Unto Us a Child is Born: Mighty God

We are in the season of Advent, the weeks leading up to the celebration of Jesus’ birth, a time to focus upon waiting, preparing and hoping, as we recall the historic birth of Jesus, and await the return of Christ in the fullness of time. We can also train our hearts and minds to look for and expect to see Christ entering our world in the here and now in between.
Each week we will focus upon one of the ways that Jesus, born a baby, brings into the world what we truly need. This week we focus upon Jesus as "Mighty God."
We can pause and reflect in our own seasons of waiting and hoping the world now, waiting for Jesus the Christ to return to bring heaven fully to earth and waiting to see glimpses of Christ among us now to sustain us.  "Unto Us a Child is Born"  is a four week series inspired by Isaiah 9:6 and made famous in Handel's "Messiah."
Led by Pastor Carolyn Hetrick and Pastor Scott Schul of Grace Lutheran Church, State College, PA, each week features breath prayer, music and reflection before sending you out with grace.

Today's music: "Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759)
"Messiah" oratorio, HWV 56 (1741) [Edition of the 1752 version I]
Part 1 - chorus:  "For unto us a Child is born"
The Choir of King's College, Cambridge
The Brandenburg Consort, Stephen Cleobury (conductor)

"Nun komm der Heiden Heiland," by 18th century composer Friedrich Zachow, was recorded in 2022 for Grace Lutheran Church in State College, PA by organist Cynthia Mills.  This recording is made with permission via imslp's Non-commercial Attribution 3.0 (license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/....  The score is available at www.imslp.org.

To learn more about our ministries at Grace Lutheran Church, visit glcpa.org.

Transcript

“Unto Us a Child is Born: Mighty God"

PS: Welcome to Pocketful of Grace, a podcast of Grace Lutheran Church in State College, Pennsylvania. I’m Pastor Scott Schul and I am joined by my colleague, Pastor Carolyn Hetrick.

PC: We have begun the season of Advent, which inaugurates a new year in the life of the Church. Sometimes this season can get lost amidst our preparations for Christmas, but Advent is a season that offers many blessings to us. As we noted in our last episode, during Advent we focus upon waiting, and preparing and hoping, as we recall the historic birth of Jesus, and await the return of Christ in the fullness of time. We also train our hearts and minds to look for and expect to see Christ entering our world in the here and now in between.

PS: For these podcasts, we are looking at Advent through the lens of a marvelous verse from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. In chapter 9, verse 6, he recorded this promise from God: “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” If those words sound familiar, it might be because they form one of the best-known and best-loved parts of Handel’s Messiah, which we often hear this time of year.

PC: That promise is of course referencing the birth of Jesus, which would come about many centuries later. It describes Jesus with four very distinct titles. On last week’s podcast we explored the first of those titles, “Wonderful Counselor.” We learned that Jesus is like a “wonderful counselor” in that he knows us even better than we know ourselves. And so he anticipates when we need help and knows exactly what that help should be. And like any effective counselor, he knows when we are being less-than-forthright, and holds us accountable so we don’t get stuck in our own denial and evasion strategies.

PS: Today we want to consider that second title Isaiah used. “Mighty God.” But before we do so, let’s ground ourselves in a breath prayer based upon another part of Isaiah (43:5), where God says, “Do not fear, for I am with you.” As we breathe in, we’ll say, “I will not fear ” and as we breathe out, we’ll say, “God is with me.” Let’s do that three times.

Now, with that comforting promise resting in our hearts, let’s consider what it means for Jesus to be a “Mighty God.”

PC: Let’s begin with a little history. The Book of Isaiah begins about 600 years prior to Jesus’s birth, and the first 39 chapters are dominated by the hard truth that the people have fallen away from God. They will soon be in exile from their land, because the Babylonian Empire will seize their nation leading to great sadness and hardship.

But in all of this, God had loving purpose in mind. The exile was God’s plan to reform his people into the faithful disciples God created them to be. That’s a tall order for any of us. We all fall short now, just as they did then.

What’s really remarkable is that even as exile was coming, God extended a promise to the people that their suffering would not last forever. Help would come. And that help would a leader who would be a “Mighty God.”

PS: The people in Isaiah’s day quite reasonably would’ve expected their deliverance to come by means of someone “mighty” in the conventional sense, like a king or a warrior. After all, they lived in a world that believed in the old adage that “might makes right.” In our day and age, things haven’t changed much, have they?

