And His Name Shall Be Called
...
Advent Reflections 2007
John L Drury
During Advent, the church both remembers the waiting of
Israel for the coming of the messiah and remembers her own waiting for the
coming again of the messiah. Now how Israel
and the church wait looks different. Israel waits for the one who is to come.
The church waits for the coming again of the one who has already come. But who
we wait for is the same. Despite the
different form of our waiting, the content of our waiting is identical.
Therefore, we can learn from Israel about the one whom we await. We can learn
from them about him.
Learn from them about him. That's what I aim to do in the
following four-week series of Advent Reflections. Specifically, I am going to
reflect on the four messianic titles of Isaiah 9:6. His name shall be called
(1) Wonderful Counselor, (2) Mighty God, (3) Prince of Peace, (4) Everlasting
Father.
Now I will acknowledge up front that much of what I will
say in the following reflections cannot be gleaned directly from this prophetic
text. Much of the content of my reflections will draw on the apostolic witness
to Jesus Christ (a.k.a., the New Testament). Isaiah 9:6 will for the most
part serve as a way of organizing and orienting my thoughts.
However, I join the church in believing that the truest
referent of all prophetic texts is Jesus Christ, even if there is not a perfect
one-to-one correspondence between text and referent in matters of detail. In
other words, I believe Isaiah really is talking about Jesus. Although it must be applied cautiously, this claim
must be affirmed confidently. Well, enough preliminaries. On to the first
title.
Part 1 - Wonderful Counselor
First of all, it is worth noting that there should not be
a comma between "wonderful" and "counselor." This
disjunction nicely fits the cadence of Handel's Messiah. But such a division disrupts the parallelism of the
titles in the original language, each of which consists of a noun and a
modifier. So the first thing we must say about the one who was and is to come
is that he is a counselor, and wonderful one at that.
So, what does it mean for Christ to be called Wonderful
Counselor?
(1) He accomplishes the purposes of God.
One's counselor is a party to one's counsels. A
participant in one's plans, both in deliberation and execution. The messiah is
God's counselor. We'll get to how he is our counselor in a moment. But in the
first instance Christ is God's counselor.
He is a party to the "counsels of God" (an archaic but telling
phrase). He participates in the willing and enactment of God's plans. Although
it is difficult to render in English, this notion is probably the closest to
the original sense of the phrase. The revelation and execution of God's
mysterious plans is celebrated in Ephesians 1:3-10. Although we don't want to
turn the trinity into a committee, there is a sense in which the Father and Son
make and fulfill plans, plans which glorify God and benefit us. His name shall
be called Wonderful Counselor, because he accomplishes the purposes of God.
(2) He guides us
into truth and righteousness.
But he is not only God's counselor; he is also our
counselor. He is our counselor not in the sense of accomplishing our purposes,
but rather as our guide. I'm thinking
here of how Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit as "counselor" (paracletos) in John 14 & 16. He says that the Spirit will
guide us into truth and righteousness. Interestingly, the Spirit is introduced
in John 14:16 as "another counselor" (allon paracleton). The Son is one counselor, the Spirit is another.
So, the Christ is our counselor. Though their work must be differentiated,
Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit share in this guiding activity. His name shall
be called Wonderful Counselor, because he guides us in matters of truth and righteousness.
(3) He is our advocate before God.
But the language of counselor not only connotes friendly
guidance but also legal representation. This multi-valence of the Greek paracletos
is also found in English. Lawyers are
actually referred to as "counselors" in the context of a courtroom.
So Christ not only counsels us in our daily knowing and living, but also stands
beside us as our advocate before God the Father. He is our advocate. If we sin,
we have an advocate before the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one, who is
the propitiation for our sins, and not only our sins but the sins of the whole
world (John 2:1b-2). He stood in for us on the cross, he stands up for us now,
and he will stand with us at the final judgment.
His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, because he
is our advocate before God. Jesus Christ wonderfully accomplishes the purposes
of God, wonderfully guides us into truth and righteousness, and wonderfully
advocates for us before God. Jesus Christ so counsels wonderfully. This advent
we remember waiting for and remember to wait for the coming one, whose name
shall be called Wonderful Counselor.
Part 2 - Mighty God
Last week we began our Advent reflections with the first
of Isaiah's titles: Wonderful Counselor. This week, let us turn our attention
the second: Mighty God. Unto us a child is born ... and his name shall be
called ... mighty God. During Advent we remember waiting for the coming of the
Messiah, and specifically about his coming as a child. What does it mean to
call this child mighty God? What a mystery! Let's unpack this mystery a bit by
means of a series of statements that progressively build on each other.
God became a child.
During Christmas we speak of God becoming human. We call
this the incarnation, the Word becoming flesh. But this becoming is not only
linked to Jesus' public ministry. It refers to his whole life. And a life has a
beginning, a starting point. From the beginning of his life, this man is God.
And so we say with boldness and wonder that God became a child. This is the
central mystery of the Christian faith. If we want to know and love God, we
must know and love him through an encounter with this child, whose name shall
be called Mighty God.
