The hit CBS show Undercover Boss has enjoyed a decade-long run based on a simple premise. Conceal the identity of a high-ranking leader of a company as he or she works among ordinary employees — and make the big reveal of the boss’s true identity at the end of each episode. Part of the fun is how some folks begin to piece it together along the way.

Of all designations used for Jesus Christ, the most undercover one is “Son of Man.” It shows up seemingly everywhere in the Gospels (over eighty times across all four), as a distinct way Jesus refers to himself in the third person. Jesus is not shy, in other words, about calling himself “Son of Man.” But what does it actually mean? It is surprisingly rare elsewhere in the New Testament, and unlike “Son of David” or other designations, it is not common in the Old Testament or Jewish tradition either.

As we reflect on Jesus this Advent season, it is right to ask the very question he asked his disciples: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” (Matthew 16:13). “Son of Man” may sound simple on the surface, but this phrase masks the astounding depths of the person and work of Jesus.

Revealing: Man Among Us

Let’s begin with what seems quite obvious about the phrase: “Son of Man” reveals someone is truly human. On the surface, the title seems to work just like, say, Aslan’s affectionate way of calling the four Pevensies “Sons of Adam” and “Daughters of Eve” to distinguish them from Narnian creatures. The offspring of a human shares the same nature.

Early church writers generally understood “Son of Man” along these lines. They treated it as a beautifully succinct reminder that Jesus is fully human, often as the opposite pole of “Son of God.” Here are a few examples that capture the Christmas spirit of the phrase (italics mine):

Ignatius (d. 140s): “Jesus Christ — who according to the flesh is of the lineage of David, the Son of Man” (Letter to the Ephesians, 20.2).
Justin Martyr (d. 165): “He spoke of himself as ‘Son of Man,’ either because of his birth through a virgin . . . or because Adam was his father” (Dialogue with Trypho, 100.3).
Irenaeus (d. 202): “Our Lord is . . . Son of Man, because from Mary he has his generation according to humanity, being made Son of Man” (Against Heresies, 3.19.3).
Tertullian (d. 220): “Christ is neither able to lie, that he would pronounce himself ‘Son of Man’ if it were not truly so, nor could he be regarded as son of man if he were not born of a human” (Against Marcion, 4.10.6).
Origen (d. 253): “The Son of God is said to have died, namely, with regard to that nature that was able to accept death — and he is designated ‘Son of Man’” (On First Principles, 2.6.3).

The church fathers, then, chart a course for seeing “Son of Man” as a three-word way of capturing the essence of the nativity: Jesus took on flesh and was born of a virgin. This fits nicely with the hypothesis that — assuming Jesus regularly spoke this phrase in Aramaic (bar enash) — it would sound to his hearers like a simple idiom for “a man like me.”

There is only one problem: Jesus uses “Son of Man” in ways that stretch far beyond mere humanness.

Concealing: Divine Man in Heaven

Several times, Jesus states that, as “Son of Man,” he will sit on a heavenly throne, come with the clouds, receive glory and power, and be surrounded by angels (Matthew 24:30; 25:31; 26:64; Mark 13:26; 14:62; Luke 21:27; 22:69). Surely this is not normal for a man! A reader with ears to hear will be drawn to Daniel 7 as the key for how “Son of Man,” while revealing Jesus’s humanity, simultaneously conceals Jesus’s heavenly status.

“‘Son of Man’ sounds simple on the surface, but this phrase masks the astounding depths of the person and work of Jesus.”

In Daniel’s vision of heaven, the Ancient of Days takes his throne of judgment, and “with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man . . . and to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom” (Daniel 7:13–14). The setup is staggering. Someone is enthroned with God in heaven to rule forever, and he appears as a “son of man” because he is better than the beastly kings of earth (Daniel 7:17).

By deftly applying phrases of Daniel 7 to himself, Jesus unveils that he is that Son of Man. And Daniel’s vision is not about simple flesh and blood. It is ripe for far more.

