“Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.”

Titles are sometimes curious things.  In the Western world we have the traditional Mr., Mrs. and Miss, although the last one is quite old school these days.  Ms. replaced it some time ago.  Then we have Dr., Esq., Rev. and other titles that accompany a particular vocation.  All of them carry a certain amount of respect, or should.  Then you have titles that come with high-ranking government jobs, like king and prime minister.  Generally these don’t get abbreviated, although increasingly I have seen PM for the latter.

When it comes to titles that describe the Lord Jesus, some are more controversial than others.  For example, take Son of God.  Boy, does this get some people — particularly Muslims — majorly irritated.  This is particularly disgusting to them because they think it means that Allah came down to Earth and had a one-night stand with Mary.  Allah does and did no such thing!  Well, Christians would agree with the concept.  It is decidedly absurd as it is repugnant.

But when it comes to a title like Son of Man, well, there’s very little controversy.  That’s because it focuses on Christ’s humanity.  Most people, including unbelievers, find it much easier to accept a totally earthly and earthy Jesus, a completely human Jesus without all that divine stuff mixed in.  Why, if Jesus had a few faults of his own, that would be ideal!  We could all relate to him a whole lot better and easier that way.  So the thinking goes of fallen man.  Nothing to worry about here: no accountability, no judgment, no negative eternal consequences.  Ah, feeling better now?

However, Jesus didn’t come to put us at ease when he described himself as the Son of Man.  True, this title speaks of his humanity, that he was fully human, a man born in a fallen world who physically lived and endured the same trials and experiences as everyone else.  But there’s much more to it than that.

Let’s get a little handle on the title first.  After scattered appearances in Job, Psalms, Isaiah and Jeremiah, it shows up in a big way — over 90 times! — in Ezekiel indicating his humanness.  In virtually each case, it speaks of human beings, not prophetically of Christ.  Then in the gospels we see it as Christ’s most frequent description of himself, appearing 83 times.  And looking at what he said about himself as the Son of Man reveals a different story than what unbelievers want to believe.

First, in the first New Testament usage, Jesus said in Matthew 8:20, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head”.  Jesus was responding to a teacher of the law who said he would become his follower.  He was poor enough not to own any place of his own to stay.  In other words, he was completely counting on the hospitality of others.  Homeless Jesus?  Yep.

Second, in Luke 7 Jesus got pretty blunt when describing the unbelief of his generation.  In verse 34 he said that “The Son of Man came eating and drinking” but the rejecters said, “Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners”.  Nothing special about him.  After all, he was homeless.

But the story changes in a hurry.  In Matthew 9:6 he said immediately before healing a paralytic, “…the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”.  Uh oh, here comes that divinity thing.  It gets worse: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory” (Matthew 25:31).  Indeed, Son of Man is Christ’s messianic title: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.  He approached the Ancient of Days [God the Father] and was lead into his presence.  He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him.  His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14).  It is precisely because Jesus is Son of Man, a resurrected son of humanity, while at the same time being fully divine, that makes him alone among the Personages of the Trinity both Mediator (1 Timothy 2:4) and Lord (Philippians 2:11).  Jesus was only homeless on earth; he in fact owns the universe!

As you walk with the Son of Man, are you keeping up with who he is and what he’s about?