If we read the New Testament, we will noice that the most common title people use to describe Jesus is “the Christ,” that is “the Messiah,” but surprisingly, Jesus almost never used that word to describe himself. Instead, Jesus called himself “the Son of Man.” The Son of Man, what does that mean? The phrase comes from an important chapter, chapter 7 in the book of Daniel. Daniel was an Israelite prisoner of war, who was forced to live in the empire of Babylon and worked for the prideful, violent king, who destroyed his home. While Daniel was living and working in Babylon, he had a prophetic dream. Daniel saw four beasts crawling out of a dark sea, hybrid monster-like animals, each scarier than the one before, but the fourth beast is so mutant, there is nothing to compare it to and it is violent, leaving death and destruction in its wake. Daniel is told that these beasts symbolize violent, prideful kings and their empires. These creatures might seem random to us, but these images are developing an important biblical theme. How humans are these remarkable creatures, capable of doing great good and horrible evil.
God creates the beasts of the field and humans together, all from the dust, but then, the humans are set apart and given a royal task of being God’s image. They are to be God’s representatives on earth, ruling on his behalf, but the humans are deceived by a beast, saying humans could be more than just God’s partners, but God knows this will be a disaster. God expels the humans to the realm of the beasts, the partnership is lost. But God makes a promise, that one day a human will be born, who won’t give in to the beast. Rather, he will overcome and strike the beast, while being struck by it.
Watch what happens next in Daniel’s dream, he sees into God’s throne room where a court is set up and God condemns the beast to destruction and then, Daniel sees that there is actually more than one divine throne, the throne that humanity left behind. There hasn’t been a human, who is able to overcome the beast and rule alongside God, until now. Daniel sees a figure called “the Son of Man,” which means “a human,” and he rides on a cloud up into God’s presence and then sits down on the divine throne, to rule the world. The partnership is renewed and even more, all humanity worships and serves this Son of Man, alongside God.
We can see why Jesus of Nazareth, when he came onto the scene, chose this title, “the Son of Man” for himself. Jesus was claiming to be that human one, on a mission to confront the beast, he was tempted to seize power on the beast’s terms, but unlike every human before him, Jesus resisted the urge to and then, he went about banishing the beast from people’s lives. Jesus was teaching people how to rule the beast, instead of being ruled by the beast. When Jesus was on trial in a human courtroom and being condemned to death, he said, from this moment on, you will see the Son of Man sitting at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds. But this is the moment he is about to die, from one perspective, the cross looks like a beastly torture device, but Jesus viewed it as his throne. On this throne, Jesus exposed the subhuman nature of our evil by letting it do its worst and then he overcame it with his divine life and love. Jesus’ execution was his exaltation, he is the first human to overcome the beast and as a result, he can partner with God to rule the world. Now, Jesus is summoning a new humanity into existence, one that can overcome the beast in the same paradoxical way, to rule the beast by dying. We can discover that Jesus’ life and power can become our life and power, we can rule the world as God’s partners, but Jesus-style, in the power of service, humility and self-giving love.
John 1:1-18, John is claiming, that to really understand who Jesus is, we need to start way, way back in the beginning and what was God doing is the beginning? God was speaking his creative word into the darkness. Words like, let there be light, let the dry land appear, let plants grow. Picture a king, who can get things done, just by speaking a word, that’s how God speaks in Genesis chapter 1, ten times. Each word turns the dark chaos into an ordered cosmos, that is full of life. A person’s word is their word, because it embodies their thoughts, but as it goes out from them, it becomes separate. It’s this idea that John explores next, notice how John has designed this opening statement, the Word’s eternal nature, he’s from the beginning and then, the Word’s identity. The Word is both with God and is God, they’re two and also one.
John 1:3-5, creation began with God bringing light into darkness and now, with the coming of Jesus, God’s beginning a new creation. John 1:6-8, John the Baptizer was preparing Israel for someone new, that God was going to do, by bearing witness to Jesus, when he arrived. John 1:9-13, John explores the choice people face, when God’s light enters the world through Jesus. Some choose to stay in the dark, but others enter the light and are recreated-reborn-as new kinds of humans. John 1:14, the eternal Word of God, entered into creation by becoming a mortal human, named Jesus and he dwelt among us. The Greek word for “dwelt” is “skaynein,” it means to live in a tent. John is comparing Jesus to the sacred tabernacle that Moses built at Mount Sinai, the place where God’s glorious presence came to live and unite with his people, Jesus is a human tabernacle. Jesus is the reality to which the tabernacle pointed, the place where God and humanity are united as one.
