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Power to the Son of Man

Preached at St. Barnabas Church, Bellville, TX

Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity, 2008

by The Rev. Stephen E. Stults

Matthew 9:6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins,
(then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.

Who is the Son of Man?

What does this title tell us about Jesus Christ and

Why does Christ refer to himself as the Son of Man?

Why is this portion of Scripture important?

Why is it significant for my life?

These are some of the questions that may have arisen in your minds as we heard the Gospel selection for the day. They are very good questions, ones that we should ask when we are confronted with Scripture. Questions about religion are not bad, especially when they are asked in the context of faith. When we hear something from Scripture that we don’t understand, we should ask; in fact our Father expects us to seek continuing truth from his Holy Word. When questions come from a sincere desire to know the truth, presupposing that Scripture has the truth to tell us, they are good and valuable. But questions asked from a vantage point of spiritual rebellion, or disbelief, or hostility to Christianity are not acceptable because they tend to gender strife rather than understanding. For example, St. Paul warns Timothy against engaging with those who just want to argue for argument’s sake, rather than for the sake of seeking the truth.

This brings us to our first question, “Who is the Son of Man?”

The most direct reference to the “Son of Man” comes from the prophecy of Daniel, who is considered one of the four “major” Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. This particular reference comes from the 7^th chapter of Daniel, where Daniel has one of his great prophetic dreams. In this dream, Daniel foresees the rise and fall of the great ancient kingdoms of the earth, including the Medes, Persians, Greeks and Romans.

He then shifts his prophetic vision to eschatological, or end-time events. It is in this context that the verse concerning the Son of Man occurs:

Dan 7:13-14: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

So far in his dream, Daniel sees the Messiah approaching the Most High God. From this we know that “Son of Man” refers to the expected one of Israel, the one who will inherit all power and honor and glory, as illustrated in this next verse:

“And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”

This is a clear prophecy of the majesty and kingship of Christ, at least among conservative and orthodox scholars. According to Daniel, Christ receives back the Creation he once made, redeemed and glorified in Him. Although this passage in Daniel seems to indicate the end-time, where God the Father has “rolled up” creation and presented it back to the Son, it can also be seen as Christ’s resumption of the glory that he had with the Father before all time at the conclusion of his earthly ministry and his enthronement in Heaven.

However one views it, Christ’s ministry is eternal, being eternally begotten of the Father and ministered to us by Holy Spirit, who proceeds eternally, at least in Western theological thought, from the Father and the Son. This is the so called “Filioque” clause, which was the cause of so much controversy between the Eastern and Western Churches. The point is, if we take an orthodox view of Daniel’s prophecy, we have a clear picture of the glory of Christ.

It’s important to note the presence of a cloud or clouds when God reveals Himself to mankind or appears in his majestic state. Note that in the Old Testament, God appeared to Moses and the Israelites in a cloud, often called the “thick darkness.” A cloud led the people of Israel through the desert of Sinai as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus and the two disciples with him were enveloped in a cloud, out of which God the Father spoke.

In Hebrews 12:1, St. Paul says: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”

This cloud is called the "Glory Cloud" by theologians and doctors of the Church. It is mentioned a few places in Ezekiel, Exodus and also in Revelations. Ezekiel says it looked like a giant tornado in that it was dark, stormy, and cloudy with lightening and thunder. The name given to it is the “Shekinah Glory,” which both John and Ezekiel got to see from the inside out. The floor is a sea of glass. Note that John sees in Revelations that the cloud is populated, but this does not happen in the Old Testament because the Kingdom had not yet been opened. This happens with the ascension of Christ and thus, John sees myriads of saints that Ezekiel did not see.

In the center is the throne of God, with the Son seated at right hand of God. Presbyter bishops help lead a perpetual liturgy: the “Holy, Holy, Holy” in a chant of praise for eternity. There is a fearsome aspect of cloud, but also there is light, joy and unspeakable, blazing light.

Clouds and the glory of Christ are linked again and again in Holy Scripture.

This glory is inexplicably connected to Christ and to the Godhead. Thus, it is significant that the title, Son of Man, should be applied to the person and ministry of Jesus Christ.

This leads us to the second question: what does the appellation “Son of Man” tell us about Christ and why does he use it reference to Himself? If one accepts the Messianic quality of the term in the light of Daniel and other references, as in the Book of Revelations, it seems to lead us to the conclusion that Christ was self-aware, that he was, in fact, proclaiming Himself to be the ancient, Messianic figure foretold centuries before.

To we orthodox Anglicans this is not a problem, for we know that Christ is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow. However, as I was researching this topic of the “Son of Man”, I was amazed by the amount of scholarly opinion that holds for a host of opinions, ranging from rank disbelief, to Christ’s desire to keep his messiahship “under wraps”, or that he was referring to a Son of Man, or that he really wasn’t aware of who he was.

The fact is Christ uses this term over 80 times in the Gospels and 26 times alone in the Gospel of Matthew. I do not think that Our Lord would not have done that without excellent reasons.

Some possible reasons we may surmise for this usage are the following, which may as well be an answer to the third question: why is this passage of Scripture important?

Let us consider the following:

1. Christ, being the last testament to mankind, is the living bridge between the Old Testament and the New. In Him are promises are kept and all prophecies fulfilled. Thus, in using the term “Son of Man”, Christ was showing Himself to be that continuity, the Renewed Covenant, by using Old Testament language recognizable to any scripturally literate Jew in reference to Himself.

2. Christ never openly proclaimed Himself to be the Messiah, except one time to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. The passage in John shows not only the inclusiveness of Christ, as he tells the outcast Samaritan woman who He really is, but also runs counter to modern revisionist thought that Christians are a bunch of misogynists, women-haters. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

3. Christ wanted his followers then and us now, to discover him by faith. Open proclamation that one is a messiah-figure rarely meets with anything but incredulity and scorn. Jesus Christ was self aware, not only that He was the Son of the Most High God, but that he came to earth for one purpose, to redeem fallen mankind. All one must do is refer to Luk 2:49, Where Christ at age 12 was sitting in the midst of the doctors and scribes in the Temple, both asking and answering questions:

 "And He said to them, Why did you look for Me? Do you not know that I must be about My Father's business?”

This leads to the last question that we might ask about this passage of Scripture: why is it significant for my life?

First of all, in the passage and its reference to the Daniel and the “Son of God” title we see that Jesus Christ is prophesied as the coming Messiah. We note Christ’s frequent use of the term, showing not only his self-awareness of who He is, but also of his Lordship over all mankind.

Christ’s kingship is clearly illustrated in the miracle that he performs in Capernaum. He perceives that the man has sufficient faith to be healed, then out of his kingly mercy, accomplishes it with a word. Note that first Christ forgives the man’s sins, thus healing his spiritual condition, paving the way for his physical healing.

So it is with us. We need Christ’s spiritual healing as a precursor to all of our other needed healings. Christ knew that a healed body means nothing without a healed spirit and that more times than not, the two are connected in some wonderful and mysterious way. Thus, Jesus Christ asserts his Lordship over both the spiritual and physical realms and points to Himself in a way to which no mere verbal statement can attest.

When we, in the private, quiet areas of our souls finally consent to make Christ the King over all that we are and over all that we will be, our own spiritual healing and growth can begin. As we meet with our risen Lord week after week in holy worship and sacramental eating, I pray that this will be the result and that we all may exhibit the fruit of our daily walk in Him: love, joy, peace, contentment, and charity.

Now to him who is Lord of Lords and Kings of Kings, to whom belongs all majesty, glory, honor and dominion, now and for ever.

AMEN

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