Fourth Monday of Advent
Reflection: Friday, Day 23 of Advent
Read the Scripture here first.
by Chris Pipkin
So, speaking of roots…
The prophecies for this final week of Advent are all taken from Isaiah, and each aligns with one of the “O Antiphons” traditionally recited during the seven days before Christmas Eve.
Usually, antiphons are just short songs or musical phrases which Christians began singing after the Psalms quite early. In general, early Christian worship was very close to Jewish worship in featuring the chanting of Psalms. One of the trends that developed in the early church, distinguishing Christian worship from Jewish worship, was that a kind of Christian response to the different Psalms would be sung, which highlighted the ways in which Christ fulfilled the Psalmists’ hopes.
The “O Antiphons” were special, though, because in the days leading up to Christmas, Christians began singing the Magnificat from Luke’s gospel—which is very much inspired by the Psalms—and then followed it with one of seven “O Antiphons,” depending on how many days away Christmas Eve was. These antiphons address Christ directly, emphasizing a particular aspect of who he is—especially as highlighted by Old Testament Prophecies. Even if you’re not used to traditional liturgy you may have at least encountered them in the verses of the hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”
Each antiphon addresses Christ by a different name found in the Hebrew Bible. Saturday’s Antiphon was “O Sapientia,” or Wisdom; Sunday’s was “O Adonai.” Today’s is “O Radix Jesse,” or “Root of Jesse.”
This passage from Isaiah begins by prophesying a shoot that will emerge from the stump of Jesse. Isaiah has just been predicting (in Chapter 10) that many towns in Israel would be destroyed, but that the LORD would destroy the mighty like someone lopping the boughs off trees. In other words, if nations (or the kings that rule them) are like trees, they will all become stumps one day. The difference for Israel, though, is that a shoot will emerge from its stump. A new Davidic king will arise and govern God’s people in wisdom, power, and virtue.
The interesting thing, though, is that after describing this king’s future golden reign, in which justice and peace are so extensive that the very animals seem to change their natures, Isaiah ends with the image not of the shoot of Jesse, but of the root of Jesse. It is under the reign of this re-grown tree that the root itself is glorious.
The most straightforward reading of this messianic passage might assume that the “shoot” refers to the Messiah—a mortal king who will usher in an age of unprecedented peace and prosperity for God’s people—so much so that it will be as if children could play next to adders’ dens and lions and lambs could lie down together. The root of Jesse referred to at the end of the passage would then be, not Jesse’s or David’s descendant, but his Lord—namely, the LORD, YHWH, who established the Davidic dynasty. The root makes the LORD’s resting place glorious, and the nations inquire there.
To an extent, Christians agree with this interpretation, with the caveat that we believe the root and the shoot are not only connected but are the same thing. Remember Jesus’ riddle? “David calls [the Messiah] his Lord. How is he then his son?” Christians believe that the shoot from Jesse’s stump that bears fruit is the same as the root of Jesse.
“This identification of shoot with root is productive, especially at Advent, when we are both thinking of Christ’s first coming and envisioning his second.”
This identification of shoot with root is productive, especially at Advent, when we are both thinking of Christ’s first coming and envisioning his second. For us, as the people of God, the “root” is the first Advent of Christ as well as the events leading up to it, recounted in the Hebrew Bible. The stump is the decisive lack of justice, understanding, and knowledge of the Lord, when we have been promised that the earth would be “full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” It’s the predatory habits, not only of animals, but of people, of us.
But Christ will come again and fulfill the rest of the passage—just as he has already fulfilled part of it. The Spirit of the Lord rests upon him and us, even as it makes his resting place glorious. The passage seems unlikely to ever be fulfilled, of course—there is a parade of injustice and outrage continually passing in front of most of our eyes, invading our senses—but remember that “he will not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear.” It seems unlikely, to the world-weary and worldly wise that a stump would sprout a new tree. But the very fact that injustice bothers us—or for that matter, that we have a concept of “justice” rather than experiences we happen to like or dislike—reflects the imprint of God on our souls and betokens the possibility of fulfillment. But Christ will return, in judgment and grace, all the nations inquiring of him and of the LORD as he reshapes creation itself, making all things truer to his nature, and thus more like themselves than they have ever been.
Advent
Activities
This week before Christmas is great for preparation spiritually and physically for the upcoming feast. Take time to think through creatively how you do both of these things: whether its meal-planning and creating a menu for feasting through Christmas or if its setting aside 15–30 for meditation and prayer, preparing your heart as an “inn” for Jesus Christ.
The week before Christmas, we are typically still decking the halls—creating paper chains to place around the house or foraging our woods for creating wreaths. We hope you are still joyfully preparing this week!
Scripture for 12/16
Passage from Isaiah 11:1–10
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and 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 of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf 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 cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
Literature
“Advent Calendar” by Rowan Williams
Advent Calendar
by Rowan Williams
He will come like last leaf’s fall.
One night when the November wind
has flayed the trees to the bone, and earth
wakes choking on the mould,
the soft shroud’s folding.
He will come like frost.
One morning when the shrinking earth
opens on mist, to find itself
arrested in the net
of alien, sword-set beauty.
He will come like dark.
One evening when the bursting red
December sun draws up the sheet
and penny-masks its eye to yield
the star-snowed fields of sky.
He will come, will come,
will come like crying in the night,
like blood, like breaking,
as the earth writhes to toss him free.
He will come like child.
Song
Andrew Carter’s “Mary’s Magnificat” sung by The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
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