Thoughts for the Day

A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
he calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

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.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

During Advent we shall look at the people, places and symbols that invite us to prepare for the coming of the Christ-child at Christmas. They will not necessarily occur in the right order! Today we look at Jesse!

Today's character is Jesse. We should remember that Isaiah was writing some 740 years before Jesus, and we now see him looking back a further 300 years before he was born to roughly 1,040 BCE to a man called Jesse who came from the tribe of Judah. Jesse was the grandson of Ruth and Boaz (Ruth 1-4). He lived in Bethlehem and he had eight sons, the youngest of whom was David. God was to ensure that the prophet Samuel would anoint David as King to replace King Saul. He was to reign for years and despite human failings was to be significant in establishing God's earthly base in Jerusalem. His faith in God and his zeal as King meant all future Kings would be measured against him.

Isaiah prophesies that from the line of Jesse and of David a new person will come and that "the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him". This person will be the Saviour, that is the Messiah, for whom the people have been longing. Notice the characteristics they will possess: "wisdom", "righteousness", "equity", "faithfulness", and "might", among others. The Hebrew nation waited for centuries for this Saviour but only noticed the word "might", which they did not see in the baby born in a stable in Bethlehem.

The question is, would we have seen the Saviour in the birth, life, and death of that child if we had been there, and will we recognise him when He comes again?

Lord Jesus Christ,
we thank You for the prophecy of Isaiah -
that you would be born "to the stock of Jesse"
that is, in the tribe of Judah,
so that Your ancestor would be King David.
As we wait for Your Second Coming
may we not make the mistake
of missing the signs of Your arrival,
but keep awake and watching
for the time You will return
to judge the whole world.
Amen.