The Son of Man
No title did Our Lord use more often to describe Himself
than “the Son of Man”. No one else ever called Him by that title, but He used
it of Himself at least 80 times. His existence both eternal and temporal is in
it. In His conversation with Nicodemus He indicated that He was God in the form
of Man.
The Son of Man referred to His human nature which was in
Personal union with His Divine nature, is evidenced from the fact that the
first time Our Lord ever referred to Himself as “The Son of man” was when He
was recognized by his disciples as the “Son of God”. Christ entered into human
existence. He appeared just like a normal human being. His suffering and death
were logical consequences of this humiliation. As God, he could not suffer but
as a man he could.
Sometimes the title ‘The Son of Man’, is used with reference
to His coming on the last day to judge all people; at other times, it referred
to His mission to establish the reign of God on earth and to bring forgiveness
of sins; but more often it refers to His passion, death and Resurrection.
Hidden in it was His mission as Saviour and His humiliation as God in the
weakness of human flesh.
The Son of God took another name ‘The Son of Man’ not to
deny His divinity but better to affirm the new condition He had taken. He so
humbled Himself that he even died a shameful death i.e. on the Cross. The Son
of man implied not only humiliation but identification with sinful humankind.
Though ‘The Son of man’ expressed His oneness with humanity, He was very
careful to note that He was like man in all things except sin.
The human family has its trials, so He sanctified them by
living in a family. Labour and work done by the sweat of the brow was
humanity’s lot; therefore He, ‘The Son of Man’, became a carpenter though there
is no evidence in the Gospel that Our Lord was ever ill, there are many
instances where He sickness as if it were His own. Hence, in the performance of
a cure, He sometimes ‘sighed’ or ‘groaned’ after looking up to heaven, the
source of His power. Human infirmity touched Him so deeply, because deafness,
dumbness and leprosy were the effects of sin. As humanity wept He too wept. He
made the sorrow of humanity His own, e.g. when Mary was weeping over the death
of her brother, Lazarus, Jesus sighed and felt the sorrow as His own.
Finally, the title ‘The Son of Man’ meant that He was
representative not of the Jews alone, nor the Samaritans alone but of all
humankind. The title proclaimed this fraternity with people. But persons cannot
be just brothers unless they have a common Father, and God is not a Father
unless He has a Son. To believe in the fraternity without the Fatherhood of God
would make people a race of bastards.
Sympathetic love brought Him down from heaven to earth.
Christ’s unity with the sinful was due to love He suffered because He loved He
put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. God has always been shrouded in
mystery. From ages past, human beings have often asked what would God look
like? But the question was often dismissed with the reminder that God is
“quadosh” – totally other – and hence we can’t even imagine what God must be
like. At the time of Moses there was a widespread belief that if ever one saw
the face of God he would die. This belief safeguarded the mysteriousness of
God.
The Incarnation has changed all that. In the person of
Jesus, God has taken on a human nature, a human form, a human face. The gulf between
God and person is now bridged. God is no longer quadosh (totally other). He is one like us; one with us. The word
became flesh and dwelt among us (Jn 1:14). No longer can human beings complain:
“What does God know of my pain and sufferings?” In the person of Jesus, God has
had a first hand experience of being a refugee of human, thirst, opposition,
rejection, betrayal, suffering and finally even death.
Seen through the eyes of faith, Jesus becomes for us the
human face of God!
