St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church
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Trees: The Stump of Jesse Isaiah 11:1-10 December 3, 2006 (Click the date to see the bulletin)
1. Consider the basic structure of a tree. It has a root system, a trunk, branches and leaves (or needles). Sometimes when a live tree is cut down, and its roots are still healthy, those roots will send up shoots of new trees and they grow tall and strong even though the parent tree has been cut short. And sometimes, even that stump will sprout new branches. It’s pretty amazing to see a tree that appears dead, for all intents and purposes, only to discover that there is still life left in it! That’s the way it works in nature; that’s the nature of a tree. 2. Put your tree stump over here, and remember back a few weeks ago when Rodgers read from the Book of Ruth. It is the story of a couple who lived in Bethlehem, but because of a famine, they and their two sons moved to a foreign country where their two sons married native women. The man and his two sons died, leaving the three women all alone. The mother knew her only choice was to return to Bethlehem, but she wanted her daughters-in-law to stay with their families-of-origin. One agreed, but the other refused and insisted on returning to Bethlehem with her. That daughter-in-law eventually married her husband’s kinsman and together they had a son. The women of the neighborhood named him Obed (which, by the way, means "one who worships God"). The 17th verse of the last chapter of the Book of Ruth gives me shivers of anticipation every time I read it: "They named him Obed; he became the father of Jesse, the father of David." And I hope you all know that Jesus’ earthly "dad" Joseph, could trace his ancestors all the way back to David, the King of Israel. And Jesse was David’s father. Matthew and Luke, the only gospels to include Jesus’ "Family Tree," both include this fact. (As an aside, I have heard some people claim that Matthew traces Mary’s lineage back to David, but that is simply not true. One does not even have to read Matthew 1:16 very carefully to discover that Mary’s name is only parenthetical, as are Rahab and Ruth in verse 5 above it. The Bible is only interested in blood lines through the fathers, not the mothers.) 3. So over here we have a tree; and in here (the Bible) we have a man named Jesse . Put ‘em together, and what have you got? You’ve got the amazing revelation that God works in people almost like he works in nature. It often takes longer, though. It takes a while for a tree to sprout new growth, and it took even longer for God to "sprout new growth" from "the stump of Jesse" – several hundred years, actually. The people waited and waited and waited for that "stump" to show signs of new life and growth. 4. We wait, too. All during this season of Advent, we wait for signs of new life. In the darkness of early December, we light one candle, then two, then three, and four, and finally light the Christ Candle on Christmas Eve. 5. All the Advent-candle-lighting and Jesse-Tree-ornament-hanging takes place in the sanctuary. What will take place in your heart? In the dark recesses of your heart, where will God shine a light? From the roots of your very existence, what signs of new life are waiting to grow? |
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