Isaiah 11:1-10

As Old Testament scholar, Anathea Portier-Young states so poignantly, “Isaiah preaches hope in a time of terror and justice in a time of oppression.”[1]  The people of Israel are wrought with fear as the Assyrian army threatens what’s left of the world as they know it.  But this vision looks forward to another day, with a two-part vision of the Messiah and the coming Kingdom of God.   

The preacher might consider one of these homiletical directions for this sermon:

1. Nurturing new life after death. A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse.  A branch will sprout from its roots. Is such a thing even possible?  How can something that died bring forth new life? Nature shows us this reality in countless ways.  From composting dead organic matter into food for soil to regenerating human skin cells, God’s creation points to resurrection.  A shoot can come up from the stump of Jesse.   This image opens up at least three possible moves for the preacher to explore: 

2. Does our church community need to let something die, in order that there might be new life?  Is it a dream? An idea? A way of being church? Does this need to die in order to make way for something new?

3. God’s earth is quickly changing, yet it’s often not quick enough for us to see.  Death is all around us—the death of particular species, organisms, even the death of entire communities who’ve had to relocate due to rising sea levels.  And yet, tiny shoots of resistance that keep springing up in unexpected places. A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse? How is the Spirit of God stirring in us an invitation to join the resistance?

2. The Advent of Justice He won’t judge by appearances,     nor decide by hearsay. He will judge the needy with righteousness,      and decide with equity for those who suffer in the land.

Advent provides a four week window of lament for the church, where we cry together, “Come, Lord Jesus come!” These words of the messianic prophecy combine a cry of lament at the way things are with a hope for what they will be with the advent of the Messiah’s justice. That said, they also call us to live into these ways of justice: being people who don’t judge by appearances or make decisions based on whatever is trending in our feeds. The needy are judged with righteousness, and not by how they spend their food stamps or what gifts they purchase for their children at Christmas. There’s equity, not equality, for those who suffer in the land. How might your church participate in the advent of justice, through acts large and small, through concrete acts and through what we have yet to envision?

3. The upside down way of Jesus.  What perplexing and vivid imagery: The wolf will live with the lamb,      and the leopard will lie down with the young goat;      the calf and the young lion will feed together,      and a little child will lead them. The cow and the bear will graze.      Their young will lie down together,      and a lion will eat straw like an ox. A nursing child will play over the snake’s hole;      toddlers will reach right over the serpent’s den. These striking images  demonstrate the upside down way of the Messiah that we long for in Advent.  Still, the images might not resonate quite like they would with the agrarian communities to whom Isaiah spoke these words.  What might some contemporary images of the upside down way of Jesus include? Could those images be locally imaginable in your community/city?  

Regardless of the direction your sermon takes, you might consider this new verse of O Come, O Come Emmanuel by Barbara Lundblad, that echoes Sunday’s lection: O come, green shoot of Jesse, free Your people from despair and apathy; Forge justice for the poor and the meek,               Grant safety for the young ones and the weak. [2] [1] Anathea Portier Young, Isaiah 11:1-10, from Working Preacher.com, https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=832 [2] Words revised for Year A by Dr. Barbara Lundblad, https://easternsynod.org/ministries/worship/2013/11/27/o-come-o-come-immanuel-yr-a-verses/