“He said this to indicate how he was going to die. The crowd responded, “We understood from Scripture that the Messiah would live forever. How can you say the Son of Man will die? Just who is this Son of Man, anyway?””
John 12:33-34 NLT
The people in the crowd were just not getting it. Just a few minutes before, Jesus had referred to Himself as the Son of Man – John 12:23, “Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory”. And the same people were there when He spoke about the kernel of wheat, and then when He had a conversation with His Father in Heaven. Of course, we also mustn’t forget that the miraculous raising of Lazarus from the dead was still foremost in their minds. What else did Jesus have to do to get across to them that He was the Son of God, the Messiah, and the Saviour of the Jews?
But Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man. In effect, all us males are sons of man. Not to offend anyone, we are all sons and daughters of men and women. In other words, we are all human. So when Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man, He was emphasising His humanity. He was the Son of God and the Son of Man, divine and human. In the New Testament, Jesus referred to Himself eighty one times as the Son of Man, and then there was an eighty second mention from the lips of Stephen, as he was martyred – “And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honour at God’s right hand!”” (Acts 7:56).
Jesus also used the descriptive “Son of Man” as a statement of His humility. A humility that was exposed in a definite way when He washed the disciple’s feet. A humility that fulfilled the suffering servant prophecy we see in Isaiah 53. Jesus said, as recorded in Matthew 20:28, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus never went around lording it over people and using an elevated title to explain His true status. In all humility He rode a donkey into Jerusalem, hardly a mode of transport fit for the King that he was. He came to serve.
Jesus was God’s Son, part of the trinitarian Godhead, but also He was one of us as well. And, somehow, that humanity forms a link between God and His creation, mankind. In Colossians 2:9-10, we read, “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority”. There is also that tremendous verse – Romans 8:29 – where Paul wrote about Christ having many siblings – “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters“. We pilgrims are part of God’s family, and all because we believed in Jesus and His offer of salvation and eternal life. The Son of Man and the sons and daughters of men and women all combine into a glorious and united family, a family that one day will be all together in the presence of our Father God.
Father God. Through Your grace, love and mercy, You have accepted us as Your children. We are so grateful. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 