A Shoot Shall Sprout from the Root

Isaiah 11:1-3:

 "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 power,
       the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD - 
and he will delight in the fear of the LORD."

The Jesse Tree offers us a glance at Jesus' family tree. In big fancy theological language, we call it "salvation history," when God breaks into our human lives to speak to us, challenge us, make promises to us, and lead us. He's a bit of a nag. Kind of like your mom, but more inspiring.

So nosy God breaks into our lives all over the place. And he's not interested in the perfect. These stories are full of hacks and liars, cheats and philanderers and murderers. There are promises made and promises broken, there are infertile women and adopted kids. There are people playing favorites and fighting siblings. God loves a good soap opera.

Last night with Mr. Man we talked about the importance of family. Why does our family matter? How does our family history affect who we are? What does it say about us, if anything? As we sort through this adoption thing, the idea of genealogy- and being biologically related to your kids- is bouncing around in our minds. Mr. Man noticed for the first time, that Jesus was adopted into his family line. (At least he is if you are playing along with the virgin birth.)

Jesus was grafted onto that family tree. A shining strong shoot on a old, brambly greying stump. A shoot that gives new life to the tree, new direction and new hope.

Comments

[Amy]

LOVING the Jesse tree postings! I can't wait to check back every day.

[Stacey]

"Kind of like your mom, but more inspiring" LOL. Got a little choked up towards the end though, thinking of you guys often and saying some prayers for a very lucky kid to become a part of your tree.

[Sarah]

Beautiful post! It's a great point about Jesus being adopted into the line of David. Agree w/ Stacey that whoever is grafted onto your tree is a very lucky child!! (though, in all likelihood, the little one may be embarrassed by Mr. Man from time to time and not *feel* so lucky at that precise moment in time :) :))

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