Let These Words Sink Into Your Ears
Read: Luke 9:43-50
But while they were all marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, 44 “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.” 45 But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying. 46 An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. 47 But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side 48 and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.” 49 John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” 50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.”
I know that we will be studying seven verses together on Sunday, but when Jesus introduces one of the verses with the command, “Let these words sink into your ears,” it behooves us to carefully consider what He is about to say. Think on this: ”The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.” Though only 14 words, this sentence is filled with meaning, especially to His first century Jewish audience. Jesus refers to Himself 81 different times in the New Testament as the “Son of Man.” This title comes from a prophecy given in the seventh chapter of the book of Daniel:
“I was watching in the night visions,
And behold, One like the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven!
He came to the Ancient of Days,
And they brought Him near before Him.
Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed.
The Son of Man was just another name for the coming Messiah. He is the King whom all nations and peoples will serve eternally. He enters this scene from the clouds, as a god would enter; however, He is not described as one like the Son of “god.” Apparently He bears more of a resemblance to a man. So this title, given 600 years before Christ would appear on the earth, is hinting to the Jewish people that the Messiah will not only be god-like, but somehow He will also be human-like. So when Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man, the disciples are picturing the glorious man who descends from the clouds and is given eternal dominion, glory, and authority. The Son of man is unconquerable and unthwartable. He is the sum total of every superhero Marvel, Disney, D.C. Comics, mythical greek gods, or any other fictional super-human figure ever created. None can compare.
So when Jesus says that the Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men, you can begin to understand why the disciples would need to ruminate on that for a while. It would be the equivalent of us being told that the prophesied wedding feast of the lamb we read about in Revelation 19 will be preceded by a toxic serving of poison to all the guests! How could anyone enjoy the feast if we’ve all been poisoned beforehand? How could the Son of Man rule in power if He is delivered into the hands of men? It is inconceivable.
The truth is that the first century Jews had interpreted the prophecies of the Old Testament in the ways that were most palatable to their tastes. They chose to ignore or simply spin to their liking the prophecies that said the Messiah would suffer and die (passages like Psalm 2 or Isaiah 53). These were too difficult to understand when juxtaposed to prophecies like Daniel 7. How could these two things both be true?
What scriptural truths do you struggle to reconcile and therefore bend or spin them to make them easier to swallow? How open are you to being wrong about presuppositions in areas that are more mysterious in Scripture? How many theological gymnastics are you performing in order to make something that is said fairly plainly say something more to the cultural liking? If we aren’t careful, “the” Son of Man who sits on an eternal throne could be usurped and replaced by “a” son of man whose reflection looks a lot like us.
