Jesse’s Branch
Isaiah 11:1-16
“A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.”
By all rational accounts, Isaiah’s prophecy is a beautiful and poetic crock. Jesse, you may recall, is the father of the legendary King David. And in Isaiah’s time, David is long dead and so is his great kingdom. The Assyrians have destroyed everything in 586 B.C., and sent Israel into exile. It’s over. It’s dead. Like a bleached-out stump in the backyard. But Isaiah stands up, clears his throat and delivers: Another great king will yet be born from Jesse’s line, another great David, he says, and the Jews are not dead yet.
Isaiah sees the dead stump like anyone else—but already he sees a tiny green shoot! He tells people, You don’t have to be defined by the reality that’s presented to you. We need prophets like Isaiah.
Prophets like Hagrid. Remember when the giant Hagrid breaks down the Dursley’s door? He’s come to tell Harry Potter who he really is. Uncle Vernon meets him with a rifle, which Hagrid twists like a pretzel.
“You never told him,” Hagrid demands, “what was in the letter that Dumbledore left for him?”
“What letter?” Harry exclaims.
Vernon yells, “Stop, I forbid you!” and Petunia gasps in horror.
“Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh,” says Hagrid. “Harry—yer a wizard.”
Advent is a time to believe the beautiful impossible. Trust the prophets of new life, especially the ones who don’t look like prophets.
Prayer: It’s true, Lord, that we are quick to believe bad news and slow to believe that the good news is possible; send us, please, a prophet today, anyone who can speak hope, and we will believe. Amen.
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The miraculous is there – we just need someone crazy enough to give us a glimpse of it. Thanks, David!
Wow! What a “God moment” reading your Advent post this morning. Our choir is going to sing Joseph Martin’s anthem “The Beautiful Impossible” on Sunday, and I was listening to it on YouTube as I read your post! What a “glorious improbable” coincidence! Thanks, David!
Thanks—just listened to the Martin anthem—lovely!
I did a turnaround this evening. While I was preparing dinner, I put on my favorite news station, my evening habit. The news was so gruesome and disturbing that I turned it off, feeling like I would ingest the reality of the horrible events that I had just briefly witnessed. Instead, I lit some candles and put on relaxing Christmas music, which I am still listening to (King’s College Choir). That turnaround was a miracle!
We could all use one of your “turn-around” miracles!