Isaiah 11:1-10. Romans 15:4-13. Matthew 3:1-12.
As many of you know, I live in a flat and we have communal gardens. During this last year, “things” have been done to some of the trees and it’s been interesting to watch the different techniques used for different trees: for one tree a man swung like Tarzan from branch to branch lopping off bits at a time and for another it was just 2 chops: one branch and then a massive trunk. ‘Timber!’ Crash! As my friend said, it was much more entertaining to watch than the TV.
One of the trees to get attention was a huge old conker tree. Now I am guessing it must have a preservation order on it as they cut off lots but left the main trunk and the thickest branches. It was left with no twigs, leaves or signs of life on it. You would have thought it was dead, but some time after it had its operation, little shoots started sprouting on it and some twigs formed and grew leaves. So now it looks like an old gnarled man with stubble because he hasn’t shaved for a few days.
In our Isaiah reading today we hear about a new shoot coming out of an old tree stump: The Root of Jesse stands for the history of God’s people through the lineage of Jesse, the father of King David. Isaiah is recognising the turbulent journey that Israel, as God’s people has had. They have had times of faithfulness to God and times when they have lost the plot. They have had times when peace has reigned and times when they were fighting other tribes or kingdoms; times when they were dominant and times when they were held captive. Isaiah’s words are a prophecy, a word of hope for a then struggling Israel. One day, he says, it will change. You feel like a stump but one day things will be different. New life will come, a new shoot will grow. One day God WILL reign and there will be a new way of living possible for everyone. Of course, we believe that prophecy referred to Jesus and we look forward to his birth in hope of the new life we know he brings and the new kingdom he ushers in.
Fast forward about 750 years and we hear in our Gospel reading (Matthew 3:1-12) about another prophetic figure, John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin. By this time, Jesus has been born and is about to begin his ministry and John, a strange and enigmatic but oddly charismatic man, was out there telling people to get ready because the Kingdom of God is at hand. Prepare yourselves he says, quoting another bit of Isaiah, repent, prepare your hearts for God’s Kingdom. Make room for it. New life in God is on offer.
But there is a warning. John doesn’t exactly like the religious leaders of the day and accuses them of relying upon their Jewish ancestry to save them. Rather like us relying on the heritage of the church to save us, or like those who believe they are saved because they go to church. Not the point, John says. A new way of living is coming that has a different emphasis and we need to get ready because rotten trees bearing bad fruit won’t survive. Good fruit comes out of good trees and good trees will need to be rooted in Jesus and nothing else. It is that alone that makes them good.
We aren’t meant to get scared. We aren’t meant to get worried that we are going to be found wanting and face the chop. We’re meant to have hope. Romans says, whatever has been written is written in order to give us hope. Hope in Jesus.
You see, a lot of people feel like the trees must in my garden. They feel rotten and gnarled and some feel like stumps. They don’t think they are good people. Some people struggle to stand upright amongst all their troubles and trials and worries. Christmas is coming and lots of people are anxious about how they will pay for food and heating, let alone presents. Others are ill or worried about others who are. In other countries there are many enduring starvation and terrible wars. The effects of natural disasters are still being felt by many who are trying to rebuild their lives. The helicopter crash last week and the tragic loss of life shows again how fragile life really is. Let’s face it, life for many people is hard and stressful and they do not know where God fits in.
But that is precisely why we can hope. A shoot is going to grow, new life is possible; however we feel or what we have done; whatever hand the cards of life have dealt us Jesus is with us, Immanuel, working with us, holding us, saving us because salvation, new life doesn’t depend on us and how we feel; it is dependent on Jesus and his unfailing love for us.
So John calls us to prepare our hearts; to focus, to face the right way, to be open to God, to look for signs of his presence in the world, in others, to be committed to doing our bit to help create space for Jesus to be present with us, to make room in our inn; to allow ourselves to undergo a bit of pruning so the new shoot of Jesus’ life can all the better grow; but above all, to hope. Because it IS possible to have fullness of life, however dark things may seem.
And when God’s kingdom comes in its fullness what do we see? Life and peace will be found in surprising places. In the TV programme Odd Couples animals struck up unusual friendships like e.g. kittens and ducklings, a great dane and a deer. In God, unexpected groups of people CAN live together, think of South Africa, think of us as a church (!) because old values of rivalry, trying to be top dog and of some people being considered less worthy in God’s eyes than others have no place in Jesus’ Kingdom. And life can be found in unexpected places within our own lives, if only we have eyes to see. Jesus’ kingdom is about accepting and loving people as they are and about encouraging the new life of Jesus to grow in them.
When I went on my first ever retreat, it struck me as I walked in a garden, how life always comes out of death and how closely the two are entwined. So as we move nearer to Christmas, let us believe that as shoots can come out of trees that have been written off as dead, we look forward in hope to welcoming the new shoot that is Jesus into our lives and into the world as a sign of hope for all.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Susie Walker. Youth Worker.