The Son of man came . . . to give his life

It is against the background of the disciples’ vying for position and power in the kingdom that the Lord makes the statement, ‘The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many’, v. 28. He had not come into the world to seek earthly glory at this time, but to lay down His life as a ransom, and the implication is that the disciples should also be prepared to suffer in the present, and have patience with regard to coming glory.

It should be noted that the Lord describes Himself in this context as ‘the Son of man’. This title is one that embraces all that was involved in the great stoop when He took upon Himself flesh and blood. He had been Son of God from all eternity, but the work of redemption required that He become ‘Son of man’ - not that He ceased to be what He ever had been. The incarnation was not a subtraction from His person, but rather an addition to it. He became something that He had not been before - ‘Son of man’. We read, ‘But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man’, Heb. 2. 9.

Note the grand purpose of becoming Son of man: ‘to give His life a ransom for many’. There are three important things we must note in this statement. Firstly, the voluntary nature of His death. It is not that men will take His life from Him, but that He gives His life. The Lord could say, ‘No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father’, John 10. 18. The second thing we should note is that in His death the ‘ransom’ price was paid in full to redeem us from the slavery of sin. We could not pay it ourselves, but He took responsibility for it at Calvary. Thirdly, it was for ‘many’. The apostle Paul also wrote, ‘Who gave himself a ransom for all’, 1 Tim. 2. 6. This reminds us that the gospel is ‘unto all and upon all them that believe [the many]’, Rom. 3. 22. We should ever praise God for His grace and mercy in giving His Son.