We too have our questions about life, about the existence of God, about suffering and about eternal life.
But may the Word of God grant us some directions for our lives so that even as we may not be able to have answers to the questions of life, we will still walk in the directions that lead to God.