itsawonderfilledlife

Week 2
The Promise of the Prophets

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and of might,
    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

Isaiah 11:1-3

A shoot will come up form the stump of Jesse …

A stump … that is where my mind lingered. A stump is the remnant of a tree that had been cut down. It is visually not small, otherwise it would not be visible, nothing more than a twig. No, a stump tells us that it was sizeable, it contained many rings. It lived for years.

That stump, that stump of Jesse … what does it mean?

Most of us who have weathered the advent season would know this passage from Isaiah as part of the Christmas story, for it is commonly read every year at this point in the church calendar. Most of us would also understand that the shoot is a reference to the Messiah, who was to come from the line of King David (for Jesse refers to the father of David).

The stump … this refers to the the place from where the Israelites (including Jesse and King David). At one time they grew and were strong, and stood tall. But the Jewish people (culture and religion) had been cut down, the kingdom of David a faint memory, their trust in their God holding on by a thread.

But … God ….

God had a plan for dead stumps. From this dead and lifeless stump of the Israelite people came a living shoot, in the person of Jesus. But part of God’s plan was not just that he would come to save his own people, but the entire forest. For he came for all … Jews and Gentiles (everyone else).

In this we all have become the Chosen of God … for he chose to redeem all through his Son.