Ezekiel 21:2, Jesus Goes to Jerusalem

//These are the words of the Lord to Ezekiel. Note the phrase “son of man,” which Ezekiel uses often to refer to himself. In time, however, this phrase took on messianic and eschatological connotations. See especially the books of Daniel and Enoch. Jesus took the title upon himself, as evidence of his messiahship.

I mention in my book about John’s Gospel that i do not think it is appropriate to read the Fourth Gospel chronologically, as if Jesus made several trips to Jerusalem. More likely, Jesus made but one fateful trip to Jerusalem, the big city, during his ministry. That is the story the other three gospels tell. The Jesus story is about a small-town sage, anointed by God as the Messiah, who must carry his message of doom to the big city of Jerusalem.

But why? Perhaps the answer is in today’s verse. If Jesus saw himself as the Son of Man, he would have understood that his mission was to eventually enter God’s holy city, to cleanse the Temple, and to prophesy Jerusalem’s destruction.