There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord…
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
Isaiah 11:1-10
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.” And again it is said, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” And again,
“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.” And again Isaiah says,
“The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.” May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Romans 15:4-13
In our backyard in North Carolina we had a bunch of fruit trees—apples, pears, and peach. One of our peach trees stood at the very back of the garden. So far back that I rarely paid any attention to it. It was in a place that made it hard for me to get my lawn mower around it–especially when the tree was covered with leaves and fruit.
One day I decided to take my chainsaw to it, and turn it into firewood. I cut it all the way down to ground level–just level with the tops of the grass. I could get by with my lawn mower, and life was good.
Several months later I was mowing the grass and I noticed something. Sprouting up from the base of the cut-down tree was a young sapling. A shoot was reaching skyward—the start of a new tree was beginning. God makes new things grow out of old and broken down things.
Isaiah uses this image–the tree stump–to talk about God’s fulfillment of his promise to David, and their fulfillment in the birth of Christ.
“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse…”
King David was Jesse’s son, and David’s dynasty had come to an end. The line of David had failed—it was a cut-down tree.
Just a chapter earlier the Prophet proclaims that God had lopped down the boughs of Jerusalem with terrifying power. In exercising his judgment against Jerusalem and its King, God has brought them to nothing.
Yet, in the very next chapter we’re told that God’s plan didn’t end there. No, God was not yet finished with David’s line nor was he finished with Israel
David’s line would one day come to prominence again and Israel be restored through Jesus the Messiah who is the fresh growth, the sprout, of the lineage of David.
God had made a promise or covenant to David that he would be the Lord’s anointed and King of Israel—to that end he had been anointed by Samuel (see 1 Samuel 16:13).
Yet, David died and his lineage ended.
There are times—aren’t there—when we begin to wonder if God is really going to keep the promises that he has made to us.
It must have felt that way to Israel as they wandered in the desert for forty years.
It must have seemed that way across the 400 years of silence that elapsed between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of thew New.
Yet. God always keeps his promises.
It doesn’t always seem clear when or how he will keep them, but God will keep his promises: to Israel; to the church; and to you.
Our lesson from Paul’s letter to the Romans both quotes the prophet, and also shows us why–at least in part–we have been given the Scriptures. We need instruction; we need encouragement; and that we need hope.
Hope comes from believing God—from saying despite appearances, what God has said is true; and God will do as He has said.
Hope springs from faith. And our faith is strengthened as we see the ways in which God was faithful to generations before us in the pages of the Scripture.
And in those same pages we are instructed in all that we need to know of God, of ourselves, and of the world.
Earlier this week my kids asked me what about Christmas makes me the most excited?
My answer was instantaneous: My favorite thing about Christmas is putting you two kids to sleep on Christmas Eve and seeing the excitement and the magic in your eyes.
In our hyper-connected, over-informed, and generally cynical world, we don’t often get to experience anything magical, mysterious, or sublime.
We ingest data packets, take our coffee on the go, and move from one thing to another with a speed that would, a century ago, have been unthinkable.
In an age of science and technology we think that “seeing is believing,” and that there is little or nothing beyond our sense perceptions.
We so often forget that we are living in a world that is charged with God’s grandeur; that is home to millions of souls that will live everlastingly; that interfaces with a spiritual realm; and whose history is moving towards the purposes God has for set for it before the foundation of the world.
We so easily forget that Advent and Christmas are a profound part of God’s working in our world and in our lives—it’s the story that stands behind the story of our world and of our lives. At Christmas, the edge is peeled back and we get to see something of how God is at work in our world. Let’s pay attention for the magic.
And May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
+In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Pastor's Study 