Thoughts for the Day

A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling 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 asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

The trouble with shoots for a gardener is that they can be a bit of a problem. We really don't want lilac bushes, blackberries, or sycamore trees rampaging through the garden and need to deal with them as soon as they appear. Neither do we want our prize rose bushes producing vigorous stock from the root below where a new cultivated stock has been spliced. For the one thing we do know is that roots grown from the original plant are usually strong, healthy and true to their root-stock.

Despite warnings from Prophets like Micah and Isaiah to reform their ways and return to God, in the 8th century BCE the people of the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel were dealt death blows by Assyria, leading in 722 BCE to the enslavement of the 10 tribes in the North by the Assyrians, and later on to incursions into the Kingdom of Judah. Isaiah sees this as God pruning the nation. They have been virtually destroyed by the Assyrians, but out of this will come a faithful remnant, and from the house of Jesse (the father of King David) will come one upon whom the spirit of the Lord will rest. This is to be the Messiah, the one whom God will send to rescue His people. For the next 700 years Isaiah's prophecy was to encourage the people to search for God's Messiah.

Can we see with our 21st century eyes what those who met Jesus and followed him, saw? Look at the highlighted lines in today's reading, and see how closely the attributes fit the picture we see of Jesus as shown in the Gospels. This was Jesus of Nazareth who was born in the line of Jesse and King David, in David's home town of Bethlehem. As we move through Advent and towards Christmas, Isaiah reminds us of the lineage of God's rescuer, who was to be true to his root-stock as a man and as the Son of God, and who will one day return to save His people.

Lord Jesus Christ,
Isaiah foretold that the Messiah would be born
as a descendant of David,
and the people welcomed You as such
when you rode into Jerusalem on a donkey,
only to reject You a few days later.
This Advent may we reflect on all you came to offer:
forgiveness, peace, and justice for our world.
Then may we examine our lives carefully
for signs that we reject Your offer of reconciliation,
before doing something about it.
Amen.