+ Advent Midweek 2 – December 11h, 2024 +
His Name Shall Be Called: “Mighty God”
Psalm 24; antiphon: v. 7
Isaiah 9:1–2, 6–7; Titus 2:11–14; John 5:16–18; 8:48–59
Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church
Milton, WA
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given . . . and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
When you hear Mighty God you might think of Thor wielding Mjolnir or Zeus zapping lightning bolts or God thundering on Sinai.
And while Mighty God is certainly a title for Jesus that we would expect, God always has a way of turning our expectations, and our world, upside down.
Mighty God is a title for Jesus that we would expect. But God in the flesh – as he always does - quickly turns our expectations upside down. When we think of God we think of power, prestige, and potency. And God certainly has those attributes, but he chooses to reveal his power in weakness, his prestige in lowliness, his potency in sacrifice.
It doesn’t take long in the story of the Scriptures to find out that God’s ways are not our ways. And that’s a good thing. He is mighty…and yet…
He is the eternal Word of God. As John writes… In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made… The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Word became flesh. The Mighty God is born in meekness and lowliness. And made man for us.
He is all powerful; he is the almighty, and yet for us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven. Infinite cosmic power takes up the itty bitty living space of the Virgin Mary’s womb. The Mighty God reveals his power in weakness and humility – in lowering himself to save us – not with Herculean strength, but with incarnate love and mercy. Not by great fetes of heroism, but by his humble feet that trod in dust and mud and blood, that tromped over hill and valley and into the grave for you.
If you want to see God’s might, don’t look for his bulging muscles. Look down in the manger at his infant fingers grabbing the Virgin’s hands and wiggling in Joseph’s arms. Look up at the cross and see his wounded hands and pierced side and bloody, beaten, bruised face on the cross. There’s our Mighty God.
The author of Hebrews puts it this way:
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. (1:1–3)
This is the mystery and joy and wonder of Christ’s incarnation. You find, not a contradiction, but a confession. Jesus, the Son of God, upholds the universe by his word and power, and yet, he also is the Son of Mary who places himself under human authority. Jesus is at the same time the one who spoke God’s word, his word, to the prophets, and now is God’s word in human flesh. Jesus is the Mighty God of Isaiah and our Merciful redeemer. Jesus is the one who declared Abraham righteous by faith, and is also the one whom Abraham believed in and saw his day long before Jesus was born.
Before Abraham was, I am, Jesus says. There is mystery and might, but also mercy, in those words. For the great I AM of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses, has taken on humanity to be the Great and Mighty God who is “For You”.
Scripture gives us this beautiful, mysterious, joyful, wonderous, and gracious confession. Jesus is true man, with real knees that pop as he walks and feet that ache after a long day and hair that got tangled in the sea of Galilee breeze – he identifies with us in all ways, he weeps, suffers, bleeds, and dies - and yet has no sin to call his own…so that he can take your sin upon himself and make it his own. And He is also true God with all the might and power and authority that entails…so that he would deliver and save and rescue you
Scripture is full of this story, this good news. That Jesus, the Mighty God of Isaiah is also the infant boy held in the arms of the Virgin Mary. Jesus, the Mighty God, is also the One who hung on the cross for all your sins. Jesus is the Mighty God who forgives you—and when the Mighty God forgives you, the devil has no claim on you.
Jesus is Mighty God, who claims you as His own in Baptism where He put His name on you and washed you from the guilt of your sin by the power of His divine blood.
Jesus is Mighty God, who nurtures your faith in Him as He teaches you with His Word.
Jesus is Mighty God, who still comes in meekness and lowliness, giving you His own body and blood in Holy to forgive and heal and to assure you that your sins are forgiven and that your Mighty God is with you!
Jesus is Mighty God, who is also your Immanuel – God with us – as we live as His children in this world.
Jesus is Mighty God, who will give you eternal life in His love when He returns in power and glory.
Jesus is Mighty God, who gives his grace us not as we expect, nor as we deserve, but according to his mercy. And that’s far more than we could have ever expected.
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
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