Child of Humans

Mark 9:2-13

“Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.” (ESV)

“Elijah does come first and restores all things. Yet how is it written about the Son of Man? That he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? (exoudeneō) But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, just as it is written about him.” (Mounce)



According to Strong, this word exoudeneō only occurs once in the whole New Testament. It supposedly means to treat with contempt, to utterly scorn, to treat as if of no account, to “set at nought”.

It’s a good thing I have a habit of skepticism, because that just ain’t true! Here it is in 2 Corinthians 10:10— “and his rhetoric amounts to nothing. (exoutheneō— also spelled ἐξουθενόω, to make light of, set at naught, despise, treat with contempt and scorn, Lk. 18:9; to neglect, disregard, 1 Thess. 5:20; ἐξουθενημένος, contemptible, 2 Cor. 10:10; of small account, 1 Cor. 1:28; 6:4; by impl. to reject with contempt, Acts 4:11)

So my question is— was Jesus asking rhetorical questions or not? If not, the text doesn’t record how the disciples answered. In that case, is it incumbent on us to try to answer those maybe-not-rhetorical questions? What is written about ‘the Son of Man’ in the Old Testament? The phrase is all over Ezekiel (93 times), and my research tells me that “ben-adam” or “son-of-human” in Jewish scholarship means “humankind”. So, that means that every time Jesus refers to himself as Son of Man, he’s equating himself with the human race as a whole. Wow!

Over and over again God addresses Ezekiel as “Son of Man” and gives him unpalatable directions: Ezekiel 2:8 “But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.”

So, to be like Christ, the Son of Humans; like Ezekiel, we should ‘open our mouth and eat what is given to us’ ?

Ezekiel 12:2 “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house.”

Like Christ, we live in a defiant and hostile world, filled with Humans who refuse to look and see; listen and hear, because they are pigheaded, stubborn, and unruly.

Ezekiel 21:6 “As for you, son of man, groan; with breaking heart and bitter grief, groan before their eyes.”

Oh, the implications!

Ezekiel 22:2 “And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then declare to her all her abominations.”



Child of Humans



Homeless children;

no-account bastards

with no choice

but to open our mouths

and eat what we are given.



Sleeping in doorways;

camping in stairwells;

but we still live on this planet—

breathing the same air,

walking on the same dirt,

eating our ‘humble pie’

out of dumpsters.



Who are you to say,

with your ‘whatever’ attitude,

that we don’t see and hear

all sorts of things

that you don’t?



Should we judge

the bloody city?



Well?

Should we?