Jesus: Son of God and Son of Man. “Portraits of Christ” series
February 9/10, 2002. Steve Simala Grant
Intro:
I haven’t been doing particularly well this week. If you were here last week and noticed my absence, you also heard it was because we were in the hospital with my 16 month old son, Thomas, who was having difficulty breathing. He is doing much better with that problem this week, thanks for your prayers and especially to Brian Whittle and the others who jumped in kind of last-minute and covered for me. But now we are in the process of tests to find out why it seems that when Thomas gets a cold we end up in the hospital with respiratory problems. We don’t know why, so we are having a series of tests, and on Monday Thomas is being tested for cystic fibrosis to see if that is the cause. Joanne and I have been stressing about this since Wednesday when this possibility was suggested.
And so here I find myself, having to preach the Word of God in the midst of fear and uncertainty. I have to find some words of comfort, and of encouragement, and of hope. And honestly, that is hard this week. Maybe it will be harder next week, I don’t know but I pray not. I struggled in my research, in my thoughts, and in my prayers. Sitting down to pray through a message for this morning was difficult – to concentrate, difficult to think and to focus. But God broke through. And so I do have something to share with you today.
As I say “God broke through,” it sounds like everything should be fine, everything should be great, no more worries or concern. But that isn’t the case. You see, as I prayed Jesus didn’t come and tell me everything would be fine (although He hinted at it…), He didn’t say everything would be great (and I need to say again that He never said they wouldn’t be great). You know what He said? “Trust me.” I said, “but I want Thomas to be fine.” “Trust me.” “But he is only a little child, and I’ve been praying for him every day of his life, that he would know You and love you and love others around him. Please let him be ok.” Again, the answer was simply, “Trust me.” At this point I started to cry. I said “Lord, that is hard. That is my desire. I know Thomas is in your hands only, I know that you love him even more than I do, I know you will only do what is best for him according to your sovereign plan. But it is still hard to trust. Hard to just put Thomas in your hands.” Jesus was patient, reminded me it was good to stay persistent in prayer and in asking God to heal and protect Thomas, and again just told me to trust Him.
Having a child has taught me some things I guess I never really wanted to learn. Like how hard it is to trust. To love so much and yet be so powerless, so helpless, and just so dependent on God. That’s a good thing to learn, I know, but it is also really hard. Really hard.
I stepped back a bit. In a series of “Portraits of Christ” that we’ve been looking at through January, this week I realized again that these are not static pictures. They aren’t photos, still images that we can break out and look at and then put away. They aren’t even movies, active and passionate and alive – yet still things we passively watch. Instead, they are experiences. They are interactions. They are the essence of our relationship. We don’t sit and passively look at these portraits and then walk away with a few more things in our mental filing cabinets. We must interact with them. We must experience Jesus, we must encounter Him. We must hear Him speak as our prophet. We must walk with Him into the throne room of heaven as He is our priest. We must live by His words as our Sage.
Anything less is not Christianity. God doesn’t call us to acknowledge a series of facts, He calls us to a relationship. He doesn’t expect us to simply tick off a list of things we intellectually agree with, He calls us to walk beside Him in obedience and submission. And as I am struggling to learn this week, He doesn’t call us to understand everything, but rather to trust.
Our series brings us to this morning, where we encounter Jesus in two titles: as Son of God and Son of Man. We’ll see what picture these paint for us of the Jesus we know and interact with. And what hope there is here for us.
The portion of Scripture I chose for today is Mark 14:53-65. I chose it first because it uses both of these titles for Jesus – both Son of God and Son of Man. And secondly I thought it was a good place to start this week, since the season of Lent begins this week with Ash Wednesday. If you are unfamiliar with Lent, it is simply the season that prepares us for Easter – sort of like the weeks prior to Christmas we build towards celebrating Jesus’ birth, so also Lent builds us towards celebrating Jesus death and resurrection. So the context of the passage begins to remind us and to prepare us already for the season of Easter. I encourage you to set aside time in the coming weeks to prepare yourself for the Easter season.
But finally, and I guess kind of selfishly, I need a Jesus of power this week. I need to hold hands with my Jesus who can change things, to whom I can trust my family, to whom “all authority has been given to in heaven and on earth.” And that is the Jesus I see in this passage.
