Grace Lutheran Church

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+ In Nomine Jesu +

The Rev. Evan Gaertner

Christmas Eve 11pm                                                                                             "From the stump of Jesse"

December 24, 2005                                                                                                                             Isaiah 11:1

There are many promises in the Old Testament that look forward to Jesus Christ. Tonight we gather together that God has sent his son into the world. We celebrate that in the midst of our world filled with stories that make the heart sink there is promise and hope to hold onto. There is reason for hope. There is a reason to live. There is the good news that Christ has come and he will come again.

He has come to bring a kingdom of harmony. I love the way that Isaiah describes the harmony of this impossible kingdom. “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.”

From the stump of Jesse a shoot shall come up, from the root a branch shall come forth that will bear fruit. This is a prophecy about the messiah that would come from the long decayed line of David.

Jesse was the father of King David. He was the grandson of Boaz and Ruth. But David’s line of kings ended when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem. Even as only a stump remained the promise remained. Even when Israel was cut down and reduced to a stump of its former self living under the rule of Babylon, then the Persians, then the Greeks, and then the Romans, even so the promise remained.

The promise of Isaiah is that the stump of Jesse would grow green again. For all those that have despaired and felt like giving up, the stump would grow green again. In the time of Isaiah when a nation was defeated not only would they never hear of their king again they would not be allowed to be a nation again. After the Assyrians destroyed the northern tribes, those ten tribes are never heard of again.

What would the fate be of the people when the Babylonians destroyed them? What should are ending be when death comes to destroy?

I suppose we could pretend that we are alright. Hell isn’t so bad as long as you are there with some of your friends…well the truth we must come to grips with daily is that sin, death, and the devil are as bad as their reputation.

We deserve whatever sin, death, or workings of the devil come our way. We are the ax holders having cut down God’s own anointed son Jesus. It was our sin that brought Jesus to the cross. We are the reason the tree has been cut down to a stump. By our works and deeds we earned nothing but death and condemnation.

But remember the stump shall be green again. A little child born in Bethlehem is the blossoming of hope. Jesus came to save us. The power of that birth that we celebrate is that Jesus has come into the very world that would desire to cut him down. But Jesus comes to us either way. There is redemption in the improbable. I have a hope that every person this Christmas that hears about Jesus discovers anew the love and harmony and forgiveness he ushers in through his life, death and resurrection.

For any tonight that have coming looking for a reason to hope again I offer you that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh born a baby, a boy to become a man upon the cross, a man that would empty your tomb of death. Where we should only know despair, the tree of David that has been cut down, shall grow green again.

Craig Schultz told me a story about when he was down in Biloxi working on recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina. The town was flattened; barges pushed a ¼ mile up onto land. But that particular day was Sunday morning and to the surprise of his ears he heard singing. His crew walked a little bit and found the people worshipping outdoors in the shell of their church.

When all seems cut down and every reason for despair, today we celebrate that a shoot from the stump of Jesse has come, a branch from his roots bears fruit. By faith live in the harmony of Jesus and by deed carry forward into your lives his righteousness. Let the light of Christ shine tonight in the midst of our darkness.

Soli Deo Gloria

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