Mark 2:1–12
1 And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. 3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 4 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. 5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” 12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
The Son of Man designation that Jesus prefers for himself goes back even further than the Daniel vision (see yesterday's devotional) be harkening back to Genesis 3:15 in which the son of the woman is said to crush the head of the serpent. This is a part of the curse to the serpent which God declares as a result of the fall. This text is widely regarded as the first declaration of the gospel.
The ensuring story after Genesis 3 is the story of the Bible, God's deliverance of his people from this curse in Genesis 3. Humans have fallen prey to animal like instincts of sin, forfeiting their role of being God's stewards—ruling creation under God's authority. Each biblical story leads the readers to ask, "Could this be the one who fulfills the Genesis 3:15 proclamation?" However, all them fall short. Adam gave in to the temptation of the serpent. Moses disobeys and strikes the rock. David commits adultery with Bathsheba. Every character, even the best ones, fail at some point in their story. Where they fail, however, Jesus succeeds.
The testing of Jesus scene from Mark 1:12-13 illustrates this briefly. Jesus is tempted in the wilderness, which is a common scene of testing for the biblical heroes of the OT. Where they all failed (Moses striking the rock) Jesus succeeds and passes the testing of the devil. This could be the meaning of the comment that Jesus is with the wild beasts in the desert as well. He is facing the temptation to sin (ie. the animalistic nature of sinfulness) that all other characters fell prey to (Adam most notably). Jesus faces them and overcomes them, living at peace with them. He has authority over the created order. Check out the Bible project podcast below for a more in-depth discussion of this.
Here this term is used in the context of his authority. Later in the gospel of Mark he will use it more often in the context of his suffering (8:31; 9:9, 12, 31; 10:33, 45; 14:21, 41). This leads us to conclude that he achieves this great authority described in Daniel's vision through his suffering and death on the cross.