The Son of Man is a title of humility. The second Person of the Trinity, that’s God, the Son, Jesus, Yeshua, the Messiah, who is eternal in nature, He left heaven’s glory and took on human flesh, becoming the Son of Man, to be born in the way that we know He was born and to be despised and rejected by mankind.
In the Old Testament, we have the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 53 which prophesies the life, death and resurrection of Jesus some 700 years before it happened. Isaiah 53:2-3 says,
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Isaiah 53:2-3
When Isaiah speaks about Him growing up as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground, that means He came in some human form. He had no formal comeliness. When we see Him, there’s no beauty that we should desire Him. It doesn’t mean that Jesus was ugly. It just means that there was nothing special about His appearance when He appeared in human form.
When He walked around Nazareth growing up as a baby, he looked like any other child. When he was doing his ministry in Nazareth, in Galilee, in Jerusalem, He looked like any other child, any other person. He looked like a normal human being. There was nothing special about Him that would make you desire Him from His appearance.
You would think that, if God was appeared as a man, He would appear as something spectacular and glorious. Well, He did on one occasion at the mount of transfiguration when he did appear with his glory shining forth.
Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; 2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 4 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” 6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. 7 But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” 8 When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
9 Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.” Matthew 17:1-9
But imagine if He’d been walking around Nazareth, walking around Jerusalem looking like that. It would have been a bit hard for people to despise and reject Him. They’d have been a bit in fear of Him. So He took on human form for a specific purpose, in order that He might be the suffering servant of Isaiah then, to lay down His life as a sacrifice for our sins and to rise again from the dead.
And we see examples of His humility in the gospels. Luke chapter nine says,
58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Luke 9:58
In other words, He didn’t have a house, He didn’t have a room. Has anybody here not got a house or a room? We’ve all got somewhere to live, haven’t we? We give thanks for that. Well, Jesus didn’t have any property to live in. Think of that.
He had an itinerant ministry. People looked after Him, but He didn’t have a place of His own. And yet He owned the whole world.
That was temporary. It was part of His sacrifice for us.
We also read that He ate and drank with sinners. Matthew chapter 11 verses 18-19 speaks about John the Baptist. Jesus says there,
18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.” Matthew 11:18-19
Jesus ate and drank with sinners. People found fault in Him. In the previous two verses they said He was either too gloomy like John the Baptist or too cheerful:
16 “But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, 17 and saying:
‘We played the flute for you,
And you did not dance;
Matthew 11:16-17
Or He is too gloomy for them.
We mourned to you,
And you did not lament.’ Matthew 11:16-17
People often find fault with preachers. They’re either too boring or too long or too short or they’re too excitable or they’re not excitable enough. Well, you can find fault with me, but I’m trying to tell you the Word of God. So, please bear with me.
Jesus and John also had their critics. And they said of Jesus, He’s a wine bibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. In other words, He’s mixing with the wrong kind of people.
Jesus did do that. He did go to dinner with people. He met with sinners and prostitutes and tax collectors. People who were outcasts.
And that was the purpose for which He came. Later on, Jesus would say,
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” Mark 2:17
In other words, I haven’t come to minister to the healthy, I’ve come to minister to the sick. He’s also going to imply that everybody’s sick so, we all need Jesus.
But He came and He was a friend of sinners and outcasts. He came and talked with ordinary people because He wanted to get alongside them. And He wants to get alongside you and me because He loves you and me and He sees value in every human being on the face of the earth.
So, of course, He mixed with sinners, and holy people thought that was not the right thing to do. And yet, that was the purpose for which He came, in order to save the lost.
He also came knowing that this would bring Him opposition and it would bring Him, ultimately, death. He spoke about the Son of Man suffering, being about to suffer at their hands.
Jesus knew that because of human opposition and because of demonic opposition, He would face opposition while He was in the earth and that such opposition would lead to His death. An agonizing death on the cross.
Someone said, ‘If God came and lived on the earth, they’d throw stones through His windows’. And I guess that’s what it is because the world is against God.
When Jesus comes as God, He’s going to face this opposition. So, part of His coming to the earth, His humility, His coming from the realms of glory to this earth meant of course that He would face the opposition that He did face on the earth. And because of this, Jesus knew what was in human beings.
Sometimes, He was disappointed with His disciples. When he said,
40 So I implored Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.”
41 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” 42 And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father. Luke 9:40-42
Think what it was like for Jesus who’d come from the realms of glory to live on this sin-cursed earth, to live with people who were sinners and failed Him, opposed Him.
John 2 said Jesus did not commit himself to men because he knew what was in them.
23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. John 2:23-25
He had no need that anyone should testify because He knew what was in man. And, as Jesus walked about the earth, He knew that He was in enemy territory. He knew that he couldn’t trust the people, even sometimes His own disciples, to do what was right. And that was part of the cost for Jesus coming from the glories of heaven where everything was praising God, where everyone was on His side, where everyone was one in worship, and coming to the earth, where He would face sinful human beings, even people like you and me.
I guess we disappoint Jesus as well, don’t we? And there are times when He looks at us and He says, ‘Oh, how can I let my people do those things?‘ He’s calling us to repent and put it right.
But His love and His patience means that He bears with us. And He continues with us. And He’s willing to make that great sacrifice to come and to dwell amongst us.
And Paul gives us some idea of this in Philippians chapter 2, the great passage which speaks about the humility of Jesus and what it cost Him to come from the glories of heaven to the earth.
Philippians 2:6 says,
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11
If you understand this passage. it clearly means that Jesus and God are equal. He came in the form of God. The Greek word which is used here for ‘form’ is μορφῇ [morphe] which means the essential form which never changes.
So He’s not going to change that nature of being, the form of God. That’s going to be there from the beginning, from the moment of conception right through to the moment of His departure, His ascension into heaven.
He will be in the form of God, a central form which never changes. Because of that, Paul says that He didn’t consider it robbery to be equal with God. In other words, He wasn’t committing some kind of offense when He said, “I’m equal with God.” He was not blaspheming or claiming something He didn’t have any right to say, which was what the opposition actually accused Him of.
They said, ‘You know, you can’t say you’re equal with God. It’s blasphemy‘. But Jesus could say it because it was the truth. And if He didn’t say it, He’d be lying because He is equal with God. He is God.
If you look at this passage in Philippians, Paul also says He comes in the form/appearance of man. That’s another word in Greek which is σχήματι [schemati]. And the word ‘schema’ actually implies an outward form which does change from time to time according to circumstances. So, Jesus in the form of God doesn’t change but Jesus in the form of a man can change and His appearance does change.
I said as he travelled around Galilee and Jerusalem, He looked like any other man. He had no beauty that we should desire Him. He didn’t look different from any other human being. But that appearance did change at the time of the the transfiguration. He appeared with His face shining like the sun and his clothes dazzling white. And He appeared in heaven in glory.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
We read that in John chapter 1. That’s His eternal form. But His human form can change. And it’s interesting that you read the resurrection accounts when Jesus appeared in His resurrected body.
The people on the road to Emmaus didn’t recognize Him. Mary Magdalene didn’t recognize Him at first until He spoke to her. So, there was something slightly different in the form in which He appeared after the resurrection. That means that form of His coming in the form of a man can change and did change. His coming in the form of God doesn’t change. Do you get that point?
13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him. Luke 24:13-16
Okay, let’s move on. So those are the titles of His humility.