Preexistence: In this vision, Daniel glimpses the preincarnate Son in the throne room — just as Isaiah saw Jesus’s glory (John 12:37–41; Isaiah 6:1–10), and Ezekiel saw a “man” enthroned in the highest heaven (Ezekiel 1:26–28).
Present authority: Multiple times, Jesus invokes his identity as Son of Man to claim authority on earth that no mere man could claim, such as unrestricted forgiveness of sins (Mark 2:5–12) and lordship over the Sabbath (Mark 2:28). Jesus’s divine prerogatives are rooted in his status as heavenly Son of Man.
Suffering to accomplish redemption: Jesus also connects “Son of Man” with the vicarious suffering of the Isaianic “servant” (Isaiah 52:13–53:12) when he predicts how, as Son of Man, he would suffer and die for sins (Mark 9:31).
Heavenly enthronement: Upon his ascension, Jesus is enthroned as Son of Man at the right hand of the Father on high (Acts 7:56; cf. Revelation 1:12–16) — further connecting the phrase to Psalm 110:1. Having accomplished salvation, the man Jesus Christ now reigns in heaven.
Return in glory: Finally, Jesus will return from heaven as Son of Man, the divine judge and eternal king (Matthew 19:28–30).

On closer inspection, “Son of Man” is just as much about Jesus’s divinity as it is his humanity.

This title proves to be perhaps the most effective way Jesus reveals and conceals who he really is. By using “Son of Man,” he is able to minister undercover, so to speak, on earth. For many observers then and now, the cryptic phrase just states the obvious: he’s human. But those who know the Scriptures see that “Son of Man” conceals something amazing: he is the one divine-man, grounded in heaven!

Our Son of Man

When Daniel glimpsed this heavenly reality, he was thoroughly overwhelmed (Daniel 7:28). What is our own response this Advent, as we see with greater clarity than even Daniel that Jesus Christ as Son of Man is truly man — born in Bethlehem, placed in a manger — but also much more?

He came down from heaven as Son of Man among the sons and daughters of Adam. Why? So that, through his divine authority and self-giving, he might make us to be children of the living God. The Son of Man descended from the heavenly throne room to win a people for himself, that in him the “saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever” (Daniel 7:18).

How, then, should we answer Jesus’s question, Who is this “Son of Man”? He is nothing short of God-made-flesh, who reigns in heaven, yet was born of a virgin — our brother and our friend.

What an exciting moment in the life of a church when missionaries are sent out for the sake of Jesus’s name. Their departure reminds the whole church that we live as pilgrims in this world, sent forth to proclaim the good news that Jesus, the crucified Messiah, lives and reigns as our saving Lord. We rejoice to see such workers go into the harvest fields in answer to prayer. And we frequently respond well to the call to make personal and corporate sacrifices to send these workers well.

But what do we do when they come back?

The work of supporting missionaries in a manner worthy of God does not end when they return, either for a temporary respite or a permanent move. As important as providing for their needs on the field may be, thoroughly caring for missionaries requires ongoing care — practically and pastorally. This remains just as true when they return as when they go.

Receiving the Sent

A few verses in 3 John frequently (and rightfully) receive attention as central for helping the church understand its work of supporting missionaries well. John, the elder, commends his beloved friend Gaius for how he received missionaries who had come to his church. Then John encourages him to continue:

You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth. (3 John 6–8)

These missionaries have gone out from their home church. They have left the comfort of friends and family, the security of steady income, and the familiarity of their hometown for a single purpose: to make Christ’s name known and exalted among the nations (Romans 1:5). They are, therefore, worthy to receive ample support. In fact, John says that it is the duty of Christians to support such workers: “We ought to support people like these.”

But what does it look like to support missionaries “in a manner worthy of God”? The answer is not so straightforward as helping them get to the field and ensuring they have what they need while there. While John instructs Gaius on how to send them out, he also commends him for how he received them — a strong antithesis to the self-centered Diotrephes, who “refuses to welcome the brothers” (3 John 10). Gaius’s hospitality and care for the missionaries was so warm that, when they returned to their sending church, they bore witness to his love for them (3 John 5–6).

“What returning missionaries need most is to freshly behold the glory of God.”

