The Son of Man is revealed and comprehended in his sufferings and self-sacrificial death for others, including his enemies. 

This theme is found several times in the Gospel of Mark, namely, the inability of men to recognize Jesus as the Son of God until AFTER his crucifixion and resurrection, and most paradoxically, the first man to identify him as the “Son of God” was the Roman centurion on duty at his execution. His self-identification as the suffering “Son of Man” made him unrecognizable and distasteful to unregenerate men. He was the kind of Messiah no one expected or wanted.

A theme threaded through the Gospel of Mark is the inability of men to recognize Jesus as the Son of God and the Messiah of Israel apart from his crucifixion, and even then, and most paradoxically of all, he is called the “Son of God” by the unlikeliest of persons, the Roman centurion in charge of his execution. And so, it remains ever since his death and resurrection. The Suffering Servant of Yahweh continues to confound human expectations.