I’ve written on this topic before but felt I should touch it again. Back in 2020, I wrote Building Our Brands. Today, I want to bring out another facet of this subject.
Son of Man
Jesus and His work resonated with the Israelites, but here’s a vital difference between Christ’s agenda and the Israelites. The people wanted Jesus to be a king that would immediately defeat Rome. But Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man during His earthly ministry. In fact, Jesus is referred to as the Son of Man eighty-eight times in the New Testament. This title carries great meaning. There’s an excellent post titled, What does it mean that Jesus is the Son of Man? If you want to learn about this topic, I recommend this post.
In Matthew 12:14, we learn, “But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.” and in John 6:57, “As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me” and in John 6:66–67, “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?'”
Not a Brand, but the Son of Man
In these verses, we see that the people surrounding Him didn’t influence Jesus. He didn’t live to be a brand; He lived to be the Man, the Son of Man. He lived to annihilate what satan had done to God’s creation. In this act, Jesus provided a way of escape for the children of Adam.
Fast forward to the 21st century. I’m not judging Christmas or the traditions of Christmas. We see Jesus as the Brand on almost everything marketed to Christians for Christmas. However, we can’t choose to pray to “baby Jesus” (a nod to Talladega Nights).
Jesus is not a product. His actions are motivated by love for us. Perhaps we should start using, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” as our Christmas tagline. That would draw the lost towards the Son of Man (Romans 6:23) and away from Jesus, the action figure – 9 Christian action figures you won’t believe exist. By the way, how could a kid play with Jesus, the action figure? I can’t wrap my head around that!
You may like: A Living Hope