“For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. (Matthew 18:11).

As Son of Man, Jesus showed not only His humanness, but also what true humanity looks like. We humans were created in God’s image, have fallen, but are now restored through the perfect image of God:

He is the image of the invisible God… (Col 1:15)

And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power … (Heb 1:3a)

[Christians] have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him … (Col 3:10)

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. (2 Cor 3:18)

So as the “Son of Man” was raised from the dead (Matt 12:40), we also as fellow humans, with the restored image of God in us, will also be raised from the dead. As the image of God in “the Son of Man” is seen in the parable of the sower and the seed (Matt 13:37), so we too, as fellow image bearers, should sow the seed of evangelism. Just as angels served the Son of Man (Matt 13:41), so also angels serve us as ministering spirits. Just as the Son of Man will come in His glorious kingdom, we also will see and join in with Him in His glory, as fellow humans, when He comes. “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve …” (Matt 20:28), so we also should follow His example.

Some assert that Jesus became human like us in every way except for sin. Such a statement assumes sin to be intrinsic to humanity. But that could not be possible since we were created in God’s image, and that could not possibly have included sin. It is better to think of sin as completely unnatural, anti-human in every sense of the word. Sin goes completely contrary to the way God created us. We were made for something intrinsically better: to reflect God’s glory. Sin came into our human world, not because of our humanity but in spite of our humanity, to make us less than human. Jesus restores to us the true sense of what it means to be human. So yes, the Son of Man was an exception in that He did not sin, but that is not an exception to humanity per se. He refused to do that which is anti-human.

Lord, I praise You for changing me daily into true humanity, that is more like the image of God.