John 1:15, John tells about how he and his friends actually met Jesus and how they made the choice to follow and trust him and so we’re transformed by his light. John 1:16-17, John was an Israelite, part of the family that received through Moses the generous gift of the Torah that shared God’s Word and Wisdom and now through Jesus, John and his fellow Israelites have received the ultimate gift of God’s truth and love, Jesus himself. John concludes the prologue with words that echo the opening lines, on the one hand, God is transcendent and above all, but then John starts talking about this one and only God, who’s in the lap of the Father. In the prologue opening, John used the image of God and God’s world, now he uses another image of a father whose son is sitting really close. A king and his word, a father and his son, they’re both ways of saying the same thing. John 1:18, John wants to make clear, that the Jesus he knew, was both distinct from God and also God, and as God’s word and son and light and glory, Jesus came to make known. To make known what? John leaves the sentence open, it’s John’s invitation to keep reading the story.
God creates the beasts of the field and humans together, all from the dust, but then, the humans are set apart and given a royal task of being God’s image. They are to be God’s representatives on earth, ruling on his behalf, but the humans are deceived by a beast, saying humans could be more than just God’s partners, but God knows this will be a disaster. God expels the humans to the realm of the beasts, the partnership is lost. But God makes a promise, that one day a human will be born, who won’t give in to the beast. Rather, he will overcome and strike the beast, while being struck by it.
Watch what happens next in Daniel’s dream, he sees into God’s throne room where a court is set up and God condemns the beast to destruction and then, Daniel sees that there is actually more than one divine throne, the throne that humanity left behind. There hasn’t been a human, who is able to overcome the beast and rule alongside God, until now. Daniel sees a figure called “the Son of Man,” which means “a human,” and he rides on a cloud up into God’s presence and then sits down on the divine throne, to rule the world. The partnership is renewed and even more, all humanity worships and serves this Son of Man, alongside God.
We can see why Jesus of Nazareth, when he came onto the scene, chose this title, “the Son of Man” for himself. Jesus was claiming to be that human one, on a mission to confront the beast, he was tempted to seize power on the beast’s terms, but unlike every human before him, Jesus resisted the urge to and then, he went about banishing the beast from people’s lives. Jesus was teaching people how to rule the beast, instead of being ruled by the beast. When Jesus was on trial in a human courtroom and being condemned to death, he said, from this moment on, you will see the Son of Man sitting at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds. But this is the moment he is about to die, from one perspective, the cross looks like a beastly torture device, but Jesus viewed it as his throne. On this throne, Jesus exposed the subhuman nature of our evil by letting it do its worst and then he overcame it with his divine life and love. Jesus’ execution was his exaltation, he is the first human to overcome the beast and as a result, he can partner with God to rule the world. Now, Jesus is summoning a new humanity into existence, one that can overcome the beast in the same paradoxical way, to rule the beast by dying. We can discover that Jesus’ life and power can become our life and power, we can rule the world as God’s partners, but Jesus-style, in the power of service, humility and self-giving love.
John 1:1-18, John is claiming, that to really understand who Jesus is, we need to start way, way back in the beginning and what was God doing is the beginning? God was speaking his creative word into the darkness. Words like, let there be light, let the dry land appear, let plants grow. Picture a king, who can get things done, just by speaking a word, that’s how God speaks in Genesis chapter 1, ten times. Each word turns the dark chaos into an ordered cosmos, that is full of life. A person’s word is their word, because it embodies their thoughts, but as it goes out from them, it becomes separate. It’s this idea that John explores next, notice how John has designed this opening statement, the Word’s eternal nature, he’s from the beginning and then, the Word’s identity. The Word is both with God and is God, they’re two and also one.
John 1:3-5, creation began with God bringing light into darkness and now, with the coming of Jesus, God’s beginning a new creation. John 1:6-8, John the Baptizer was preparing Israel for someone new, that God was going to do, by bearing witness to Jesus, when he arrived. John 1:9-13, John explores the choice people face, when God’s light enters the world through Jesus. Some choose to stay in the dark, but others enter the light and are recreated-reborn-as new kinds of humans. John 1:14, the eternal Word of God, entered into creation by becoming a mortal human, named Jesus and he dwelt among us. The Greek word for “dwelt” is “skaynein,” it means to live in a tent. John is comparing Jesus to the sacred tabernacle that Moses built at Mount Sinai, the place where God’s glorious presence came to live and unite with his people, Jesus is a human tabernacle. Jesus is the reality to which the tabernacle pointed, the place where God and humanity are united as one.
John 1:15, John tells about how he and his friends actually met Jesus and how they made the choice to follow and trust him and so we’re transformed by his light. John 1:16-17, John was an Israelite, part of the family that received through Moses the generous gift of the Torah that shared God’s Word and Wisdom and now through Jesus, John and his fellow Israelites have received the ultimate gift of God’s truth and love, Jesus himself. John concludes the prologue with words that echo the opening lines, on the one hand, God is transcendent and above all, but then John starts talking about this one and only God, who’s in the lap of the Father. In the prologue opening, John used the image of God and God’s world, now he uses another image of a father whose son is sitting really close. A king and his word, a father and his son, they’re both ways of saying the same thing. John 1:18, John wants to make clear, that the Jesus he knew, was both distinct from God and also God, and as God’s word and son and light and glory, Jesus came to make known. To make known what? John leaves the sentence open, it’s John’s invitation to keep reading the story.
