The Hero of Our Story: The Son of Man

One of my favorite moments from 14 years of youth ministry was when one of my students was confronted by a man who told him he need to stop telling people about Jesus. You see, we were on a mission trip called SEMP, which stands for Students Equipped to Minister to their Peers. And that afternoon our students took to one of the beaches around Santa Cruz, California with a questionnaire, asking people some basic questions about life and spirituality. If someone was open, they had the opportunity to share with them the good news about Jesus Christ. Now, what was so great about this mission experience is that each evening we debriefed with our students what God was doing in their lives through this experience. It was during this debriefing time came one of my favorite moments.

You see, David Wood, who was our Senior Pastor’s son, had been sharing the story of Jesus with someone, when an older man came up to him and yelled at David telling him, “You don’t even know who you are talking about.” “You don’t know this Jesus anymore than I do.” “You have no business being out here doing this.” When David shared his story, you could tell this man had gotten under David’s skin. At first, he thought, “Well maybe he’s right. Maybe I don’t know Jesus all that well.” But what happened next was beautiful. David got angry. Why? Because he realized he did know who He was talking about. He was talking about Jesus, the Son of God, who loved him, and with that, David came to realize how much he loved Jesus. Now, he was like a dog with a bone, and no one was going to tell him otherwise. When this man he didn’t know told him he didn’t know who he was talking about, this challenged David. As a result, David’s faith in Jesus came alive. I just loved seeing that transformation. That night Jesus became the hero of his story. And no one was going to keep him from sharing about his Jesus.

Now I tell you this story, because at first, David wasn’t all that sure if the man who’d confronted him wasn’t right. Maybe he didn’t know Jesus all that well. Maybe he needed to get to know Jesus better before he told others about Jesus. And maybe that’s how you feel. Like David, you’re not sure if you know Jesus all that well. After all, understanding who Jesus is as both God and man is not always easy.   He’s hard to get a handle on. At other times he seems so removed from our everyday lives. After all, the story of Jesus took place over 2000 years ago. And even though you may marvel at his miracles, are wowed by his wisdom, and blown away by his sacrifice… you still have questions, you still have doubts.

If you’ve ever struggled with your understanding of who Jesus is; if you’ve ever wrestled with the reality of God becoming a man and have a hard time reconciling this mystery about Jesus; and if you’ve ever wondered how someone who walked this planet 2000 years ago is relatable to today’s culturally sophisticated American, then you came to the right place. For this morning, we’re going to unpack the role that Jesus most identified with in his everyday life. We’re going to look at Jesus as the Son of Man. We’re going to look at how his being the Son of Man perfectly combines His life as both God and man, how His Mission as the Son of Man reveals His passion for all people, and then see why He truly is the most relatable person who ever lived. My hope is that after today we will come away with a better grasp of how amazing Jesus truly is and why He is the Hero of our story. So, lets dig in. Let’s begin by looking at

1. The Mystery of the Son of Man The Prophet Daniel was the first one to identify the unique nature of one to come who was both divine and human. Here’s his vision: 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 nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. Daniel 7:12-14     This is a picture of the coronation of King Jesus in heaven. At this time, the Ancient of Days (God Himself) hands over to the Messiah, the reign of the Kingdom of God. At that time He will have all authority, glory and power; and every nation and every person will worship the Messiah as their King. This is a brilliant picture of Jesus taking the throne: A picture of Jesus as both human and divine – the Son of Man is both man and God.

Now, this helps us begin to grasp why Jesus calls himself “the Son of Man.” This name perfectly combines his human role as the Messiah, the Son of David, and His divine role as God in the flesh. Here’s an example of how Jesus reveals himself as both the Messiah and God in his encounter with a paralyzed man that is brought to him: Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” Then the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man. Matthew 9:2-8

This scene describes why Jesus was so profoundly mysterious in his day. When Jesus claims the Son of Man has the power to forgive sins, he specifies that he possess this power “on earth.” He therefore owes it to his human condition. The Son of Man, a real man, was needed to forgive sins on earth. This power is what struck awe in the people, and “they praised God, who had given such authority to man.” But not just any man – only Jesus had this power. This was the power of the Son of Man. His power verified Jesus as both the Messiah and as the Divine.

But at the same time, it was his power and authority that gave religious leaders fits. They accused him of blasphemy when Jesus forgave sins. They refused to accept Jesus as the real deal, even when he healed the paralytic, thus proving His divine authority, because they only saw a man. They refused to see otherwise. And this is what many people still struggle with today. They refuse to see anything other than a man. And it’s their pride or spiritual blindness that keeps them from seeing that He is truly divine.

Now, this is not the only time the Jews struggled with believing that Jesus was both human and divine. Here’s another encounter recorded for us in the gospel of John, chapter 8, beginning in verse 21, Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”

This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”

But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

“Who are you?” they asked.

“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. “I have much to say in judgment of you. But He who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from Him I tell the world.”

