Ancestry.com
Lectionary Readings: Isaiah 11: 1-10; Psalm 72; Romans 15: 4-13 & Matthew 3: 1-12
“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord—and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.” Isaiah 11: 1-4 (NIV)
One of the main purposes of Advent is to prepare our hearts and minds to receive Jesus as the extravagant gift of love from God. As we know, the story of Jesus birth is a fantastic tale using a combination of Gospels so we can have a full cast of characters. But Isaiah tells us that there is more to the story than what we read in Matthew and Luke. To get the full effect we need to look at those who preceded Jesus. Even though there is no opportunity to investigate by using modern day searches such “ancestry.com” or “my heritage.com”, etc. we do have access to a wealth of knowledge about Jesus’ family tree by utilizing the Old Testament.
The “stump of Jesse” referred to in the lectionary scripture describes a live branch that will grow out of a dead stump. This branch will bear fruit when the tree was thought to be lifeless and it refers to Jesus, the Messiah. The Jewish nation had been waiting for a Messiah for centuries and many continue to wait to this day. Isaiah’s prophecy points to the ancestry of the Messiah so that he will be recognized when he comes: “He will be a descendent of Jesse” and promises the people of Israel that the glory they remember from David’s time will come to them again. Samuel, as God’s representative, chose David, who was the youngest son of Jesse and the grandson of Boaz and Ruth to lead the kingdom of Israel. The relationship of Jesus to David gives us a starting place to look at those characters who preceded David and those who descended from David.
My study in looking at this scripture brought back a memory of when we created Jesse Trees to help us learn about the ancestry of Jesus. The trees were bare branch-type trees and different symbols of the ancestors were hung on the branches each day during Advent. The tree served as an “Advent calendar” to count down the days until Jesus birth. My brother graciously offered the loan of his collection of ornaments (created many years ago) for us to use and I will be placing a Jesse Tree complete with this collection of symbols in the Commons area of JM. There will also be a list of the Bible story, scripture and symbol that connects to the story for you to take home. The selected stories begin with creation and highlight the progression of God’s chosen people through the trials of Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, etc.
Sending his own Son to be with us was really a very characteristic thing for God to do. We sometimes hear that “the God of the Old Testament is a God of Justice; the God of the New Testament is a God of Love.” In fact, the Old Testament overflows with stories of God’s love. From the moment he began to make a world, God the Creator has also been the Redeemer, involved with his creatures in straightening out lives that kept going crooked. The Jesse Tree Advent calendar reminds us of some of these stories that add up to the long story of God’s compassion and challenge for humanity.
Dear God of our past, present and future, we thank you for our many blessings. We count among those blessings, the lessons of our scriptures, especially the stories of your people. The examples they set for us, the challenges they faced, the love that you continued to pour on them despite their risky choices give a glimpse of your mercy and grace. Help us to prepare our hearts to receive you once again and to dedicate ourselves to your service as you call. Amen.
Chyrl Budd
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