Context:
We know from the rest of the gospels that the Jewish leadership had long been looking to put Jesus to death. Quite simply, He upset the apple-cart. He disturbed things. He called for change, radical change, and condemned much that was wrong in the hearts and actions of the people. And this upset the leaders to such an extent that they were looking to kill him.
The story tells of a trial. Jesus is brought before all the Jewish leaders and rulers, witnesses are brought against Him, all in an attempt to prove that Jesus deserved to die. This is Jesus’ Jewish trial, it is the first trial; because the Romans had occupied Palestine Jesus also had to have a trial by the Roman Governor Pilate. The Jewish leaders did not have the authority to carry out death sentences, so after they had decided someone should be put to death for breaking Jewish laws, they had to make a case to the Roman government before being able to carry out the sentence. So in this first trial, the concern of Jewish leaders was to find evidence that Jesus had committed a crime worthy of death. The story tells of failed attempts to produce witnesses against Him, and then we come to the climax of the story.
The High Priest takes over, and questions Jesus. Maybe he can get Jesus to incriminate Himself. The first question is unsuccessful, Jesus remains silent. But then the High Priest asks Him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”
Son of God
You may have heard opponents to Christianity say that Jesus never claimed to be God, that calling Him by the title “Son of God” is something that Jesus’ followers made up after His death. This is really false. Here is one very plain example. True, the question is not “Are you the Son of God,” it is “Are you the Son of the Blessed One?” Why the different words? Well the Jewish leaders almost never used the name of God for fear of “taking it in vain,” and thus breaking that commandment. So they used lots of other terms for God, sometimes calling God “the Lord,” sometimes calling Him “the Name,” and sometimes using the term “Blessed One.” There is no doubt that is what Caiaphas is doing here. He is asking, as plainly as he can, if Jesus is claiming to be the Son of God. We read Jesus reply in verse 62: “I am.”
So it is clear. Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. He claimed to be divine, to have the ability to forgive sins and to heal and to command the forces of nature. And He proved it.
What does it mean for you and I? It means that Jesus was not just a good moral teacher. He wasn’t merely a good example, or a wise man, or a confrontational prophet, or an ordinary priest. He was, and is, the one and only Son of God. He demonstrated this most fully by rising from the dead – by defeating the power of death once for all – by being crucified yet by emerging from the grave victoriously. This is the most unique teaching of Christianity in comparison to other religions of the world – the One we follow still lives. Mohammed is dead, Confucius is dead, Joseph Smith is dead. Jesus is alive, and reigns forever as the Eternal Son of God.
It means as I said at the beginning that we don’t look at a static picture. We don’t read a history book. We walk with our Living Savior. We talk with Him, we listen to Him, we obey Him. He is alive, He is in charge, and He is powerful.
Where do you need the touch of the powerful Son of God? The one who would look the entire Jewish leadership in the face and declare boldly, “I am the Son of God!” I shared earlier where I need a Jesus of power – it is in the life of my family: in Thomas to heal and protect and ensure he has a full life, and in Joanne and I to trust Jesus with Thomas. We met Friday as a congregation to mourn the death of Stu Hall; I know Elaine and the rest of her family need a Jesus of power to bring comfort and peace through mourning. What about you? Do you need the powerful touch of the Son of God in your marriage? In the raising of your children? In finding victory over something to which you feel enslaved? In a physical way? Maybe it is in setting you free from sin for the very first time, and being made new as one of God’s children. Maybe it is in bringing boldness to love people around you with the love of Christ as a witness for Him. Where do you need the touch of the powerful Son of God today?
He is here. Jesus longs to come in power. All we need to do is let Him. I know how hard that is, I’m learning that this week. It is hard because it means letting go, putting Him in charge, trusting Him. It means making Him Lord instead of us trying to control everything, trying to manage it all on our own thank-you-very-much. It means letting Him be God. It means letting Him do things His way, a way we might not expect or might not find comfortable. He might ask us to give something up. He might ask us to change. He might simply ask us to trust. Will we? Will we let Him come in power?
