Scripture: Matthew 20:17-28
Title: Jesus – Son of Man
Structure:
- Introduction
- Glorious King
- Suffering Servant
- Conclusion
Introduction:
I have here a New Zealand half penny
– On one side is the image of a tiki and on the other side the image of a young Queen Elizabeth the Second
– Two quite different images – one coin
– ‘Two sides of the same coin’, is an expression which means two things are related even though they seem quite different
– The tiki and the queen are both icons of New Zealand
Glory & suffering are two sides of the same coin.
– Although they are quite different experiences they are closely related – we can’t have glory without suffering
– Just like we can’t have reward without sacrifice,
– Or light without shadows, or love without pain, or hope without loss, or privilege without responsibility
All these are examples of what we mean by two sides of the same coin – things that are so closely related they can’t be separated and yet they seem quite different
Today we continue our series on the Titles of Jesus, this morning focusing on the Son of Man, Jesus’ favourite way of referring to himself
– The Greek word translated as ‘man’ is a gender inclusive word, so it is more accurately ‘son of humankind’, but we will stick with the term son of man because that’s familiar
– Son of Man is like the proverbial coin with two sides
– It speaks of both the humanity and divinity of Jesus
– It implies both sacrifice and reward, service and authority, the cross and the crown, glorious king and suffering servant
Glorious King:
To get an idea of what one side of the Son of Man coin looks like we need to go back to the time of the Jewish exile, when the prophet Daniel was serving in Babylon. From Daniel 7, verses 13-14 we read…
13 “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. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples 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.
To understand these verses we need to look at the context
– In Daniel 7 the prophet Daniel is describing a vision
– First Daniel sees four beasts or four monsters – which are representative of successive kingdoms of the ancient world, each one more frightening and inhumane than the one before
– These monsters, or kingdoms, stand in opposition to the Kingdom of God
– In verses 13 & 14 Daniel sees, not a monster, but one like a son of man
– A human being – someone made in the image of God – someone who behaves, not as a monster, but as God intended
– This son of man figure is representative of Israel – the people of God
The Ancient of Days is a poetic way of referring to God Almighty
– The Son of Man is closely related to God Almighty
– The Lord God gives the son of man authority, glory and sovereign power over all the nations of the earth
This then is one side of the Son of Man coin – the glory side
The Book of Daniel comes from the Hebrew Bible, what we call the Old Testament, so when Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man his Jewish disciples naturally think in terms of the figure described in Daniel 7 – someone powerful and glorious, with God given authority
– And this certainly is one side of the coin as Jesus affirms in various parts of the gospel, like Matthew 19:28, for example where he says…
28 …“Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
The allusion to Daniel 7 is pretty obvious here
– By calling himself the Son of Man, and saying his disciples will rule over the twelve tribes, Jesus is implying that he is representative of the new Israel – that he embodies the Kingdom of God
Jesus also talks about his glory as the Son of Man in Matthew 24 where he speaks about his second coming at the end of the age…
“Soon after the trouble of those days, the sun will grow dark, the moon will no longer shine, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers in space will be driven from their courses. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky; and all the peoples of earth will weep as they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. The great trumpet will sound, and he will send out his angels to the four corners of the earth, and they will gather his chosen people from one end of the world to the other.
Again, the connection with Daniel’s vision is unmistakable
Suffering Servant:
Jesus, the glorious king, is only one side of the Son of Man coin – the other side is Jesus the suffering servant
– Please turn with me to Matthew chapter 20, verse 17 – page 29 toward the back of your pew Bibles
– Before Jesus comes with the clouds and is crowned with honour and glory, he must first eat dirt and suffer the cross
– I suppose if Jesus did have a coin in his kingdom (and I don’t think he does but if he did) it might have the picture of an empty tomb on one side and a cross on the other. From Matthew 20, verses 17 to 28 we read…
17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and spoke to them privately, as they walked along. 18 “Listen,” he told them, “we are going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. They will condemn him to death 19 and then hand him over to the Gentiles, who will make fun of him, whip him, and crucify him; but three days later he will be raised to life.”
20 Then the wife of Zebedee came to Jesus with her two sons, bowed before him, and asked him for a favour.
21 “What do you want?” Jesus asked her.
She answered, “Promise me that these two sons of mine will sit at your right and your left when you are King.”
22 “You don’t know what you are asking for,” Jesus answered the sons. “Can you drink the cup of suffering that I am about to drink?”
“We can,” they answered.
23 “You will indeed drink from my cup,” Jesus told them, “but I do not have the right to choose who will sit at my right and my left. These places belong to those for whom my Father has prepared them.”