The Mighty God became a child.
We not only speak of God becoming a child, but also of the
mighty God becoming a child. We are
talking about the very God who created the heavens and the earth. The God who
providentially governs all things. The God led the people Israel out of Egypt.
This is the mighty God. This mighty God does not remain only at a distance,
perhaps leaving the world to its devices. He comes to us, experiences our world
and engages us where we are. This thought is perhaps worrisome, because the
mighty God is getting in our face. He is getting in our business. He won't
leave us alone. We must not forget the seriousness with which we must take the
coming of the mighty God in the flesh. But we can also thankfully say that unto
us a child is born. The mighty God is for
us. It is good news that the mighty God has come near, for it means he will not
leave us to our own devices. The mighty God who comes will use his might for
our good. So, although we may shake in awe, we need not fear the birth of this
child, whose name shall be called Mighty God.
The Mighty God became a weak child.
But perhaps the most amazing thing about the mighty God
becoming a child is that this child is and remains a weak child. The mightiness
of God does not overwhelm the weakness of this child. We may sing "no
crying he makes," but we have no basis to think that this child was exempt
from the weakness of human nature. In fact, we have every reason to think that
he experienced the depths of human frailty and sorrow from the beginning. The
passion of the Christ commences at Christmas. He emptied himself, taking on the
form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and humbled himself. And
yet saying that this child is weak is not a denial of God mightiness. Rather,
in his weakness his strength shown. God is so mighty that he can become weak
without ceasing to be mighty. It is through this weakness that God's mightiest
acts take place. He who was mighty in himself became weak so that we who are
weak may be made strong. This display of divine might in human weakness comforts
us in our weakness. It also critiques us in our use and abuse of might. And it
calls us to see his might in weakness.
During Advent we re-await the coming Messiah. In Christ,
God became a child. In Christ, the mighty God became a child. In Christ, the
mighty God became a weak child. Unto us the Christ-child is born, and he shall
be called "Mighty God."
Part 3 - Everlasting Father
I have been organizing my Advent reflections around Isaiah
9:6b. We have already said a little bit about what it means for Christ to bear
the name "Wonderful Counselor" and "Mighty God." Let's turn
our attention to the third title: "Everlasting Father."
I must admit that I have a hard time with this title. It's
not that the Fatherhood language doesn't connect with me; it does. It's rather
that "Father" does not work well as a title for Jesus. Although he may evince Fatherly qualities, the New
Testament never refers to Jesus as Father. Rather, Jesus distinctly and
consistently calls God Father, and his apostolic witnesses followed suit. When
ones adds that the traditional trinitarian doctrine says the Son has everything
the Father has except that the Son is not the Father, so that the only thing
that distinguishes the persons is their constitutive relations, it seems all
the more problematic to use "Father" as a name for Jesus. Because of
this potential confusion, it may be good to avoid a 1-to-1 application of this
messianic title.
Such avoidance does not mean, however, that we should
avoid all talk fulfillment. For in Christ we have God as our Father. It is Christ who teaches us to pray to God as
Father. It is Christ who reconciles us to the Father. It is Christ who is not
ashamed to call us brothers, so that in him we might have God as our Father. In
Christ the Fatherhood of God is forever made manifest and secure.
Note that such a move is, formally speaking, not too far
removed from the original meaning of Isaiah 9:6. This passage speaks both of a
coming human king and God as king. There are some debates in OT scholarship over
whether and how such oracles might be used in the celebration of God's
kingship. But whatever the state of this debate, the basic contours of the
royal theology of Israel are clear: the
Davidic King is the Son of God and as such is the representative of God to the
people. God's fatherly care of the people is made manifest and secure in the
King's leadership of the people. So as the Son of God, the King functions as
Father for the people. It is in this sense that we speak of the coming messiah
as the Everlasting Father. This royal office is fulfilled in Jesus
Christ, in whom the Fatherhood of God is
forever made manifest and secure.
In Christ the Fatherhood of God is forever made manifest and secure. It is this foreverness,
expressed in the adjective "Everlasting," which must require the
remainder of our attention. What does "Everlasting" add to the
equation? Is not the Fatherhood of God good enough news? Actually, the
Everlastingness of God's Fatherhood is what makes him unique. We do not merely
think of a good father and extrapolate that notion to God in the nth degree. For
God's Fatherhood is unique-in-kind. What makes God's Fatherhood so
special? God is an Everlasting Father.
The eternity of God conditions his paternity in such a way that he is a father
like no other father.
What does it mean to say that in Christ we have God as our
Everlasting Father?
On the one hand, in Christ God has always been our Father. Even before the coming of
Christ, God was the Father of Israel. Even before calling Israel out of Egypt,
God was the Father of all creatures. Even before creating all things, God was
from all eternity the Father of the Son who would become incarnate in time for
us. In Christ God has always been our Father. Therefore, he's not new at
this. God does not have to learn how to be
a father by trial and error. He knows what he is doing in his fatherly care for
us. So we can be confident that,
even when it seems like God is failing us, God knows what he's doing.