They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.”  Even as he spoke, many believed in him. John 8:21-30

Sometimes people are just going to struggle with who Jesus is. It’s normal for people to have difficulty believing that someone can be both man and God. But here, Jesus gives us the one evidence that will help them believe: It’s the cross! As we share the story of Jesus, we must tell the story of both his death on a cross and his resurrection from the grave. If we leave this out, people will struggle to believe. There is proof in his sacrifice and there is power in his resurrection. To many, Jesus is just a man until they hear of Jesus death and resurrection. Then they must either believe or reject him. Jesus, the Son of Man is both God and man.

Okay, there’s so much more that can be said and taught about the mystery of Jesus as the Son of Man, but lets move on now to look at The Mission of the Son of Man: For this I want you to hear two very clear statements made by Jesus. The first comes from Luke’s gospel: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10

And the second comes from Mark: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45

I want you to hear and feel the urgency of God’s mission as a man. God became man so he could come to us, pursue us, serve us and ultimately give His life for us, so He could save us. The Son of Man comes on the ultimate search and rescue mission. We were lost! He came to find us and bring us safely home!

We were lost! When Kayla and Courtney were little, one of my greatest fears as a parent, was that we might loose one of them. I feared one of them might wander away while we were in the store or at a park. I remember one time, when we were shopping when I lost sight of Courtney. What I remember is the jolt of adrenaline that shot through my veins. My actions at the moment were swift.   I stopped shopping and immediately searched for her. I found her in about ten seconds. But those ten seconds seemed like an eternity. All kinds of thoughts rattled through my head in those moments… Now, can you imagine what it must have been like for Jesus? This is why he was so focused on his mission. This is why he came: to seek and save the lost.

The Lost! Now, calling someone “lost” today is kind of an odd thing to say. We don’t like to tell a friend that he’s lost, because we’re afraid it might offend them. But think about this: How many of us have ever said, “I need some time to find myself”? If that ever described a generation, it’s ours. Maybe you tried to “find yourself” back in the day by experimenting with drugs… maybe you tried to find yourself by pursuing relationships, maybe you tried to find yourself through education, or by making a name for yourself, or by building a business, or creating a family. I don’t know what particular path you chose to find yourself, but I do know this: If there were a path by which we could find ourselves, apart from God… we would have found it by now.

But the truth is, that apart from God seeking us and bringing us home to him… we are all lost. All of us were blind to the life God wants for us. The Bible says, no one seeks God (Romans 3:11) all of us have gone astray, all of us has turned to our own way (Isaiah 53:6) all of us were held captive by the deceptions of darkness (Colossians 1:13) and we were all enslaved by sin (Romans 6:6). We couldn’t please God if we wanted to, and we didn’t want to! (Romans 8:8) All of us needed a Savior. And so God sent One. His name is Jesus, the Son of man, who came to seek and save the lost.

God wants the lost to be found. That’s why He sent Jesus. And that’s why Jesus is the Hero of Our Story. Jesus is the Son of Man who came to seek and save the lost. That was His mission then and our mission now. Do you feel His urgency? Do you see lost people like Jesus sees them?

There’s never been anyone quite like Jesus. He is both God and Man. He became a fully human so He could save us. It’s this final quality that actually makes Jesus the most relatable person who’s ever lived:  The Humanity of the Son of Man What I love about this quality is that it shows us HOW Jesus came to live among us as an authentic human being. Jesus himself said: The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ Luke 7:34

Jesus may have been fully divine, but there’s no question about how thoroughly human He was. In fact, all throughout the gospels Jesus displays all our human emotions and characteristics. Look at all the humanness Mark records for us: Jesus felt fully: Jesus was filled with compassion. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Mark 1:41

Jesus got distressed: He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.” Mark 8:12

Jesus got angry:  He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Mark 3:5

Jesus got annoyed: When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Mark 10:14

Jesus suffered disappointment: “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” Mark 9:19

Jesus got hungry: The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Mark 11:12

Jesus asked questions: Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. Mark 9:21 And this is just in the gospel of Mark.

Matthew shows us that Jesus had a sense of humor. A couple are obvious: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:24 People would have snickered when he said, “When you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets” Matthew 6:2 In other words, “Don’t toot your own horn!” Jesus’ humor was sometimes subtle, and sometimes cutting.

But John shows us how Jesus grieved: there’s no greater evidence of this then at the tomb of his dear friend Lazarus:  When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept.

Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” John 11:33-36

All this to say is that Jesus was fully human in every way. And as the writer of Hebrews describes him: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:15-16

Do you hear what the writers of Jesus’ story are telling us? Jesus identifies with your life in every way. He knows your struggles, your fears, your hopes and hurts. He knows how disappointing life can be. He knows what it feels like to be rejected. He knows how much we long for joy. He knows the pain of loneliness. He knows the sin you struggle with. He knows the temptations you face. He’s human in everyway just like us, but he never sinned so He could be our Savior. This is why as the Son of Man, any man can now know Jesus. This is why Jesus is the Hero of our Story.

So one question remains: Is Jesus Your Hero?

Do you believe He is seeking you? Do you believe He died for your sins and rose again? If so, if you believe in Jesus, God’s Word says: “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are made right with God, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10

Let’s pray!