In Sunday’s Gospel (taken from John 12), we read: “Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.’”
Have you ever wondered where the term “Son of Man” comes from and what it means? The first place it appears in the Bible is in the Book of Daniel (7, 13). That seventh chapter begins with the description of a frightening vision of Daniel in which he sees the cruel, savage world powers – the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Medes and the Persians – as wild beasts: a winged lion; a bear with three tusks; a four-headed leopard; and a terrible, ten-horned wild beast. In the end, however, Daniel sees a gentle, humane, and gracious ruler in the form of a man. Our ancestors. the Jews, under repeated foreign rulers and bondages, dreamed of such a God-sent ruler. They preferred to call this “promised Messiah” by the name “Son of Man.” This Jewish dream of a world conqueror is clearly stated in other places in the Scriptures.
It was but natural, then, that the Apostles shared this ancestral view and consequently saw Daniel’s “Son of Man” in Jesus. Jesus willingly took on this title, but He promptly corrected them, in part, by replacing their dream of world conquest and political power with a vision of His Cross and suffering.
As we prepare for the end of the Lenten season and the arrival (in just one week) of Holy Week, let us pray: “Father, help us to be like Christ your Son, who loved the world and died on the Cross for our salvation. Inspire us by His love, guide us by His example, and allow us to walk in the light of His truth, forever and ever. Amen.”
