Jesse Tree 7

Wednesday, Dec 7. 

The twelve tribes of Israel

   Genesis 49:1-28

Israel (previously named Jacob)  had 12 sons who didn't get along (despite their Father's dying attempt to gather them together for blessing and peace...). These sons became the 12 tribes of Israel.

 God could have chosen any tribe or any family lineage--God could have skipped the family drama and tribal violence of the Old Testament, but God chose to remain faithful to those ancient promises. God chose to root new life and new peace in a previously violent story.
Praise be to God! 

Tribe of Jesus:

Þ Matthew 1:1–6 and Luke 3:31-34 trace Jesus’ roots back to the tribe of Judah whose symbol is a lion.
"Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed.” ~Revelation 5:5

Þ Jesus’ mother Mary also came from the tribe of Levi—the priestly tribe.

.Jesus did not come to defend a single tribe or nation.
Rather, Jesus came to bring all tribes and nations together in peace.

Who are the people in your tribe? (pray for them)

Who is in your ‘enemy’ or 'other' tribes? (pray for them)

Jesse Tree Six: Jacob Wrestles

Jacob Wrestles with God     

(Isaac and his wife, Rebecca, have two sons: Esau and Jacob. 

Jacob wrestles with God—and his name becomes Israel)  

Genesis 28:10–22, 32:24-32

Again.
God steps into this world.
             in the flesh.
             in the stranger.
             in the unknown.

And we wrestle.
             Defensive.

We fight tooth and nail to be alone in our isolated deserts; refusing to let go, lest we look weak or lose face.

And how can we let go?

We want to be blessed, right?
And blessings are what we take for ourselves...what we have in our hands.
blessed are those who win.

Those who are strong, right?

Unless you’re seeking a baby in a manger. A tiny king who turned the tides with peace and taught that blessings come from giving. Forgiving.

And living by dying.

THAT is the God who wrenches hip sockets—forever reminding us to walk in humility. Reminding us that we have encountered God. And changed.

So let go.
Daybreak is coming. Christ is coming.

Again.

Jesse Tree 5: Isaac's Ram

Fifth Symbol of the Jesse Tree:

Ram (the sacrifice provided for Isaac)

Genesis 21:1-7, 22:119

Hebrews 10:4-10

The promised child arrives!

Isaac (whose name means ‘laughter’) is the long awaited, beloved, and favored child of Abraham and Sarah

             ...and God asks Abraham, to sacrifice his son.

It’s a tense story in Scripture: Father and son trudging silently up the mountain to bring a sacrifice to God.

What was Abraham thinking? Why did he go?

“Where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” asks Isaac

Did he know?
And what about me?
Would I give up what I most love for God?

And suddenly—Behold! An angel of the Lord calls out.

Isaac will not die, but be spared.

And the Lord provides the lamb for the offering.

The Lord provides.

(generations later) “John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!“ ~John 1:29

Do I know?
Do I know what God has given up for me?

(more about Isaac and the story of how he met his wife, Rebekah, at the well can be found in Genesis 24)

Jesse Tree 4

Fourth Symbol of the Jesse Tree: Stars—God’s promise to Abraham & Sarah

Genesis 12:1–7, 15:1-6
Genesis 18:10-14

Hebrews 11:8

In Genesis 15, God promises Abraham and Sarah that their future family will be blessed and more numerous than the stars (thus, our symbol for today is a field of stars).
…but years later, there is still no child. Abraham and Sarah are old, childless, and frustrated. Yet the promise remains.

Just in case we doubt God’s incredible ability to bring life in surprising places, this is where the lineage of the incarnate Christ begins: an old man aged to impotence and his elderly barren wife. The history of our salvation (the family tree) takes root where only the Creator could speak life into it.  It is impossible, even laughable, but God makes it happen.

God makes an impossible birth happen again, many generations later in that same family. First, with an elderly and childless couple named Zechariah and Elizabeth (their son turns out to be John the Baptist). And then a young virgin named Mary gives birth to a child named Jesus. The salvation history occurs through otherwise impossible scenarios, made possible by God.

So why are we still surprised when God answers prayers today?

God of abundant life and surprising newness,
breathe life into my heart too. Give me a deeply rooted and newly discovered wonder in Scripture and in the power of the Spirit. We are waiting to see what You will do.  Amen.

Jesse Tree 3

Third Symbol of the Jesse Tree: Noah’s Ark
(sin spirals out of control, but God never offers an ark of salvation)

Genesis 6:11–22,
7:7-10, 7:17-24, 9:8–13

1 Peter 3:18-21

No one wants to be a stump.  
They aren’t beautiful or graceful like trees. And stumps are painful announcements that the rest is missing. Cut down, blown over, hauled away.

And it's painful to be seen as broken.

But stump-places mean that we have a chance to be new – to grow again. 

And that’s our story: from flood to promise, from stump to tree to cross—it’s Resurrection. Redemption.

The new start of baptism in Christ.

Newly divorced, struggling with my faith and trying to find my place in the church, I had no idea how much I needed to hear that Isaiah 11 passage. Who knew I was white-knuckling hope;  Holding on with all I had, choosing to believe that God is faithful to promises even though I felt left and forsaken? ...Who knew that a stump could transform into a tree once again?

God did.

My Creator knew all along.

—except taken from Sarah Farrish's blogpost: "The Family Stump" 

Jesse Tree 2: The Fall

Second Symbol of the Jesse Tree: Fruit in the Garden of Eden
(Adam & Eve—the first sin)

Genesis 3:1–24

1 John 1:5-10

God created the world… And it fell.

Eve stretched for the forbidden fruit, and Adam (who was with her) did nothing. Sin can be an act of commission (doing wrong)  or omission (a failure to do the right thing). We sin by our actions and inactions.

  

Adam and Eve both sinned and all of creation was tragically fractured, no longer reflecting God's created goodness.

...which is why we need a savior. Why we need Christ. And why the reign of Jesus was long-expected and awaited.

Pray:

God of all grace and mercy,
I look around at our hurting world and recognize that I have caused some of its pain.

I don't mean to and sometimes, I don't even notice it.

I don't know where or how to stand for justice.

so my sin is always before me.

And I need you to make it right.

So come quickly, Christ.

Come be with us and bring your healing grace. Show me the way to live.

Amen.

First Symbol: Creation

First Symbol of the Jesse Tree:

Globe— for all creation

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Psalm 19:1-6

God did not have  to create the world. It was a choice. So from the very beginning, God created the world as an outpouring of love and grace. 

Full of diversity and detail, all creatures. all plants:

All was created GOOD (even very good).

And our Advent hope is that we are waiting for the day when all things will be re-created through Christ Jesus.
All things will be brought back to God’s ‘very good.’

• Where have you witnessed the goodness of God's creation? Take a second to praise God for two or three things...
• How is God recreating you? Are there specific areas in your life that you need to place in God’s hands?

“For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.”  
~Romans 8:19-21 (NIV)