The way he treated these missionaries, strangers as they were to him, testified to his commitment to magnify the name of Christ. Gaius welcomed them as brothers, fellow adoptees into God’s expanding family of redeemed children. He understood that the welcome Christ had given him in salvation served as the example for his own ministry of welcoming others (Romans 15:7). Thus, the hospitality he and his church demonstrated proved to John that he was indeed “walking in the truth” (3 John 3).

Three Needs Churches Can Meet

Every church that sends missionaries will, God willing, have the opportunity to receive them again and care for their needs close at hand. While many specific needs of each missionary unit (singles, couples, or families) will change, other basics will remain the same no matter the stage of life or ministry. Churches that aim to receive missionaries well can seek to meet at least these three categories of need: rest, community, and worship.

1. Rest

Missionaries returning from the field are usually tired. They may not admit it, but they are likely worn out. It is hard work to move to unfamiliar regions; learn to function in a new language; navigate the complex, multilayered nuances of cultural exchanges; face the spiritual and physical needs of multitudes; work to fulfill ministry commitments; and, on top of all that, raise a family, keep up a healthy marriage, maintain personal spiritual disciplines, and work through the difficulties of team life (which often involves layers of multicultural complexity). Most returning missionaries need a season of recovery from their labors if they are to enter them again with renewed reserves of strength.

Churches have the opportunity to make their return from the field as low-stress as possible. This can mean everything from helping with basic necessities (housing, transportation, clothing, food), to making sure that they have access to services such as counseling, to providing opportunities to get away for an extended time, to making sure their calendars don’t fill up with too many ministry commitments. While receiving well doesn’t mean that the church by itself must provide all these things, a willing team of brothers and sisters can alleviate the stress of the many unknowns missionaries face when returning from the field.

The health of a missionary’s community on the field varies widely. In some ministry locations, Christian community might be nonexistent, whereas in others it may be more vibrant than anything the missionary knows elsewhere. Regardless, the need to be in community with fellow believers doesn’t change once missionaries come home. Intentionally integrating them into the rhythms of regular church life beyond the Sunday-morning gathering will remind them that they truly belong to their sending church.

Folding them back into the community also means making sure they are known. Missionaries often come back to churches where new leaders now serve, new members have joined, and other members have moved on. A sending church can feel awfully full of strange faces. Thus, a church’s leaders would do well to make the whole church aware of returning missionaries and ensure there are opportunities for them to both know and be known by the congregation.

Receiving missionaries back into the community also means reestablishing friendships (and making new ones). This process usually requires greater intentionality on the part of those who receive. It means opening up our homes to newer faces, listening well, and asking questions about experiences and places for which we might not have categories. In short, it means stepping out of comfort zones and (to a small degree) crossing the cultural boundaries that divide the dining-room table. Once again, making the most of these opportunities reflects the kind of Christlike love for which John commended Gaius — a love that demonstrates who are the true children of God (1 John 3:10, 17).

3. Worship

Finally, what returning missionaries need most is to freshly behold the glory of God and have their whole hearts captivated by love for him. Hopefully it was just such a vision and desire that compelled them to cross cultures in the first place. But the wearying demands of overseas ministry can cause our sight to grow dim. Don’t be surprised if missionaries return from the field needing reminders of God’s purpose to fill the earth with his glory “as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14). Don’t be surprised if discouragement has dampened godly desires. Loving missionaries well when they return includes encouragement and building up their faith.

Not everyone will have the same experience. While some missionaries serve in locations where they are part of an established church, others serve where there is no church at all. Regardless of ministry context, no one outgrows the need to behold the living triune God, declare and sing with fellow believers the wonders of who he is and what he has done (without translation into their mother tongue), sit under preaching that faithfully exposits and applies the whole testimony of God, and partake in the shared meal of the new covenant. Receiving well, in this case, means folding missionaries into the established rhythms of worship and, as a whole church, ensuring those rhythms faithfully reflect the biblical vision.