24 When the other ten disciples heard about this, they became angry with the two brothers. 25 So Jesus called them all together and said, “You know that the rulers of the heathen have power over them, and the leaders have complete authority. 26 This, however, is not the way it shall be among you. If one of you wants to be great, you must be the servant of the rest; 27 and if one of you wants to be first, you must be the slave of the others— 28 like the Son of Man, who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many people.”
May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us
At Christmas time, and sometimes birthdays, a box of Roses chocolates normally appear
– Roses chocolates come in an assortment of flavours – they are not all the same. Yes, they are made in the same factory with the same chocolate, but they have different centres
– We all have our favourite flavours and also the flavours we won’t touch
– It seems none of the women in our family like the mint Roses, because they always get left. Sometimes I open the box to find four mint chocolates and nothing else, which suits me because I quite enjoy mint
– Robyn likes the coffee flavour whereas coffee chocolates make me gag
In NZ the mint flavoured Roses come in a green wrapper – which makes perfect sense. But in the UK the coffee flavoured Roses come in a green wrapper, which is just a cruel joke if you ask me – first world problems
In Matthew 20, the Scripture passage we just read, Jesus shows his disciples the other side of the Son of Man coin
– They know all about the glorious king who will come riding on the clouds and they love that flavour of the Son of Man
– But they don’t seem to want to know anything about the suffering servant, that’s a flavour that gets left in the box
Verses 17-19 are the third time, in Matthew, that Jesus has predicted his own death and with this third prediction comes the most detail
– Jesus is going to Jerusalem knowing he will be betrayed, condemned to death and handed over to the Gentiles, who will mock him, whip him and crucify him
– This is basically the opposite of what Daniel had described – in Daniel’s vision the Gentiles worship the Son of Man, they don’t mock and kill him
– Saying the Son of Man would suffer in this way was completely foreign to the disciples, like a green wrapper on a coffee flavoured chocolate, it just doesn’t make sense
– But it’s not all doom and gloom – after the suffering comes the glory, after death comes resurrection – Jesus rises on the third day
The disciples aren’t ready yet to face what Jesus is saying about sacrifice – they are still thinking about the reward Jesus had mentioned in Matthew 19, of sitting on thrones to rule the 12 tribes of Israel
– Straight after Jesus’ passion prediction the mother of James & John approaches Jesus with great reverence for a favour…
– ‘Promise me that these two sons of mine will sit at your right and your left when you are King’
– On the one hand this shows strong faith in who Jesus is – the disciples, of whom the wife of Zebedee appears to be one, are fully committed to the belief that Jesus is the Son of Man spoken of by the prophet Daniel
– But on the other hand the request reveals misplaced ambition and an ignorance of the other side of the coin
– Jesus is a suffering servant as well as a glorious king and somehow his suffering redeems people, so his sacrifice is not in vain, it has purpose
When we think of the brothers’ request in light of Jesus’ crucifixion we remember the places to Jesus’ right and left were occupied by criminals, condemned to die – James & John don’t know what they are asking
Jesus says to James & John, “Can you drink the cup of suffering that I am about to drink?”
– “We can”, they answer – and indeed they would
– The book of Acts tells us James was killed by king Herod, while tradition tells us John was exiled to the island of Patmos
– Both brothers sacrificed and suffered in quite different ways for Jesus
The other disciples are not happy with the brothers so Jesus acts as a peace maker – he gets them together to prevent any bad feeling from turning septic
– Interesting how Jesus has the wisdom and grace to transform something that could have been quite destructive into a teachable moment
– Conflict often drives people apart but Jesus is able to use conflict to bring people together – amazing
Jesus explains that things operate differently under his reign
– In the kingdoms of this world (as represented by the monsters in Daniel’s vision) greatness is characterised by pushing people around
– But in God’s Kingdom, as represented by the Son of Man, greatness is characterised by service to others
– The values of God’s kingdom are, in many respects, the opposite of the values of this world
– For this reason God’s kingdom is sometimes called the ‘upside down kingdom’
Now for those familiar with the Netflix series, Stranger Things, ‘the upside down’ is a dark and toxic place, filled with horror and monsters (Poor Barb)
– It would be more accurate to think of the world we live in as ‘the upside down’ and the kingdom of heaven as the way things are supposed to be
– We only think this world is normal because we don’t know anything else
Jesus’ idea that greatness is measured in service to others is a complete paradigm shift – it requires us to retrain our minds & change our behaviour
Last week, Elissa & Hannah spoke about their trip to Nepal and the work of the Leprosy Mission there
– They told us about a leading edge surgery where the doctors take the tendon attached to the middle finger and splice it, connecting it to the other fingers. This surgery restores movement to the whole hand
– Surgery by itself isn’t enough though – people who have had the surgery need to retrain their brain to move their fingers, because the tendon of the middle finger is now connected to the thumb and ring finger
Or to use another illustration:
