The Crucified Messiah

The inability of men to recognize Jesus as the Son of God until after his crucifixion is a key theme of Mark , and the first man who identified him as such was the Roman centurion on duty during his execution. The self-identification of Jesus as the “ Son of Man ” who suffers for his people made him repugnant to unregenerate men and unrecognizable to Israel (“ His own received him not ”).

The literary unit in chapters 1 and 2 of the Gospel of Mark includes five stories that highlight the authority of Jesus as the “ Son of Man ,” and shows the growing conflicts between him and the religious authorities from Jerusalem, especially over issues of ritual purity and Sabbath regulations. There are parallels between the present story and the preceding one about the cleansing of the leper.

Jesus explained that he was going to Jerusalem where the Son of Man would be arrested, tried, and executed  – Mark 10:32-34. Jesus is “ on the way ” to Jerusalem and the Cross in the  Gospel of Mark . This theme occurs several times, beginning with John the Baptist who was sent to “ prepare  the way  before the Lord .” The Nazarene would complete his messianic mission as the ‘ Suffering Servant ’ portrayed in the  Book of Isaiah  when he was tried by the priestly leaders of the Temple and executed outside the walls of the City of David at the hands of Rome, the  World Empire .

Jesus defeated Satan in the wilderness, and the effects of his victory were demonstrated as he exercised authority over demonic forces upon his arrival in Galilee where he began to proclaim the Good News – “ Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near! ” For, in Jesus of Nazareth, “ The people that sat in darkness Saw a great light. And to them that sat in the region and shadow of death, to them did light spring up .” With the appearance of the “ Son of Man ,” the era of salvation had commenced.

In the three synoptic gospels, the term “ Son of Man ” is the self-designation found most often on the lips of Jesus. It is derived from Daniel’s vision of the one “ like a Son of Man ” who received the “ dominion and kingdom ” from the “ Ancient of Days .” According to Jesus, “ All the tribes of the Earth ” will mourn when “ they see the Son of man coming on the clouds of Heaven .”