Hello dears,
I am extremely late. Apologies.
Have you ever seen a tree grow up our of another that has been cut down? It’s as if the tree is stubbornly saying, ‘You might have tried to destroy me … but it’s not over. I’m still standing.’ One could argue that it’s like a phoenix. Today’s Holy Nougat uses such imagery to forth tell Christ’s coming.
Isaiah 11:1 AFV
[1] And there shall come forth a shoot out from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
A Shoot from Jesse’s Stump
Interestingly, verses 2-4 of Isaiah 11 focus on the attributes of Y’shua, the Righteous Branch of Jesse (David’s father). However, before we get to that branch which grows from the roots, Isaiah prophesied about a shoot that defied the odds. In many contexts, a shoot is that tender trunk that pushes out of the ground before the old tree dies. [Warning: That explanation comes from my experience of monocoteledons like bananas and plantains. As I’m neither agricultural expert, nor a farmer – bear with me please]. With banana shoots, I recall there’d be several surrounding the banana root some time after the banana has borne fruit.
A stump is an indication that the tree trunk – i.e., the section of the tree that carries food from the root to the branches for fruit to come forth – has been severed from the root. Thus, the tree’s original purpose – whether for fruit bearing or shade – is no longer valid. The stump could be the result of intentional scaling down by the farmer, or in some cases, the tree was sick and the trunk cut to prevent the spread of the disease.
A shoot pushing forth from a stump isn’t an everyday occurrence. It isn’t in the natural order of things. The tender trunk pushes forth, usually with no sign of disease, offering a new lease on life for the ‘dead’ tree.
Self-Check
Are there stumps in our lives that need to see new shoots pushing forth? And more critically, are there parts of our nature that need to be cut down to stumps?
Digging Deeper
In a previous reflection, we heard Bartimaeus referring to Jesus as ‘Son of David’. Some exegetes (that is, Bible scholars) believe that the expression point to Y’shua as the fulfilment of this prophesy. Yet we note that Isaiah didn’t refer to this Righteous Branch as David’s son. He goes one generation back, to David’s father, Jesse. This is an interesting prophetic word, given that David was Jesse’s 8th son, and God hadn’t found kingly qualities in Jesse’s other sons. Yet, at a time when the Divided Kingdom of Israel-Judah had both been vanquished and laid bare, YHWH reminded a people who scarcely knew of God’s promises to Abraham or to David to keep hope alive. This shoot, unlike Jesse’s sons, would not only be a man after God’s heart, but he would not carry traits of disease that presented in Jesse’s line previously.
Siblings, at the time of Y’shua’s birth, the kingly line of David was merely a fond memory. It symbolised the glory days of Israel, not their current reality. Yet, in that righteous branch, was the blueprint for God’s glory for an eternal kingdom established in Heaven for people within and beyond historic Israel.
Yes, the Righteous Branch has scope for us, because Jesse’s grandmother, Ruth, was a Moabitess. She was an outsider, grafted in. Inasmuch as Ruth was grafted into the spiritual family tree, so can we. The Righteous Branch growing out of Jesse’s root would bear fruit immediately. That could be the shepherds or the Magi. But it could also be you and me.
Point to Ponder
Will we allow Jesse’s shoot to bear eternal fruit in our dead spaces?
—
May all we seek be found in Christ
