Friending Jesus

Friending Jesus Isaiah 9:2-7 Does anybody here do Facebook? I have an account with a fake name because I want to remain anonymous. It’s kind of contrary to what Facebook is all about; that is, wanting to be known and found out. I just opened the account so I could see pictures and posts from Gabe and family. But somehow I am now being asked to be friends with someone because of mutual acquaintances. Friend has turned from being a noun to being a verb. People want to friend me. I had no trouble using a fake name, but some people have had trouble using their real names. If your last name is Christmas, you have a problem. Facebook probably won’t accept you. Come to think of it, there was a gal on Big Brother whose name was Christmas Joye Abbott. I wonder if she has a Facebook account? If you submit the name “Christmas” on Facebook’s brief online form, you’ll probably receive an automated rejection. The anonymous gatekeepers of this social networking site have decided that “Christmas” cannot possibly be a real name. A man named Tim Six also has problems with his name. He comments, “It’s hard making a reservation at restaurants when I say, ’I’d like a table for Six at five for three.’” What might the gal or guy at the other end of the phone think? Say what? Facebook clearly isn’t in touch with the eccentric names people sometimes have. And it has to take seriously that people will feel hurt when they’re rejected for simply being themselves. All these people want to do is connect with their friends and they get booted for having a rather uncommon name. As a result, a new group has been created on Facebook, of course. It’s called “Facebook Hates My Name.” Question: Could “Wonderful Counselor” be a Facebook name? The prophet Isaiah tells us that a Child has been born for us, a Son given to us, “and He is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). These are certainly unusual names. You have to wonder: would Facebook accept them? More importantly, are we accepting them? Isaiah tells us that the Child’s “authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom” (v. 7). Jesus is our newborn King, the Son of David, the Messiah, the Prince of Peace. Are we friending Him? The great challenge of Christmas, the holiday, that is, not the name, is to establish a strong connection with the Baby born at Bethlehem. This begins by hearing a message from Isaiah that invites us to accept the Child as a powerful and loving King. We don’t want to make the Facebook mistake of concluding that His names cannot possibly be real, thus rejecting Him. So do you want to be friends with Jesus? That’s the question Facebook would ask us. If you look at His profile, you see that Jesus is first a: Wonderful Counselor. At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus passes through Samaria and meets a woman at a well. He speaks with her, despite the fact that she’s a woman and a Samaritan; and He tells her everything she has ever done. He reveals to her that He is the Messiah, and that the day is coming when the barriers between people will fall and “the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). The woman is filled with such joy that she goes to her city and spreads the word about Jesus. Many people come to see that He is indeed the Savior of the world. Jesus is our Wonderful Counselor, the One who knows us most fully and loves us most deeply. He tells us the truth about ourselves and invites us to follow Him in a life of worshiping God in spirit and in truth. So often, our success in life depends on the quality of our counselors. Without good advisers, we tend to stumble more than we have to. His second name is Mighty God. When Jesus’ friend Lazarus becomes ill and dies, Jesus travels to the man’s home in Bethany. One of Lazarus’ sisters meets Jesus on the road and says, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). Jesus answers her: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in Me, even though they die, will live” (v. 25). For Jesus to make such an audacious statement, He has to be either a raving lunatic … or a Mighty God. He can be only one or the other: insane or almighty. So Jesus goes to the tomb and cries, “Lazarus, come out.” Then the dead man emerges with his hands and feet still bound with the grave cloths. Lazarus is given new life, and so are we, if we believe in Jesus, our Mighty God. It’s no coincidence that many of our favorite Christmas stories contain a message of new life, even if they fail to give credit to Jesus. Think of A Christmas Carol, which includes the transformation of the miser named Ebenezer Scrooge; or It’s a Wonderful Life, with its dramatic discovery of what really matters; or How the Grinch Stole Christmas, with the growth of the Grinch’s heart, which had once been “two sizes too small.” Christmas is all about moving from death to life, through the power of our Mighty God. His third name is Everlasting Father. When Jesus is having dinner with His disciples, Philip says to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus says to Philip, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know Me? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:8-9). The Word of God comes to us most clearly through Jesus, the One who is the flesh-and-blood appearance of God in human life. “In the beginning was the Word,” says John, “and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. … and the Word became flesh and lived among us.” This appearance of the Word of God in human form shows us that Jesus and our Everlasting Father are one and the same. His fourth name of many names is Prince of Peace. When Jesus is born in Bethlehem, most people are looking for a military messiah to drive the Romans out of Jerusalem and return the land to Jewish control. The prophet Isaiah captures this desire when he writes, “For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor - you have broken - as on the day of Midian.” But Jesus comes not to be a military messiah but a Prince of Peace. His endless peace is based on truth, justice and righteousness, not on the defeat of an oppressive empire. Archbishop Oscar Romero, who lost his life in service to Christ in El Salvador in the 1980’s, said, “Peace is not the product of terror or fear, instead, peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all, to the good of all. Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity. It is right, and it is duty.” This is the way Jesus wants us to live, making generous, tranquil contributions to the good of all. He challenges us to be dynamic, not passive, in our peacemaking. Generous, not stingy, and dutiful, not reserving our efforts for holidays and other special times. The work of peace and reconciliation should be an everyday effort for all of us who follow Christ. After all, says the apostle Paul, God “reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18). As ambassadors for Christ, our mission is to make peace with others, following the example of the One who came to earth to reconcile us to God. We are to “friend” others, just as Jesus came to make us friends with God. Jesus is our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His names may be offbeat and unusual, but they reveal His true identity. Let’s receive Him, accept Him and strengthen our connection to Him. What a friend we have … in Jesus.