It may be difficult, in view of the varied elements which entered into His Messianic conception, to infer with confidence from the substance of the sayings in which Jesus refers to Himself as the ' Son of Man,' precisely the Messianic conception He understood to be covered by that designation.*^ And much less can we suppose that His whole Messianic idea is embedded in these sayings. He refers to Himself by this designa- tion in only a portion of the sayings which must be utilized in an attempt to determine His Messianic con- ception; and there is no reason to suppose that He always uses this designation when giving utterance to conceptions which He subsumed under it. Neverthe- less, having guarded ourselves against rashness of in- ference and undue narrowness of view by reminding ourselves of these obvious facts, we must certainly, in an attempt to discover the significance of the des- ignation * Son of Man ' in the Gospel of Mark, begin by observing the actual connections in which Jesus is represented in that Gospel as employing it, with a view to discovering, as far as possible, from the substance of these sayings the actual implications which it em- bodied for Him, and through Him for the writer of this Gospel who reports just these sayings from His lips.
43 Cf. the opening sentence of Dalman in his discussion of this sub- ject {fVords, 256).
28 The Designations of Our Lord
From these sayings, then, we learn that the life of the ' Son of Man ' on earth is essentially a lowly one : He came not to be ministered unto, but • Son^?£*^ Man ' ^° minister (lo^^). Suffering belongs therefore to the very essence of His mission (8^^ 9^^'^^ 10^^ I4-''^^) and has accordingly been pre-announced for Him in the Scriptures (9^^ 14^^). But this suffering is not in His own behalf, but for others, the form of His ministry to whom is "to give His life a ransom for many" (lo'*^). But just because His death is a sufficing ransom, death cannot be all: having given His life as a ransom for many the * Son of Man ' shall rise again (8^^ 9^'^^ 10^^). Nor is this vindication by resurrection all. He is to "rise again" after three days (8^^ 9^^ 10^'*), but is to " come " again " in clouds with great glory and power" (I3^^ cf. 14^^) at some more remote, undes- ignated time (13^"), to establish the Kingdom in which He shall sit at the right hand of power (14^-). At this His coming He " shall send forth the angels and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven" (13^^) ; and shall show Himself ashamed of all who shall have been ashamed of Him and of His words in the adulterous generation with which He dwelt on earth (8^^). It is clearly the judgment scene that is here brought before us, and the eternal destinies of men are represented as lying in the hands of the ' Son of Man.' " His elect," " those whom He has chosen," are gathered into the Kingdom; His enemies, those who have rejected Him, are left without. Ac- cordingly it is not surprising that He who came to give His life a ransom for many (10^^) and who is
The Designations in Mark 29
to come again in order to distribute to men their final destinies should have authority given Him even while on earth to order the religious observances by which men are trained in the life which looks beyond the limits of earth (2^^) and even to forgive sins (2^^). Perhaps in the light of 8^^ 13^^, In the phrase " on earth " we may see a contrast not so much with the "power" of God to forgive sins "In heaven" (cf. verse 7 ) , as with the authority to award the desti- nies of all flesh (132^ "His elect"; 8^^ those that are ashamed of Him) hereafter to be exercised in the heavenly kingdom by the ' Son of Man ' Him- self.
What perhaps most strikes us in this series of ut- terances Is its prevailing soteriological, or perhaps we
should say soteriologico-eschatological, 'Son oT^Man' ^^^^^^ thzn christologlcal bearing. To
Mark the ' Son of Man,' as reflected In the sayings he cites from the lips of the Lord, Is the divinely sent Redeemer, come to minister to men and to give His life a ransom for many, who as Redeemer brings His chosen ones to glory and, holding the des- tinies of men In His hands, casts out those who have rejected Him — even while yet on earth preadumbrat- Ing the final Issue by exercising His authority over religious ordinances and the forgiveness of sins. Little is said directly of the person of this Redeemer. It Is a human figure, ministering, suffering, dying, — though clothed already with authority In the midst of Its hu- mility (or should we not rather say, Its humilia- tion?)— which moves before us In Its earthly career: it Is a superhuman figure which Is to return, clothed in glory — " sitting at the right hand of power " and
30 The Designations of Our Lord