You could be forgiven for thinking that the phrase “The Son of Man” isn’t really that specific or significant. After all, I’m the son of a man. Nothing too special there! In fact, unless you’ve taught your guinea pig to read, everyone reading this magazine is a son (or a daughter) of a man… and a woman. So why did Jesus choose this to be the title he used most often to refer to himself?
Firstly, he wanted to highlight his humanity. The God we worship is not distant or disinterested in our world and our life. Instead, he is so infatuated with us that he entered our world as a Son of Man, in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus was 100% human. He had to be, otherwise there was no way he could have died in our place. The other bonus is that we can be confident he has experienced all of the frustrations and the temptations that we experience here on Earth (see Hebrews 4:15). That’s why he prays on our behalf! (See Romans 8:34).
Secondly, he wanted to highlight his deity. He isn’t just a son of man, he is the Son of Man! Jesus was also 100% God. Again, he had to be, otherwise he couldn’t have lived a perfect life. He showed us what total obedience to the Father looked like (see Romans 5:19). Sin has distorted our ability to know and do what is right, but Jesus trumped sin, in life and in death. You could say, he gave sin a Royal Flush! His example should be a massive inspiration to us – as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit we can be mini-sons-and-daughters-of-man too!
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