On the other hand, in Christ God will always be our Father. Even after Christ died, God
vindicated his Sonship by raising him from the dead. Even after Christ
ascended, God adopted us as children by the Spirit of the Son. Even after our
biological and spiritual parents are gone, God remains our Father. Even after
we are gone, God remains our Father. Even after the heavens and earth pass
away, God will be for all eternity the Father of Jesus Christ, the firstborn
from the dead among many siblings who too will be raised. In Christ, God will
always be our Father. Therefore, we never grow out of his fatherhood. God's relationship to us is not conditioned by the
anxieties that plague all human relationships. We never have to take over, for
he is our Father forever. So we can be calm that, even when all other care fades, God's fatherly
care remains.
In Christ we have God as our Everlasting Father. He has
always been our Father and will always be our Father. So in him and him alone
we can be confident and calm.
Part 4 - Prince of Peace
This week contains both the Fourth Sunday of Advent and
Christmas Day itself. And so we come to the close this year's reflections on
the messianic titles of Isaiah 9:6. We have already considered what it means
for his name to be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, and Everlasting
Father. Let us conclude with some thoughts on the last of these titles, Prince
of Peace.
The prophet Isaiah speaks of the birth of a child who will
be called "Prince of Peace." The church has long made use of this
language to describe Jesus her Lord. And yet the birth of Christ is anything
but peaceful. This tension should tell us something about the kind of Peace
this Prince brings, which brings us to our first point.
(1) At Christmas, peace breaks through in the midst of
strife. Despite the apparent peacefulness
of many Christmas songs and scenes, the nativity story is a story full of
strife. Mary and Joseph were caught in the middle of a shameful family
situation. Traveling down to Bethlehem during her ninth month is hard enough,
but they had to do it with the added weight of shame and fear. You add to this
that the reason for their travels is a census for the purposes of taxation. Now
for us April 15th is no December 25th, but for them taxation was not merely a
nuisance but the sign of foreign oppression. It had not been long since the
Israelites led by Jacobus Maccabeus had violently rebelled against foreign rule
(the occasion for the Hanukkah holiday) and it would not be long till they
would rebel again. And strife not only precedes but also succeeds the nativity,
as Herod decrees the slaughter of the innocents. So Christmas is a story full
of strife. And yet, the birth of Christ is the birth of the Prince of Peace.
Jesus, Lord at his birth, is already the prince of peace, the one who brings
the peace of God. Christ's peace is a peace that invades, which breaks through
in the midst of strife. It does not find an already peaceful scene. It brings
peace into times and places that need peace most of all.
How can this be? How can peace break through in the midst
of strife and still be genuine peace? To answer this, we must turn to our
second point.
(2) The Peace of Christ is not defined by the cessation
of conflict, but by reconciliation. This
is why it can break through in the midst of strife. He is the Prince of Shalom,
the Hebrew word translated "peace" in Isaiah 9:6. The meaning of
Shalom cannot be reduced to the mere cessation of conflict. Shalom is not a
temporary ceasefire. Rather, Shalom means a life of wholeness and abundance,
were the nations are living and working together and God fulfills his promise
to bless all the nations through Israel. Shalom thus has the character of
reconciliation. Shalom is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who in his very coming
brings reconciliation between God and humanity. Because it is defined by
reconciliation, the peace of Christ can break through in the midst of strife.
In fact, the announcement of the reality of reconciliation may itself incur
greater strife, for people do not always want to be reconciled. Peace can be a
rude awakening, as the shepherds can attest. Peace interrupts our seemingly
peaceful lives and drives us out of ourselves to encounter God and neighbor.
What does this mean for us? How should we then live if the
peace of Christ is defined by reconciliation? Answering this question will
bring us to our last point.
(3) Genuine peace consists in relationships. Peace is not a feeling. It is not a state of
being. It is not an escape, even an escape from the greatest conflict. Peace is
the reconciliation of parties, and therefore the establishment of
relationships. Since peace is so defined by reconciliation, it is by definition
impossible in the absence of relationships. Beware of false peace which
isolates itself from the active life of reconciliation. Beware of the apparent
peace of the shepherds, who inhabit a peaceful pastoral scene, restfully
tending their sheep at night. True peace disrupts this false shepherds' peace,
waking them up and telling them to go. Of course, relationships for so many of
us are the very source of strife in our lives. And so we are tempted to recoil
and retreat from relationships in order find peace. But isolation is not true
peace. This Christmas, let us not isolate ourselves. That will only bring false
peace, a temporary ceasefire, a shepherd's peace. Rather, the peace of Christ
is expressed in acts of reconciliation. Surely there are times for quiet
aloneness, and reconciliation cannot happen overnight. But Christmas points us
in the direction of relationships. May we be faithful not to isolate ourselves,
and to reach out to those that are isolated, so that the peace of Christ may be
seen and heard on earth.
At Christmas, peace breaks through in the midst of
strife because the peace of Christ is defined by relationships and therefore
genuine peace consists in relationships.