Although the Greek word
"me" (translated as "I") is used here, it is a bit awkward. Why not just
say "Who do people say that I am"? Why add the phrase "the son of
man"? In it's original form, the text most likely simply asked, "Who
do people say that the son of man is?
Again, it was assumed
that he was talking about himself, and the word "I" was added for
"clarification".
However, with that
assumption the answer to the question does not seem to make a lot of sense.
And they said, Some [say that you are]
John the Baptist. Some, Elijah; and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.
Why would people believe
that Yeshua was his cousin, John the Baptist? They knew who John the Baptist
was. Were they just confused as to who was who? Did they believe there were two
Johns?
Or, why would people
believe that Yeshua was Elijah, Jeremiah, or another one of the prophets? Would
there be ANY reason for them to believe such a thing?
However, if you understand
that the “son of man” and “son of God” are titles, then the answer makes perfect
sense.
Who do people say the “son of man” (this
prophetic person) is?
They were not claiming
that Yeshua was a reincarnation of Jeremiah, rather that Jeremiah may have been
this figure known as “the son of man”. As I stated earlier, in
nearly all end-time descriptions of a Messiah figure, Yeshua uses the third
person "son of man". Why is this? Could he have believed that an end-time
Messiah might not be him?
In fact he did.
We can not only see this from his use of the term "son of man", but he also
makes references of "another" one coming.