Conferences and retreats can also be good opportunities for renewal. Pastors, other leaders in the church, and fellow members who know the returning missionaries well can ask wise questions to discern their spiritual health. Where greater needs exist, they might provide scholarships for missionaries to participate in these events. However, the weekly gathering of the local church remains the primary means God has given for renewal.

Receive Them in a Manner Worthy

Churches are called to both send and receive missionaries “in a manner worthy of God” (3 John 6). Sometimes the sending can be easier. They get on a plane and disappear from view, packing along with them the opportunity for frequent and direct engagement. But when they return, those opportunities return with them. And just as we ought to support them as they go, so too we ought to support them when they come back. By this we become “fellow workers for the truth” (3 John 8).

The music swells. All eyes are fixed on the front. The moment has arrived. Now you hear these words: “If anyone is sensing a call to the mission field, would you please stand up so we can pray for you?” Then comes the internal struggle. Am I called? Maybe. What will happen if I stand up? What if God sends me to some place I don’t want to go? What if I miss this moment? Should I stand?

Many who have spent years in the church or who have attended missions conferences (perhaps especially at the college level) have experienced moments similar to this one. They are relatively common, especially throughout North America, and God has powerfully used them to send thousands of missionaries into his harvest fields.

Wonderful as the effects of such moments can be, however, they can also dull our ears. We may come to expect a call to service only in certain settings. Perhaps without realizing it, the Master’s voice, his charge to his people, becomes a distant echo. Our zeal fades, and we settle down again into the established routines of our busy lives — that is, until the church calendar cycles back around to missions week, or we attend another conference.

Such rhythms can characterize much of our lives. To break free generally requires some voice to break in, rousing us from our routines, reminding us that everyone in Christ — from the greatest to the least, whether we’ve learned to think this way or not — is a participant in his mission.

From Garden to Glory

But what is his mission? True participation in any mission requires understanding what the mission actually is. Failure to understand the nature of the work can lead well-intended Christians to focus on labors or projects that are good but ancillary to God’s highest purposes for his people. Thankfully, he has not left us to stumble about in the dark. The whole story of redemption reverberates with God’s design to fill the earth with a people who joyfully reflect the rays of his glory.

God’s mission begins in the garden, when God commissions his newly formed creature — one who bears his own image — to fill and subdue the earth (Genesis 1:28), to reign over God’s created realm as his vice-regents. God tells the man and his wife to multiply so that the whole created realm, filled with image-bearers who know and worship their Maker, would redound with praise.

Of course, mankind spurns that gift and task, seeking to usurp the heavenly throne. But the purpose of God is not thwarted. It continues through his promise to Abra(ha)m, that he would become “the father of a multitude of nations” (Genesis 17:5) and that in him “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). A filled earth, a blessed people — these are God’s intent. The long and plodding path through Israel’s checkered history until the birth of the Messiah only sheds further light on God’s gracious resolve to fulfill his divine purposes, even through characters we might deem ill-suited to the task.

God’s ways don’t change in the era of the new covenant. Jesus chooses a crew of fisherman, tax collectors, zealots, and others — none of whom were part of Israel’s social elite in the first century — to follow and learn from him throughout his earthly ministry. And then, after the resurrection, having received all authority as the new Adam, the perfect image of God, he sends his redeemed and remade followers into the world to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).

‘Am I Called?’

Jesus’s commission brings us back to that special moment during missions week or at the conference. Am I called? The answer is a resounding yes. If you belong to the redeemed people of God, then you have received marching orders. God has given you a glorious purpose: to “proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

In the new Adam, you have received royal authority to declare the rule of Christ over all. Like Abraham, you sojourn in a land not your own but to which you bring great blessing. Like Israel, your life is meant to reflect the goodness and wisdom of God. He does not select just a few from among his holy nation to send out — we all share in his work.

Now, does that make you a missionary? Probably not — at least, not in the way we typically use the word today, to describe someone who has been sent by a church to cross cultures for the sake of gospel proclamation. While God sends all his people into the world, we may still be wise to reserve such a term for those whom the church commissions to go out in response to a particular calling by the Spirit (see, for example, Acts 13:2–3).