Consider a few synonyms for the word “Mighty.” They help flesh out the kind of person we expect this mighty deliverer to be. We would expect such a person to be fearsome, ferocious, big, tough, dominant, strong, and of course powerful. Those words could accurately apply to the leaders of the Babylonians who were about to conquer Isaiah’s people. And so of course Isaiah’s people expected that their deliverer would be cast from the same mold.

PC: Hundreds of years later, those people would find themselves dominated by another world power, the Roman Empire. And so this prophecy, still unfulfilled, would have still been interpreted by them as promising a military commander of great power and strength. This is why we read so many stories in the Gospels in which the people who believe Jesus can be their deliverer make the mistaken assumption that he will bring them freedom from the Roman occupiers by leading an armed insurrection and leading powerful armies. It’s one of the reasons why Jesus, early in his ministry, went to great lengths to keep his full identity as the Son of God a secret, because he knew people would jump to the conclusion that he was a soldier ready to lead them in a bloody revolution against Rome.

PS: Note that the full term Isaiah used was “Mighty God,” not just “mighty.” One might think that by adding God to the title, we are distinguishing Isaiah’s promised savior from your run-of-the-mill general or warlord. This won’t be just a person; this will be a God, right? Well, it turns out that in the ancient world the line between powerful kings and generals on the one hand and deities on the other hand was pretty blurry. By the time of Jesus it had even become common place for the Roman emperors to be treated like gods.

But let’s set aside for a moment the people of Isaiah’s time and the people of Jesus’s time so many, many years ago. Let’s make this personal. Jesus always asks his followers this question: “Who do YOU say I am?” So let’s ponder that. What does it mean to you when you think of Jesus as a “Mighty God”? Sit with that question as we listen to some music.

MUSIC FOR REFLECTION

PC: So who is Jesus? Is he a “Mighty God” in the way the world understands that term, like a powerful military leader or terrifying despot? Well, the New Testament makes it clear that Jesus turns that term completely upside down. We see this from the very beginning. Jesus our “Mighty God” didn’t come to us as a powerful general who stormed onto the world stage and upended every institution through sheer might.

Instead, he came to us so humbly, as a vulnerable, defenseless little baby, born in obscurity to a poor family who, soon after his birth, had to go on the run to a foreign country in order to avoid being arrested and executed. At this time of year, as our thoughts turn toward Christmas, it’s a perfect time to contemplate our “Mighty God” who became so very small just to be with us.

PS: We see the very same thing at the end of Jesus’s mortality. When he is hauled before the religious and civil authorities, threatened with execution, he does nothing to advocate for himself. And don’t forget that he entered Jerusalem to adoring crowds on the day we call Palm Sunday. Don’t you think that if Jesus had wanted to raise a force to free him and start an armed revolution, he could have easily done so? But he stayed silent. Submissive. Humble. Not out of fear, but out of love.

That love would carry him to the cross, where he would become even smaller, even weaker, even more vulnerable. But in that smallness, our “Mighty God” would win his biggest victory for us and for all of creation, by conquering sin and death. Jesus knew what that victory would cost him, and he willingly paid that price.

PC: This brings to mind that marvelous early Christian hymn which Paul incorporated into his letter to the Philippians: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross.” (Phil. 2:5-8)

PS: This notion of being poured out in love for others is an attitude that Jesus has in mind for his followers too. Jesus wants us to understand that our true power comes from surrendering to his love and his will. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, “ I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”

PC: This week, take this “Mighty God” notion to God in prayer. How is Jesus “mighty” in ways that are counter-cultural? And how is God calling us to be weak in worldly ways so we can be strong in Christ?

Let’s close our time together by praying our breath prayer again. As we breathe in, we’ll say, “I will not fear ” and as we breathe out, we’ll say, “God is with me.” Let’s do that three times.

OUTRO:

PS: Join us each week through Christmas for another episode of “Unto Us a Child is Born.” Next week we will focus upon Jesus as “Everlasting Father.”

You can also join us for midweek Advent WOW- Worship on Wednesdays at 6:15. Why not start with dinner? We gather at 5:15 in our Harkins Fellowship Hall. Just use the main entrance and head downstairs or take the elevator.

Our Sunday worship in person is held at 8, 9 and 10:30 am. You can also listen to our 10:30 service live on Bigfoot Country Legends or Watch our livestream at 10:30 or later by going to our website, glcpa.org and click “WATCH.”

Our website also has all our worship and activities. You can also download our free glcpa app to have Grace on the Go wherever your journey takes you.

PC: No matter how we gather, friends, remember Christ is born for you. Take care, Beloveds.