For a child is born to us, a son is given to us.  The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called:  Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,  Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Our time of preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ is drawing to a close.

I cannot read Isaiah 9:6 without two immediate associations. First, I hear in my memory the mighty chorus of Händel’s Messiah: “For unto us a Child is born. . . .” Second, I think of Jesus, the one who fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy. As the very Word of God incarnate, Jesus is our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. He embodies the love and mercy of God in a unique way. Thus, in Advent, we are waiting for the one who is the Son of God.

All of us can be children of God through Jesus. But he alone is the unique Son of God: the ruler of God's kingdom, the one who uniquely reveals God to us, the beloved Son who refers to God as Abba and invites us to do the same. Thus, through Jesus the Son of God, we become children of God who experience God's love and who live in relationship with him each day.
          

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: What thoughts or images come to mind when you think of Jesus the Son of God? How have you experienced being a child of God through faith in Jesus the unique Son?

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you are the Son of God. You are the divine king, hailed as Son of God in your royal majesty. I bow before you today, acknowledging your authority.

Yet you are the Son of God, not only as the divine king, but also as the one who is God in human flesh. Jesus, you are the Son, the one and only, the one who makes the Father known to us.

All praise be to you, Lord Jesus, Son of God! May heaven and earth worship you today—including me. Amen.

Image courtesy of Laity Lodge, one of our sister programs in the Foundations for Laity Renewal.