There is a dramatic turning point in the story of the Jesus of history as we read it in Mark, Matthew and Luke. Jesus identifies himself as the Son of Man who must suffer many things and be killed. If we are thinking that Jesus the "Son of God" is divine and Jesus the "Son of Man" is human, we are missing the point. Jesus identifies himself with the "one like a son of man", who is brought to the throne of God to receive a kingdom in Daniel 7. The whole story needs to be told if we are to understand the significance of the expression.

Immediately after his baptism, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where his new sense of vocation is tested by the devil. He passes the test, and following the arrest of John the Baptist, he withdraws to Galilee. Here, he proclaims the kingdom of God, heals the sick, casts out demons, and teaches in parables. He makes a great first impression, but his teaching soon strikes a discordant note.

The Jesus of popular piety is an attractive figure—forgiving, loving, compassionate, life-giving. But the Jesus of history we encounter in the Gospels is complicated and in many ways unfamiliar to us. It is this Jesus that we want to get to know in this series. One simple way to plot his career path is by telling three stories about a “son”: the Son sent to Israel, the Son of Man who suffered many things, and the Son of God who reigns. We begin with the story of the Son sent to the badly managed vineyard of Israel.

The church believes that Jesus is the answer to the world’s problems. That’s a big claim to make, and we will try to make good sense of it as we go through this series. But first, we need to ask: which Jesus are we talking about?