You know the problem with the Jewish leaders is that they refused to recognize God among them. He did all the miracles, He healed and taught and corrected. And yet Jesus didn’t fit their mold. He didn’t meet their expectations. In fact, He challenged their expectations. Yet they refused to see God at work among them. They refused to believe, they refused to recognize the presence of the Son of God. There was God in their midst, but since He didn’t fit in their box they rejected Him.
We dare not do the same thing. We dare not try to keep the powerful Son of God in a box of our own construction. We dare not say “He couldn’t do that, well, I mean I guess He could but He wouldn’t…” Would He? Maybe.
I believe Jesus wants to be the Son of God in power in our lives. I believe He longs, He offers, He desires to come even now. To bring power, to change us. Will we let Him or will we resist Him?
Son of Man
There is more to the picture of a God of power. In Jesus’ answer to the High Priest, He first claims the title “Son of God,” and then uses a second title: (read rest of vs. 62). This second title, Son of Man, is Jesus’ favorite title for Himself. In the Gospels we find it used almost 80 times. There is lots of debate over it – where it comes from, what it means, why Jesus uses it. And that would be an interesting topic for a small group or for your own research. But what is clear to me is that it is also a title of power. That is clear to me from how Jesus uses it here. He quotes from the book of Daniel, 7:13(-14):
"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 and was led 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.”
Do you see the picture of power? He is given “authority,” “sovereign power,” everyone bows and worships, He is king of a kingdom that cannot fail.
We read the reaction of the Jewish leaders to Jesus’ claims. The High Priest tears his robes, declares Jesus a blasphemer, and sentences Him to death. And then, in an amazing picture, they get violent. This group of prestigious men, proud, aloof, self-important, start to spit. They punch Jesus with their own fists. And they mock Him. For Jesus to claim to be the God of Power, Son of God and Son of Man, was too much for them to bear and so they go so far as to get physical in their rejection of Him.
Conclusion
Really, this is where I see it all coming down to for us. Jesus made some strong claims – He claimed to be Son of God and Son of Man, He claimed to be The God of Power. The Jewish leaders rejected that claim and crucified Him for saying it. Now the question is how will you and I respond to these claims. I see three options: to reject the claims as did the Jewish leaders; to accept the claims, or to try and ignore them. I doubt many of you would be here if you outright rejected Jesus’ claims, but what about the other two?
Ignoring the claims: I want to be brutally honest: power in other people’s hands is terrifying. We aren’t generally afraid of power, as long as we are in control or feel we can manipulate it. As long as it meets our expectations, doesn’t get in our way, allows us to feel like we are in control, we can kind of ignore it. I think we are sometimes afraid to let Jesus be the God of Power in our lives because we know it puts Him in control instead of us, it makes Him Lord instead of us being in control every step of the way in our lives. And we worry about what He might do if we really gave Him freedom.
That leaves me the only good option being to accept His claim. That is my message this morning, probably to me first, and then the rest of us. Jesus is the Son of God. He reigns in power. He is in control – of every puff of wind, every chemical reaction, every drop of rain, every moment of time. And His greatest desire is to be fully part of our lives. He desires to reign completely in our lives, to come in power: sometimes power to change, sometimes power to sustain, sometimes in ways we can’t see or understand. Will we let Him?
Watchman Nee tells about a new convert who came in deep distress to see him. "No matter how much I pray, no matter how hard I try, I simply cannot seem to be faithful to my Lord. I think I’m losing my salvation." Nee said, "Do you see this dog here? He is my dog. He is house-trained; he never makes a mess; he is obedient; he is a pure delight to me. Out in the kitchen I have a son, a baby son. He makes a mess, he throws his food around, he fouls his clothes, he is a total mess. But who is going to inherit my kingdom? Not my dog; my son is my heir. You are Jesus Christ’s heir because it is for you that He died."
That is why we can come. That is why we can expect God to move in power in our lives. He has adopted us into His family, made us His children and His heirs. He wants to be free to move in power among us. And I believe He wants to do that now.
So, how? Jesus said in John 14:8-14 (read). So that is what I want to do now – spend our closing moments in prayer asking the All-Powerful Son of God to bring power to our lives.
