“And His Name Shall Be Called: The Root and Branch of Jesse”
Isaiah 11:1-10

Click for Audio

Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
First Sunday in Advent—December 3, 2017

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Today we begin a new cycle of the Church Year, with the season of Advent.  Advent is a time of looking forward, and looking back; a time of anticipation, and commemoration. For, during Advent we look forward, in anticipation of our Lord’s second coming into our world, at the last day and the final judgment; and we also look back, in commemoration of our Lord’s first coming into our world as the Babe of Bethlehem, which we celebrate at Christmas.

About ten years ago Terry and I visited the magnificent Hoover Dam, on the border between Arizona and Nevada.  I noticed that the memorial inscription in the plaza where Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the dam gives the year of its dedication, 1935, in Roman numerals, and then instead of just the abbreviation “A.D.” it spells out in Latin, Incarnationis Anno Domini, meaning the nineteen hundred thirty-fifth year since the Incarnation of our Lord.  That’s what the abbreviation “A.D.” is shorthand for, Incarnationis Anno Domini, the year since our Lord’s incarnation, his birth into the world.

Scripture gives hundreds of different names and titles to the One whose birth is so significant to our world that we literally number our years by it.  For our sermons during the Advent and Christmas seasons this year we are going to focus on the real “reason for the season” by meditating on the meanings of some of these names and titles given to him in Scripture:

“And his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” 

“This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.”

“The Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

“You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . .  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

We begin with today’s Old Testament reading from Isaiah: “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. . . .  In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.”

“And His Name Shall Be Called: The Root and Branch of Jesse”

To the people of Israel in Isaiah’s time, it seemed that they were in an impossible situation.  The Lord had promised that the Messiah, the Savior of the world, would come from the people of Israel, specifically out of the family of David, son of Jesse.  But now, because of their wickedness and rebellion against the Lord, the nation of Israel would be destroyed, conquered by the Babylonians, carried off into exile.  Instead of a glorious family tree for the Messiah, the nation of Israel was like a Christmas tree in January, cut down and cast away.  All that remained of the promised Messiah’s family tree was a dead stump.  But, as the angel Gabriel tells the Virgin Mary in today’s Gospel Reading, “nothing is impossible with God.”  For the Lord, there is no such thing as an impossible situation. 

And so Isaiah prophesies: “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.”  The stump may be dead, but still the Branch shall come forth!  Seven centuries later, Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled: “And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David.”  Out of the people of Israel, from the line of David, son of Jesse, the Messiah was born, just as the Lord promised, just as Isaiah prophesied.

By the Spirit’s power the Messiah was miraculously conceived and born of the Virgin Mary: “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord—and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.”  As the angel said to Mary:  “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

The mission of the Messiah? To save us from our sins, to save us from our sins by reckoning them all forgiven on account of his own sacrifice: “He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears.”  The judgment we deserve is the wages of sin, death and damnation; but instead we receive the gift of God, eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Messiah will be personally concerned with all our problems and needs:  “But with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.”  “Come to Me,” Jesus says, “all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”

The Messiah will protect and defend those who trust in him: “He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.”  As St. Paul says in 2nd Thessalonians, “The Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.”

The righteous Messiah will be ever faithful to us, he will never leave us or forsake us: “Righteousness will be his belt, and faithfulness the sash around his waist.”  “Lo,” Jesus says, “I am with you always.”

Through the preaching of the forgiveness of sins, the Messiah will bring about an era of spiritual peace, and he will take all those who trust in him to the peaceful paradise of heaven, which will be like the Garden of Eden, with all things restored to perfect harmony: “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.  The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.  The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.  They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”  As Jesus said to the thief on the cross, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.”  And as the book of Revelation says of heaven, “[God] will wipe away ever tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Finally, the Messiah, and this heavenly rest he promises, will be like the banners or ensigns or flags used in warfare in ancient times, a rallying point, a source of hope and confidence: “In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.”

To the people of Israel in Isaiah’s time, it seemed that they were in an impossible situation.  With their nation destroyed and exiled, how could the Messiah come out of David’s family tree?  But, “nothing is impossible with God.”  For the Lord, there is no such thing as an impossible situation.  In the fullness of time the Messianic Branch sprouted from the dead stump of David’s family tree, just as the Lord promised, just as Isaiah prophesied.

Are you, too, facing what seems to be an impossible situation?  An impossible situation at home, with your work or school, in your family?  The fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy is a sign for you: Even in a dead stump of a situation, there is hope.  The same God who made his Messianic Branch sprout from a dead stump can and will help you with what seems to be your impossible situation.  St. Paul puts it so beautifully in today’s Epistle Reading: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. . . In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.”

“And His Name Shall Be Called: The Root and Branch of Jesse”

Amen.