SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19 - A BRANCH WILL BLOSSOM
November 19, 2023
Deborah Laforet
A Branch Will Blossom
Let us pray. May the words from my lips and the meditations of my heart be guided by
your Spirit and be words of wisdom for this day. Amen.
Today we are celebrating Reign of Christ Sunday. In some churches it's called Christ the
King Sunday. It’s the final Sunday of the church year, before a new church year begins. It’s kind
of a New Year’s Eve for the church. We celebrate the Christ. We celebrate the kingdom or the
reign of Christ in our world. It might seem kind of odd, because we then, next Sunday, begin
talking again of the coming of Christ. It’s interesting to put these Sundays side by side. How is
it that we acknowledge the Christ, present in our world today, but also anticipate what the
coming of Christ looks like in our world. Can it be both? Can we celebrate the reign of Christ in
the present and also be waiting for that presence at the same time?
The passage we heard today is often heard during Advent, that time when we are waiting
and anticipating the birth of Christ. In the passage we hear the promise that “a shoot will sprout
from the stump of Jesse.” This shoot that sprouts often refers to Jesus. Jesse was the father of
King David, from whom it is said Jesus descended. Many say this stump refers to Israel, to an
Israelite nation that had been cut down, whose life had been cut short, to a people who had lost
their way. So we read that a shoot will sprout and a branch will blossom. The prophet is
predicting God will send a saviour, that God has not given up on the people, and that God, which
has happened throughout Biblical history, will find a leader again who will bring the people out
of their struggles. Many Christians think that leader is Jesus.
Immediately following this passage Judy read for us today, we hear in verse 6:
6 The wolf shall live with the lamb; the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the lion will feed together, and a little child shall lead them.
and verse 9:
9 They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea.
This is what that shoot or that branch will bring to this world. That is the promise.
Michael J. Chan, an associate professor at Lutheran Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota
wrote the following about these verses: “If Isaiah 11:1-9 were the criteria by which Jesus’
ministry was judged, then one would have to conclude that, on the whole, it falls far short.
Christ’s victory remains a hidden victory, or even an unaccomplished one. Are we forced to
conclude then that Jesus was a failed messiah?
Ouch. That can’t be right. A failed Messiah. Chan is right, though. We do not live in a
world where wolves live with lambs or where calves and lions eat hay together. We know, by
looking at our world today, that there is lots of hurt and destruction on God’s holy mountain. So
did Jesus do what he set out to do? Is Christ really making a difference in our world today?
Now, I neglected to leave out Chan’s final words from this paragraph. He questions, “Are
we forced to conclude then that Jesus was a failed messiah?” His answer? “No, but we may
have to concede that his ministry is fundamentally incomplete.”
What does this mean, that the ministry of Jesus may be incomplete? How do we rectify
our celebration of the reign of Christ or Christ the King or the way we talk about Jesus as the
saviour of the world? During Advent, when we celebrate the birth of Jesus and celebrate God
being born in this tiny baby, do we accept that the mission didn’t quite meet the mark and just
pray that it happens again and that it happens right this time?
Some people have given up on Christianity because it doesn’t make sense. How can God
have been born into this world and have it still so full of wars and hatred? How can Jesus be
crucified and then risen without some dramatic change happening to humanity? How can a
loving and merciful God, one that actually became human, stand back and watch the destruction
of this earth and the suffering of life upon it?
There is a reason I like this passage as written in the Inclusive Bible. I sometimes choose
this bible to find an alternative from the heavy male language and pronouns used for God in
other versions, but this time, there is a second reason I turned to this translation. In this passage,
we read, “Then a shoot will sprout from the stump of Jesse; from Jesse’s roots, a branch will
blossom.” Then, instead of the male pronouns in the third person, we have a first person
pronoun. We read, “The spirit of Yahweh will rest on you...You will delight in obeying Yahweh
and you won’t judge by appearances or make decisions by hearsay. You will treat poor people
with fairness and uphold the rights of the land’s downtrodden... Justice will be the belt around
this your waist - faithfulness will gird you up.”
