thou, The Son of Man must be lifted up? who is this Son of Man?” Here the difficulty arose because the people identified the Son of Man with the Messiah, yet could not conceive how such a Messiah could die.  In fact, if the conception of the Son of Man which is found in Enoch had obtained any general currency among the people, either from that book or independently of it, it was so foreign to the earthly condition and manner of life of the Galilean prophet, that it would not have occurred to his hearers to treat his use of the title as a Messianic claim until after that claim had been published in some other and more definite form.  Their Son of Man was to come with the clouds of heaven, seated on God’s throne, to execute judgment on all sinners and apostates; the Nazarene fulfilled none of these conditions.  The name, as used by Jesus, was probably always an enigma to the people, at least until he openly declared its Messianic significance in his reply to the high-priest’s question at his trial (Mark xiv. 62), and gave the council the ground it desired for a charge of blasphemy against him.

265.  What did this title signify to Jesus?  His use of it alone can furnish answer, and in this the variety is so great that it causes perplexity.  “The Son of Man came eating and drinking” is his description of his own life in contrast with John the Baptist (Matt. xi. 18, 19).  “The Son of Man hath not where to lay his head” was his reply to one over-zealous follower (Matt. viii. 20).  Unseemly rivalry among his disciples was rebuked by the reminder that “even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister” (Mark x. 42-45).  When it became needful to prepare the disciples for his approaching death he taught them that “the Son of Man must suffer many things ... and be killed, and after three days rise again” (Mark viii. 31).  On the other hand, the paralytic’s cure was made to demonstrate that “the Son of Man hath authority upon the earth to forgive sins” (Mark ii. 10).  Similarly it is the Son of Man who after his exaltation shall come “in the glory of his Father with the holy angels” (Mark viii. 38).  In these typical cases the title expresses Jesus’ consciousness of heavenly authority as well as self-sacrificing ministry, of coming exaltation as well as present lowliness; and the suffering and death which were the common lot of other sons of men were appointed for this Son of Man by a divine necessity.  The name is, therefore, more than a substitute for the personal pronoun; it expresses Jesus’ consciousness of a mission that set him apart from the rest of men.