“’But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’” — he then said to the paralytic — ‘Rise, pick up your bed and go home.’” (Mt 9:6)
“So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mk 2:28)
“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Mk 10:45)
“And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, ‘Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?’ But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?’ And Jesus said, ‘I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.’” (Mk 14:60-62)
“For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” (Lk 9:26)
“No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (Jn 3:13-16)
Father, I cannot comprehend the glory or the humility of the Son of Man. Be gracious to me and help me see the beauty of Jesus, the Son of Man.
In one sense, Jesus is like you and me. He was a man. The most common title Jesus used to refer to himself was Son of Man, and on the surface, the bare title, without any context, seems to imply nothing more than that Jesus was human. Of course, He certainly was human, and that idea is included in the title, but “Son of Man” is a rich phrase with multiple meanings. It carries with it the idea of glory, authority, suffering, and humility.
When Jesus says “you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven,” or when He talks about the Son of Man coming in his glory or descending from heaven, He is referring to a specific context. The prophet Daniel wrote this:
I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. (Dan 7:13-14)
When Jesus speaks of the glory of the Son of Man, He is saying that He is the Son of Man Daniel saw in his vision. He is saying that He will come on the clouds of heaven, that He receives authority and a kingdom, that all people shall bow before Him, and that His kingdom shall not end. All these things are tied up in the title “Son of Man,” and none of them deals with mere humanity.
Sometimes the ideas “Son of Man” and “Son of God” are used in the same context to refer to the same person (Mk 14:60-62; Jn 3:13-16). The terms may not mean exactly the same things, but they can at times be used interchangeably.
When Jesus says that “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Mt 9:6) or that the Son of Man is lord even over the law that God gave (Mk 2:28), He is claiming an authority beyond that of a normal human. This authority is bound up in the identity of the Son of Man. Jesus has authority over the law, authority to judge the world, and authority to forgive sins because He is the one like a son of man who receives authority and a kingdom that shall never end, before whom all people shall bow. He has this authority because He is the son of man in Daniel 7. Jesus identifies Himself as such.
And yet, the term Son of Man carries another meaning as well. It entails humility and suffering. “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mk 10:45). Jesus may have the glory and authority of Daniel’s son of man, but for a time, He laid it aside and took up the sufferings of a man. Jesus did not think it robbery to be equal to God. Nonetheless, “he made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Ph 2:7-8). At times, the title “Son of Man” refers to this great act in which Jesus stripped Himself of His glorious prerogatives and became nothing. The glorious son of man in Daniel died on a cross. He did so because He was in a real way a son of man.
Jesus identified with us, for “the Son of Man came eating and drinking” (Mt 11:19), and “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Lk 9:58). The Son of Man is one of us. He became one of us that He might give His life for us. The Son of Man has full right to represent the human race. He has that right because He was a man.
And yet He was so much more.