But that does not mean that those who remain have no part to play. The common call to proclaim the excellencies of God requires all of us to devote our lives to his work in the world. For the majority of believers, that work will take place in the busy routines of daily life among the homes, neighborhoods, and cities where God has currently placed us. And when it comes to the unique missionary task, those who remain have the essential role of supporting the missionaries sent by their local churches, a role that includes financial, practical, emotional, and spiritual service.

Never Not Called

The daily demands and regular routines of life often make it difficult to keep the big mission in view. We have families to feed, deadlines to meet, and relationships to maintain. It is entirely natural for the excitement of inspiring moments to fade quickly.

“Jesus teaches us to start our prayers with an immediate focus on the Father and his purposes in the world.”

And that waning zeal can make it feel as though life’s natural rhythms do not belong to the mission we’ve received. They seem secondary, and hopelessly pedantic, while those who have really been commissioned have the glorious task of serving God abroad. But if we are to remain faithful, we must not forget that we belong to God and that he has given us purpose both here and there — work to do in his world and for the sake of his kingdom. Countless opportunities to participate in his mission await in daily life.

Remembering takes effort. Joining the church for worship with the whole mission in mind — even on the Sundays when cross-cultural missions doesn’t receive any special emphasis — requires that we attend daily to God’s word and seek to understand what he calls us to. What does that effort look like? Consider three practical steps Christians can take daily to bend our lives in further service to our King.

PRAY

Regularly begin your prayers — individually, with your family, and with the church — the way our Lord Jesus taught: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come” (Matthew 6:9–10). Jesus teaches us to start our prayers not with an immediate focus on ourselves but on the Father and his purposes in the world.

Learning to pray like this trains us to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). It prepares our hearts for his service. As we pray for him to bring his kingdom in its fullness, the glory of earthly kingdoms and the luster of temporary riches fade. We recognize their fleeting nature, and our longing to pour out our lives for the sake of eternal good — both in our homes and around the world — grows.

STUDY

The best place to start is with the word of God. Allow the bookends of Genesis 1–2 and Revelation 21–22 to frame everything in between. Learning to read the whole in light of the beginning and the end can help you see how the whole story fits together, why Jesus is at the center of it all, and to what labors God calls his people.

Seek help in your reading, too. Join a Bible study, pick up a good study Bible, find a commentary or two, read (or listen to) works of theology from theologians who are committed to upholding the inerrancy of Scripture and shining a spotlight on the person and work of Christ. You won’t get a good biblical understanding of God’s mission and the work to which he calls you by reading without help.

And don’t study alone. Talk about what you’re learning with fellow believers who will sharpen your thinking. Consider taking that Sunday school class you’ve never thought you had time for. The better you understand God’s purposes and the place he has given you within them, the more prepared you will be to devote your life to his glorious cause.

SERVE

Start serving now. The work is not only out there, but within the home and community in which the Lord has placed you according to his good and sovereign purpose. Teach your children to understand and love God’s great purposes as you learn about them through your own study.

Look for ways to serve your neighbors, remembering that an opportunity to share the gospel might come through something as small as helping them rake their leaves. Seek out opportunities to use your Spirit-given gifts in the local church, no matter how big or small those opportunities may be, recognizing that the triune God has equipped you so that you might build up his church (1 Corinthians 12:4–7). As you serve according to the grace you’ve received, you may discover that opportunities increase and that your joy in serving grows.

And more than likely, as you prepare for this service through study and prayer, you will come to see how even such acts as the gift of a cup of water to the least of these plays a role in the advance of the heavenly kingdom.

‘Follow Me’

Committing your life to the service of the King is dangerous. You may find yourself swept away on an adventure you never expected. Such has been my own experience and that of many others.

If you seek in all things to devote your life to God’s mission, you might find yourself standing up on one of those mission Sundays, getting sent out by the church to proclaim his gospel in a place and among a people you only recently heard of.

But even if not, you will realize that even those not sent to the nations are called to the mission. The words we must learn to hear daily — oh, I pray that you hear them! — are not “Are you sensing a call?” but the far simpler, and much more demanding, words of our Master: “Follow me.”