Maybe this shoot that will sprout and maybe this branch that will blossom isn’t just about
a coming Messiah, not just about Jesus. Maybe it’s about you. Maybe it’s about us.
Friday morning, the Interfaith Council of Halton met with Anita Anand and Pam
Damhoff, MPs for Oakville. We met with them to share thoughts around the conflict in Israel
and Palestine. Damhoff shared a story with us that directly connects with this message today.
She talked about a friend who survived the genocide in Rwanda, and who now lives in Winnipeg,
a recent convert to Judaism. He was impressed by the resilience of Jews during the Holocaust
and their resilience now. This friend told Damhoff that when it looks like there is no hope, be
what you want to see in this world.
If we want to see peace, we need to be people of peace. If we want to see less hate, we
need to be less hateful. If we want to see compassion and mercy, we need to be compassionate
and merciful. Jesus’ mission was incomplete because it wasn’t his role to complete it. If it’s
important to us to have a world filled with justice and peace, it’s up to us to create it.
Too many people have been waiting for others to do this work, whether waiting for the
politicians, activists, community leaders...but it’s not their work. It’s ours. “The spirit of
Yahweh will rest on you - a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and strength,
a spirit of knowledge and reverence for Yahweh.” Don’t look at the person sitting next to you.
Don’t look at the politician in town hall or in Parliament. Don’t just pray harder, hoping some
divine entity will come down and do the hard work needed to create peace and bring justice.
This is your work. You are that hope. You are that promise. You are the shoot that will sprout
and the branch that will blossom. The Spirit of God rests upon you.
As we move into Advent, as we speak the four words that we highlight when we light the
Advent candles - hope, peace, joy, and love - as we anticipate the coming of Christ, remember
that it lies within you, that you are this world’s hope, peace, joy, and love, and that the reign of
Christ begins with you, begins in your hearts, your minds, your bodies. We are the Christ, the
saviour of the world, who will bring peace to our earth. May it be so. Amen.
Isaiah 5:1-5, 11:1-5
(Introduce yourself.)
Today we are reading from two chapters from the book of the prophet Isaiah. In these passages,
God is tending a vineyard. In chapter five, we read of a well cared for vineyard that produces
only rotten grapes, so, in frustration, God uproots the garden and lets it be overgrown and
trampled. From chapter eleven, though, we read of hope, a shoot growing out of a stump and a
blossoming branch.
I’m reading the first five verses of chapter 5 and the first five verses of chapter 11, from the
Inclusive Bible.
1 Let me sing now of my friend -
it is a love song about a vineyard:
My friend had a vineyard
on a very fertile hillside.
2 My friend dug the soil, cleared the stones,
and planted the choicest vines;
then within it built a watchtower,
and constructed a wine press.
My friend anticipated the crop of grapes,
but what it yielded was rotten grapes.
3 “Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and people of Judah,
judge between me
and my vineyard.
4 What more could I have done for my vineyard
that I haven’t done?
Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes,
did it bring forth bad fruit?
5 Now I will let you know
what I mean to do to my vineyard:
take away its hedge, give it over to grazing,
break through its wall, let it be trampled!
Now, from chapter eleven:
1 Then a shoot will sprout from the stump of Jesse;
from Jesse’s roots, a branch will blossom.
2 The spirit of Yahweh will rest on you -
a spirit of wisdom and understanding,
a spirit of counsel and strength,
a spirit of knowledge and reverence for Yahweh.
3 You will delight in obeying Yahweh.
and you won’t judge by appearances
or make decisions by hearsay.
4 You will treat poor people with fairness
and uphold the rights of the land’s downtrodden.
With a single word you will strike down tyrants;
with your decrees you will execute evil people.
5 Justice will be the belt around this your waist -
faithfulness will gird you up.
May God grant us understanding of our sacred text. Amen.