Text: Isaiah 6:1–13, Isaiah 10:33–11:10
Facebook live: Living among the Bible’s trees - Jesse’s Tree!
10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
As we continue to live among the Bible trees, tonight, in our reading, you heard reference to a “shoot” and a “branch” from the “stump” and “roots” of Jesse.
Jesse, of course was King David’s father, and so tonight we’ll focus on the “Jesse Tree” in our sermon series.
Considering Jesse’s Tree, we realize that, like the people of Judah and Jerusalem, we are also born in sin and that Jesus comes forth, like the Shoot and Branch of Jesse, and conquers sin and death for us.
I. We, are dead in trespass and sin.
God calls Isaiah to proclaim a message of judgment against Judah and its capital Jerusalem at the hands of the Assyrians.
Their land, Isaiah was to tell them, would be burned, like a tree reduced to a stump. But all hope was not lost, for the holy seed was in that stump!
The stump might appear to be dead, but it was not dead; new shoots could sprout from its roots.
Years ago, at my house a flowering crab tree that I planted died. After I cut it down a new tree grew from the stump so well that I have a flowering crab today!
So, not surprisingly, Isaiah proclaims a message of judgment against the Assyrians and the start of new life for God’s people. Isaiah returns to the image of the stump in order to prophesy ultimately of the long-promised Messiah to come.
In short, judgment was necessary, but all hope for the future was not eliminated.
Judgment was necessary, as you might know, and expect, because the people of Judah and Jerusalem, especially their kings, had been unfaithful to God.
Isaiah rebukes their many sins, but he especially addresses their idolatry, their worshiping false gods.
In our day we see successive generations less churched or non-churched at all, and through Isaiah, God calls Judah’s children:
4 Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the Lord,
they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly estranged.
Isa 1:4
We are no different by nature, and all too often we are no different by thought, word, or deed.
We fail to fear, love, and trust God above all things, and so we misuse his name;
We despise preaching and his Word in its verbal and sacramental forms;
We disobey our parents and other authorities;
We do not help and support our neighbors in every physical need;
We do not lead sexually pure and decent lives;
We do not help our neighbors to improve and protect their possessions and income;
We do not explain everything in the kindest way; and we are not content with the possessions, people, and things that God has given us.
We deserve not only the temporal punishment God through Isaiah promised Judah and Jerusalem, but we also deserve eternal torment in hell.
But there is also Good News!
For when we confess our sin and trust God to forgive our sin, God does just that:
He forgives our sin, whatever our sin might be, for the sake of his Son, Jesus the Christ - the Shoot that comes forth from the stump of Jesse – and this forgiveness bears fruit in our lives and in his mane!
II. Jesus, the Shoot and Branch of Jesse, conquers for us.
By the time of the birth of Jesus, that royal line of David, the son of Jesse, seemed long dormant and dead.
Yet, in the genealogies recorded in Matthew and Luke, Jesus descended from David.
As Isaiah prophesies in chapter 52:
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
Is 53:2
Yet, far greater than Solomon or any other king, Jesus is Jesse and David’s key descendant, who epitomizes all that the Lord promised to David.
Out of his great love for us, the whole fullness of God at Jesus’ Baptism is involved in anointing him for his work.
Jesus was and is the promised Savior. Acts 13:22–23
Jesus is the Seed of the woman, who on the cross bruises the serpent’s head to defeat him, and though the serpent bruises his heel - Jesus rises from death to victory as a shoot from a dead stump.
The Shoot of Jesse’s tree, David’s son, Jesus, has conquered for us! And we through repentance and faith, in him, conquer too!
In the First Reading, Isaiah knew that he was undone in the presence of the King, the Lord of hosts:
5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
Similarly, we who are sinful by nature can only stand in the presence of the Holy God by virtue of his first atoning for our sin on the cross and then giving us that forgiveness through his Word and gifts.
The Word, proclaimed and the absolution pronounced!
The Word united with the water and the Holy Spirit in Baptism.
The Word, in, with and under the Bread and Wine for the forgiveness of our sins and the strengthening of our faith!
In these gifts and by God’s Spirit, we, draw on the rich provision of God’s grace, and do the good works prescribed by his Commandments.
In other words, abiding in him the Vine, we branches bear much fruit, ultimately bringing glory to God the Father as our good works which God prepared for us to do, lead others to hope in the Root of Jesse and believe.
Though we die in Christ we live!
Depictions of the “Jesse Tree” go back at least to the eleventh century, and those depictions are said to be the origin of representations of other family trees.
The tree of Jesse and faith in our lives remind us of God’s promise,
God’s work, God’s forgiveness and God’s Son:
11 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit
Amen
Lent series, "Living among the Bible's trees" - modified
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