– Backing a trailer requires the driver to move the steering wheel in the opposite direction than they would backing without a trailer
– Backing a trailer is counter intuitive – you have to do everything the other way around
Jesus’ idea that greatness is measured in service to others is counter intuitive at first, requiring us to retrain our minds & change our behaviour
Now when we talk about service to others we mean service without ulterior motives
– If someone gives a lot of money away to charity with the intention of getting a knighthood then that’s not really service to others, that’s service to oneself
– But if someone gives money away out of love for people, in a way that doesn’t make themselves look big or others look small, then that’s true service
True service requires us to die to ourselves and what we want – it often involves the crucifixion of things like our ego, our reputation and our ambition
– Jesus suffered massive indignity and humiliation in going to the cross
– He didn’t do it for the glory – he did it out of love for God the Father and love for us – glory was simply the consequence of suffering love
Contemporary New Zealand culture is different, in some ways, from the ancient Middle Eastern culture of Jesus’ day
– It would have been quite shocking for Jesus’ disciples to hear that the slave (the person on the lowest rung of society) was the greatest in God’s kingdom – but that’s not shocking to us
– Despite the growing gap between rich & poor in this country we still like to think of ourselves as egalitarian
– Generally speaking we like the underdog (at least in our imagination)
– And we are quite ready to criticise and dishonour those in positions of power and leadership – it’s the New Zealand way
– But focusing on someone’s social position misses the point
– It’s not about position or status, it’s about service, and one can serve the interests of others from any social position, high or low
– Jesus is not saying, ‘Down with the man’
– He is not saying politicians and those in authority are bad
– We still need leaders, and good ones, but leadership is just a function
– Service to others is the true measure of greatness
Jesus is a leader – a very powerful leader, with God given authority, and yet he doesn’t abuse his power for his own advantage
– Jesus uses his power to save others, at great cost to himself
Mother Teresa modelled the kind of service Jesus was talking about
– Although she didn’t hold any political office or command any military power, she had a certain authority or mana or influence which came from her service to the poor
Father Damien De Veuster also modelled the greatness of service to others
– During the 19th Century, Father Damien served as a priest to the people of Molokai Island – a medical quarantine for people with leprosy
– Father Damien taught the Christian faith to the people and also cared for the patients himself
– He established leadership within the community to build houses, schools, roads, hospitals, and churches.
– He dressed residents’ ulcers, built a reservoir, made coffins, dug graves and shared food, providing both medical and emotional support.
– If you want to be great become the servant of all
Most of us are unlikely to do the sorts of things Mother Teresa and Father Damien did but we can still serve others where we are, with what we have
The word ‘deacon’ means servant
– To be a deacon of Tawa Baptist is to serve this congregation and that’s what each of our deacons do – they serve Christ by serving you
– There’s a tremendous amount of work in being a deacon these days – it’s not just a pretty title
– And in addition to their deacons’ responsibilities each one is involved in hands on service to the church, whether that’s painting or fundraising for 24-7 or helping in Club Intermed or leading all-age services and so on
It’s not just the deacons though – we have some very able musicians in this church who could easily play to a larger audience if they chose to but they don’t, because it’s not about them. They are committed to serving God and serving you, here in this place
In many ways I’m preaching to the choir – because I know that pretty much all of you here are serving others, either in the life of this church or through your work, in the community or at home, so I don’t need to labour the point
Conclusion:
Today is the first Sunday in Lent. Lent is a time when we prepare for Easter
– It is a time of self-examination – a time for realigning ourselves with the values of God’s kingdom and the attitude of Christ
– We need to do that because we live in the upside down, we live in relative darkness, with monsters, and so it is easy to lose sight of God’s kingdom
– We need to remember there are two sides to the coin
Jesus Christ is the Son of Man – He is both glorious king and suffering servant
– We don’t want to be so focused on the glory to come that we forget others and start serving our own ambition
– But nor do we want to become so immersed in our service to others that we despair of this life and forget the glory of heaven
– We need to keep both sides of the coin in view
Questions for discussion or reflection:
1.) What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon?
– Why do you think this stood out to you?
2.) What comes to your mind when you hear the term ‘Son of Man’?
– How is this similar to or different from the disciples’ understanding?
3.) Reflect on / discuss the continuity between Daniel’s vision of the Son of Man and Jesus’ use of the term (e.g. Daniel 7:13-14, Matthew 19:28 & 24:29-31)
4.) What is your favourite Roses chocolate? Is there any flavour you won’t eat?
– Which side of the Son of Man coin do you prefer – glorious king or suffering servant?
– Why is that do you think?
– How might we keep both sides of the coin in view?
5.) How does Jesus act as a peacemaker in Matthew 20:24-28?
– How might we act as peacemakers in similar situations?
6.) What might ‘service to others’ look like for you?
– What does it mean to die to oneself?
Tawa Baptist 