Yeshua Affirming Messianic Identity

• Luke 19:40 The Stones Would Cry Out
• Matthew 21:16 Mouths of Babies
• Matthew 16:17 Flesh and Blood Has Not Revealed This
• Mark 14:62 I Am and You Will See the Son of Man

Yeshua Affirming Exalted Status
These claims go beyond the role of teacher or prophet.

• Matthew 11:27 All Things Have Been Handed over to Me by My Father
• Matthew 12:6 One Greater Than the Temple
• Luke 22:30 Eat and Drink at My Table in My Kingdom
• Mark 2:10 Son of Man has Authority on Earth to Forgive Sins
• Mark 8:38 Son of Man Comes in Glory of His Father
• Mark 10:40 To Sit at My Right or Left Is Not Mine to Give
• Luke 4:18 He Has Sent Me to Proclaim Release
• Luke 7:22 Tell John What You Have Seen
• Mark 10:45 To Give His Life as a Ransom
• Matthew 28:18 All Authority Has Been Given to Me

Yeshua as Prophet

• Mark 6:4 No Prophet Without Honor
• Mark 8:28 Some Say Prophet
• Luke 7:16 A Great Prophet Has Arisen
• Luke 7:39 If This Man Were a Prophet
• Mark 13:2 [Foretells Temple Destruction]

These are symbolic actions, a kind of prophetic message in and of themselves. Yeshua also engaged in symbolic actions and what I call kingdom enactments.

Symbolic Actions Declaring High Authority

• The Triumphal Entry (Mk 11:1-11; Mt 21:1-11; Lk 19:29-44; Jn 12:12-19) – Riding deliberately into the city as per Zechariah 9 with crowds hailing him, Yeshua is making a claim of messianic identity.
• The Temple Cleansing (Mk 11:15-17; Mt 21:12-13; Lk 19:45-46; Jn 2:13-17) – Perhaps Malachi 3:1 is in the background (after the messenger — Elijah, John the Baptist) the Lord comes suddenly to his Temple. Yeshua quotes Isaiah 56 and Jeremiah 7. This action largely contributed to his arrest and execution.
• Forgiving Sins (Mk 2:5; Mt 9:2; Lk 5:20 and another incident in Lk 7:48) – In even the most skeptical interpretation, Yeshua is claiming to know when God forgives a sinner. Since he says in Mk 2:10; Mt 9:6; Lk 5:24 that the Son of Man has authority to forgive, evidence is strong Yeshua is claiming more. He is claiming to be the divine Son of Man with authority in such matters as per Daniel 7 and the dominion given him by the Ancient of Days.
• Sending the Twelve (Mk 6:7-13; Mt 10:5-42; Lk 9:1-6) and Sending the Seventy (Lk 10:1-16) – Even more so that Yeshua’s own mission of proclaiming the kingdom (Mk 1:15; Mt 4:17), sending disciples to proclaim it suggests starting a renewal movement (a prophetic or even messianic role).

Symbolic Actions as Identity Stories

• The Baptism of Yeshua (Mk 1:9-11; Mt 3:13-17; Lk 3:21-22) – Yeshua’s participation in John’s movement already connects him to the role of prophet. The heavenly voice affirms Yeshua’s identity.
• The Temptation of Yeshua (Mk 1:12-13; Mt 4:1-11; Lk 4:1-13) – Yeshua is tested for worthiness for a role of high authority (prophet, messiah). Satan affirms Yeshua’s identity in an ironic manner.
• The Transfiguration (Mk 9:2-10; Mt 17:1-9; Lk 9:28-36) – Yeshua ascends a mountain with three as witnesses and experiences a prefiguring of coming glory and a visit from Moses and Elijah. A heavenly voice affirms his identity.

Kingdom Enactments
In these Yeshua demonstrates that he has partially brought the kingdom with him (the rest to come later).

• Healings, for in the world to come there will be no illness, disability, or death.
• Exorcisms, for the forces of spiritual evil are due to be defeated by God.
• Banquets, which foreshadow the banquet to come, a messianic promise.

Jesus did not, therefore, veil his Messiahship by using the expression Son of Man, much less did he transform it, but He used the expression to refer, in the only possible way, to His Messianic office as destined to be realized at His “coming,” and did so in such a manner that only the initiated understood that He was speaking of His own coming, while others understood Him as referring to the coming of a Son of Man who was other than Himself.
-The Quest of the Historical Jesus, Albert Schweitzer, 1906.

There are two interpretations of the paralytic story and the saying about “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” which would take Yeshua’s words in a lesser manner, not as a self-claim to such great authority.

There is also a profound wisdom lesson in Yeshua’s riddle. This is a story that carries more complexity and meaning than many realize.

As for two lesser interpretations of “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” consider:

(1) the idea that a prophet might have divine knowledge that a person’s sins are forgiven.

(2) the idea that Son of Man here means humanity in general. The meaning would be, people can declare each other’s sins to be forgiven.

These are in contrast to the maximal interpretation:

(3) the idea that Yeshua is the Son of Man and has unique authority to forgive sins.

Mark’s account is shaped to strongly suggest (3), though some scholars will continue pointing to (1) and (2) because they prefer, or at least want people to realize the possibility of, a non-divine Yeshua in Mark. The reasoning for such a position goes like this: Yeshua was considered divine only by the later Church after much reflection on the mysteries of his sayings and deeds. Mark is long before the Church came to this realization and thus we should avoid seeing hints of it in his gospel.

But in answer to (1) consider: While true, this interpretation does not fit Yeshua’s words, “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”

And in answer to (2): This interpretation is weak in light of the complicated, literary use of Son of Man in Mark, both for the eschatological and powerful figure of authority and, ironically, for the sufferer whose trials are a ransom for others. Yeshua’s saying is sufficiently ambiguous so that the opponents who hear him cannot pin him down and accuse him successfully in court of blasphemy. Yet Mark’s shaping of the story is clearly intended to remove all ambiguity for the reader.

And then there is the riddle. Yeshua’s way of demonstrating his authority is a wisdom tale. Forgiveness of sins is invisible and unprovable. Healing a visible disability is clear-cut. The riddle “which is harder?” is a doubly complex one. To the skeptic, the healing is harder because it requires demonstration. To the believer, granting forgiveness is harder, because broken union with God has consequences reaching farther than disability. In this first of five conflict stories, Yeshua visibly demonstrates his authority as the Son of God, though cloaking his identity in the more ambiguous Son of Man. Throughout Mark’s gospel there will be a growing realization that the Son of Man is the Son of God.