“I am. And you will see the Servant of Humanity seated at the right side of the Mighty One – appearing within the spiritual realm.” (Mark 14:62)Jesus is at the high priest's palace, and they have put him on trial. After false testimony is given against him, Jesus is asked to defend himself and he remains silent. Then the high priest asks Jesus this question:
“Are you the Anointed of God [Messiah, Christ] – the Representative of the Blessed One?” (Mark 14:61)
Why did Jesus answer this way?
Because this is part of Jesus' mission. Jesus was asked, basically, if he was sent by God - if he was God's representative. And to this, Jesus responded clearly that he was.
Note that the translation according to the Lost Gospels uses the literal translation of the Greek word "Christ." Others use "Messhiah." For example, the New International Version says:
"Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?" (Mark 14:61 NIV)Meanwhile, the New King James Vesion says:
“Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” (Mark 14:61 NKJV)
Christ or Messiah or Anointed one?
Yes, the Greek word Χριστός (Christos) can refer to "the Anointed" or "the Messiah" or "the Christ." Each of these refers to someone who was selected by the Supreme Being to represent the Supreme Being.
The root of the word Χριστός (Christos) is χρίω - which means, to anoint. This word refers to being blessed by the Supreme Being. The terminology of Χριστός (Christos) means, then, one who is anointed.
This term has its basis in the Hebrew scriptures and Old Testament. For example, the Supreme Being instructed Moses to Anoint those He selected to serve Him and represent Him:
[God speaking]"Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so they may serve Me as priests. Their anointing will be to a priesthood that will continue throughout their generations.” (Exodus 40:15)Jesus also states this directly, as he quotes Isaiah 61:9:1-2:
[God speaking]"I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always." (2 Samuel 2:35)
" 'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.' " (Luke 4:18-21)Furthermore, we find that this term, the anointed one, was referred to not as a single person, but rather, as a role. We see this in David's Psalms:
"The Lord is the strength of His people, a fortress of salvation for His anointed one." (Psalm 28:8)Is David speaking of some person who will appear nearly a thousand years into the future? No. David is refering to himself as being anointed:
Look upon our shield, O God; look with favor on Your anointed one. (Psalm 84:9)We can see here that David is referring to himself as “Your anointed one” because the Anointed of God is a role, title, and position, of being God’s representative.
But You have rejected, you have spurned, You have been very angry with Your anointed one. (Psalm 89:38)
This is consistent with the question made by the chief priest as well as Jesus' answer. Jesus was asked if he were in that role, and Jesus responded in kind that he was in that role.
Is Jesus the "Son of God" or the "Representative of God"?
Thayer's lexicon further describes the meaning of this word υἱὸς as, "one who is connected with or belongs to a thing by any kind of close relationship." And further, "instructed in evangelical truth and devotedly obedient to it," "one to whom anything belongs," and "those to whom the prophetic and covenant promises belong"
Then we find this clue in the lexicon:
"The Jews called the Messiah υἱὸς εἶ τοῦ θεοῦ pre-eminently, as the supreme representative of God"
These statements offer us a deeper meaning to the term, υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ. They relate to being a servant or follower or subject of God. But more importantly, they purport to his being the representative of God.
In other words, the high priest was asking Jesus if he was God's representative.
To which Jesus answered in the affirmative.
This is consistent with other statements made by Jesus, such as:
“One who accepts you accepts me – and one who accepts me accepts Him who sent me." (Matt. 10:40)
One who listens to you listens to me; and one who rejects you rejects me. And one who rejects me rejects the One who sent me.” (Luke 10:16)
"For I have descended from the spiritual realm not to please myself but to please Him who sent me." (John 6:38)
“My teaching is not mine, but comes from He who sent me." (John 7:16)
The phrase often translated to "Son of Man" is translated to "Servant of Humanity" in the Lost Gospels translation also includes the same Greek word, υἱός. In this case, however, the phrase is υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου (huios tou anthrōpos).
Remember from above that the word υἱὸς can refer to "servant" or "subject." And the word τοῦ means "of." Finally, the Greek word ἀνθρώπου (anthrōpos) can mean "man," "human," "mankind," or "humanity."
Being a "son of man" has absolutely no meaning with regard to Jesus. Every human male is a son of a man. But what Jesus is referring to himself as goes beyond such a one-dimensional translation of "son of man." What Jesus is referring to is the fact that he is not only God's representative. He is also the servant of all of humanity.
This might be compared to how some government officials will refer to themselves as "civil servants." They regard their work to be for the purpose of serving the people.
In the same way, Jesus saw his activities as being in the service of all of humanity. And this is true, because Jesus has introduced so many billions of people to the notion that we can love and serve the Supreme Being.
Don't words matter?
This point is critical because this is one of the reasons why so many have mistakenly misidentified Jesus as the Supreme Being. Yet a careful reading of the fairly translated scriptures clearly indicates that Jesus is not the Supreme Being.
This is, after all, why Jesus repeatedly prayed to the Supreme Being. Why would someone pray to themselves? What purpose would that have?
Clearly, the text shows that Jesus is representing the Supreme Being. This is according to his own words.
Furthermore, we find that Jesus was offended by those who worshiped him without understanding and deferring his position with the Supreme Being:
"Not everyone who says to me, ‘lord, lord,’ shall enter the sanctuary of the spiritual realm – only one who does what pleases my LORD in the spiritual realm. Many will say to me at that time, ‘Master, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles? And I will say to them, ‘I never knew you: Get away from me, you who practice wickedness.’" (Matthew 7:21-23)
