A Signal to the Peoples

Advent II; December 9, 2007

Isaiah 11:1-10

“On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.” First: what “root of Jesse” is about. Jesse was the father of King David, the glorious King of Judah and Israel to whom God promised an heir to rule on his throne forever. When Judah lost its independence and the reign of the House of David came to an end, it was as though the tree that had its roots in Jesse had been cut down, leaving only a stump. Therefore, Isaiah prophesies that “a shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” (11:1) Perhaps you have cut down a tree and left the stump behind and noticed, later, a new tree growing from the stump or from the shoots. That’s what Isaiah has in mind. He goes on to describe what this “root of Jesse” shall be like.

You know him, of course. The root of Jesse came on a starry night in Bethlehem. It probably wasn’t the night of December 24-25, but that’s when we commemorate it, for lots of reasons that I explained last year. So the day Isaiah was looking forward to has already come. The Root of Jesse stands as a signal to the peoples and the nations do inquire of him; his dwelling is certainly glorious.

Because of this biblical image of the new tree growing from the shoot of Jesse, when Christians put up a tree before Christmas, it is called a Jesse Tree. Traditionally the ornaments on a Jesse Tree are symbols of Christian Faith, signs of the One Who is a signal to the peoples. This week I have chosen three of the ornaments on our Jesse Tree as signs to talk about.

There are several butterflies on the Tree. The butterfly, of course, is a symbol of resurrection. Although we know that the caterpillar that enters the chrysalis to emerge as a butterfly does not die and come back to life, the process is still a metaphor for resurrection. Symbols do not have to have literal one-to-one correspondence to be good symbols. The caterpillar is encased in a chrysalis as Christ was in the Tomb; after metamorphosis, the butterfly emerges, as Christ burst from the tomb and was radically changed. The butterflies on our Jesse Tree remind us that our hope for resurrection is in the root of Jesse.

The metamorphosis of resurrection does not have to be just a one-time thing after you die; hope is more vigorous than that. God gives us many opportunities to be born again, to start over, to change. Each of them is a resurrection, an emergence from the chrysalis as a butterfly. One friend awoke to the reality of her past, came to terms with it, made a new start and called it a new birth. We had a character back in Cincinnati, a judge named Leslie Isaiah Gaines. He was a big man, hard-working and overweight, and one day he was puffing up the stairs in the county courthouse. He was already in a frame of mind to think about his life, because another man named Leslie Gaines had just died of a heart attack and a lot of people confused them. He saw a stain on a pillar that reminded him of the profile of Jesus. That got him to thinking.

He lost weight, which helped his heart tremendously. He started preaching. He already had a radio show and he began to use it to talk about improving your life. After two years he resigned his seat as a judge in order to devote himself completely to his work as an evangelist and motivational speaker. I believe, although I am not certain about this, that he has returned to the practice of law, but a changed man. He is a great, big butterfly in a bowler hat.

Now, one of the butterflies on our Jesse Tree says on it, “Peace.” The folks who decorated our Tree last week put that butterfly near the top; I suspect that someone wanted to have that word “Peace” in front of us all through our Advent and Christmas this year. That’s good, because we need signs of peace. This week, the people of Omaha need a sign of peace. There are people close to us who were in Omaha on Wednesday, even in Westroads Mall, and when you are shaken by an experience like this, you need a sign of peace.

Isaiah’s sign of peace – the wolf and lamb together and so forth – is a long way off. He says peace will come when “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (11:9) Much of the world’s conflict comes at the hands of those who claim to know the Lord, but seem to know only enough to support their hatred of others, their hostility against others, and to seem to justify their use of violence. It’s easy to find passages in the Bible and the Quran to quote as justification for hurting someone else. But those who take the holy books seriously and in their entirety learn that the sign of the presence of God is the sign of peace. Thank you for this sign near the top of our Tree.

Over here is a round ornament with an anchor on it. Christians have used an anchor as a symbol for two primary reasons, but it means something else to me as well. First, the anchor reminds us of a ship, and the Church of Jesus Christ is supposed to be like a ship. A ship helps you get to your destination; a ship takes people there together; a ship is a place of safety in a storm. I think it was Robert McAfee Brown who said that the Church is like Noah’s Ark: if it weren’t for the storm outside, you would not be able to stand the stench inside. Sure, we’re not perfect, but the church is supposed to be a refuge for people from the storms of life, not simply a refuge that stands still, but a refuge that is going somewhere. Incidentally, the main part of a church building is called a “nave,” from the Latin word nave, which means “ship.”

The second thing about an anchor is that the top part of it makes the shape of a cross. And you don’t need me to tell you what the Cross means, do you? An anchor makes me think of something else: the Word of God. This is not a traditional meaning, but I have often thought of the Bible as an anchor for God’s people. It gives us stability, keeps us where we ought to be, but it is not a rule book and not a manual for discovering who is in and who is out: who we’re supposed to love and who we’re supposed to despise. The Word of God is instead an anchor for our lives.

Now, the third ornament I want to talk about is the bird: there are lots of birds on the Tree, but I’ll pick this one here (a dove with a halo). This first of all reminds us of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord who rests upon the root of Jesse, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of delight in the Lord’s presence (11:2-3, as adapted in the Book of Common Worship). According to Luke, Jesus’ unusual birth was the work of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). Also the Gospels tell us that the Holy Spirit is the one who identifies Jesus as the Son of God at his baptism, appearing in the form of a dove.

But another thing about the bird: our Advent hymn “People, Look East” (Eleanor Farjeon, The Presbyterian Hymnal (1990) #12) identifies Christ with a bird:

Birds, though you long have ceased to build, Guard the nest that must be filled.

Even the hour when wings are frozen God for fledging time has chosen.
People, look east and sing today: Love the bird is on the way.

We do not hear so many birds this time of year and when we do we may wonder how they manage the winter. But they do: birds are hardy and adaptable and are sometimes downright annoying.

Like Christ, who is hardy and adaptable and can be downright annoying. But we’ll let that go for now, and simply give thanks that the signal to the peoples has so many ways of reminding us of him.

Lord Christ, stand as a signal to us and all the peoples and use every means to speak to us and remind us of you. Amen.

Robert A. Keefer

Westminster Presbyterian Church

Clarinda, Iowa