Tuesday 30 October 2007

Today we are drawing from a resource Wink uses to write about the identity of "the son of Man."



T.W. Manson...suggested a "communal interpretation" of the Human Being. the "son of the man" is "an ideal figure and stands for the manifestation of the Kingdom of God on earth in a people wholly devoted to their heavenly King." Jesus' mission was to create the kingdom of the saints of the Most High - a fully human community that honored the integrity and uniqueness of all people. Jesus and his disciples together " should be the Son of Man, the Remnant that saves by service and self-sacrifice, the organ of God's redemptive purpose in the world." He and they together, so long as they adhere to him, constitute the 'Son of Man'...'Son of Man' should be read throughout and understood to connote 'the people of the saints of the Most High' and to denote Jesus and his disciples"



This is not a community that "gets it right." It is a community of saints who are what they are - the beloved of God and participants in this Reign or Kingdom even now. Within this Reign, there is a participation in the vision and the life of the one who brings God's Reign to life. We look to Jesus as that one who leads us and has already brought this life....to life. When we then read of this image of the 'son of Man' we are being led to the vision and the reality of this contrary figure who bring the fullness of humanity out in the open and into an expressive concrete reality that engages our world with the life that comes when humanity becomes just what we are: beloved creatures with the creative universe of God's Reign. In some ways, when we look at the use of this title like this, we are more fully drawn into the storytelling for it is now not only a story of Jesus back then...it is the story of the whole faithful community of saints of the Most High.



Connection: We walk today within the simplicity of our humanity. And yet, that simplicity is revolutionary for we are being drawn into a bold new life even as we are simply the ordinary folk we are - humanity breaking out into the life God has invited us to live. That's a powerful way to view our involvement in the mundane aspects of this day.



Lead us, O God. Lead us into the unfolding of your gracious Reign so that as it opens up around us we will know that we have a place within is grand embrace and, in fact, we are a part of that embrace as we move along the way. Amen.l