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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
The cold overnight temperatures so far this week have taken their toll on some outdoor plants. I have heard about plants that the cold supposedly turned black, and I have seen plants between our office building and Fellowship Hall wilted. We will also see how well any plants might come back from the cold, if they come back at all. The idea of an apparently dead plant coming back to life lies behind the specific title for Christ used in the ancient O Antiphon we consider tonight, as well as in the hymn stanza that paraphrases it, and so also in the Readings and Closing Hymn selected for tonight. Take your service folder and locate that O Antiphon in the middle of the back cover. Let us pray it now the way we will sing it in a bit, with the congregation taking the indented portion.
O Root of Jesse, standing as an Ensign before the peoples, before Whom all kings are mute, to Whom the nations will do homage:
Come quickly to deliver us.
A few things about the O Antiphon may warrant some explanation. For example, the O Antiphon is addressed to the “Root” of Jesse, Who was described in our First Reading, first as a “shoot” or “branch” from the “stump” or “roots” of Jesse, then as the “root of Jesse” Himself. (If you are following the daily Bible reading plan we are providing in the newsletter, you might note that today’s reading included Isaiah chapter 11, which we heard as our First Reading.) At the beginning of the Reading, the Latin word is virga, like the word virgula in the original O Antiphon, which word can mean either a “shoot”, such as a small twig, or a small “rod”, such as a stick or staff. (The Office Hymn’s paraphrase of the Antiphon uses the English equivalent “rod”.) You may recall that “Jesse” was the father of King David, whose royal line was supposed to continue forever but by Isaiah’s time seemed effectively dead. The O Antiphon also draws from the First Reading the idea that the Root of Jesse is an “ensign” or “signal” for the people, like a flag around which troops rally, only in this case the “nations” or “Gentiles” worship the Ensign and rival kings are mute. The Antiphon calls the Root of Jesse to come quickly “to deliver” the one praying, just as the people to whom Isaiah originally prophesied would call for the Lord to deliver them. Through Isaiah, God declared to those people that their sin had resulted in their enemies punishing them for a time, and, through Isaiah, God also declared His promise to restore them by sending a greater “Rod” or “Root” of Jesse (referring to the “Root” includes the “Rod”).
Of course, God had delivered His people before, as when God sent Moses to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt (we talked a little about that last week when the Antiphon and hymn stanza were addressed to the “Mighty Lord”). Tonight’s psalm recalls that deliverance and likens it to God bringing a vine out of Egypt, driving out the nations (or Gentiles) to clear the ground for it, and planting it, where it took deep root and filled the land. God cared for the vine (the people), and prospered them, but they turned away from Him.
Like the people of Israel at the time of Moses, like the people of Israel at the time of the psalmist, and like the people of Israel at the time of Isaiah, you and I have been delivered by God. He has planted us in good soil where we can take deep root. He has cared for us and prospered us, but what do we do? By virtue of our fallen, sinful human nature, we are no better than any of our predecessors. For our inherited sinful nature alone, we deserve death now and for eternity. Yet, even we who have been delivered by grace through faith in Jesus Christ continue to be unfaithful to God and to sin in so many ways, some ways that should not even be mentioned. Our sins continue to earn us nothing but death.
When we consider our sins, tonight’s First Reading gives a strong warning. Through Isaiah, God says the Branch of Jesse will judge not by appearances but with righteousness. The word of His mouth will strike the earth and will kill the wicked. (In the context of Isaiah, the wicked includes the neighbors of the Israelites, likened to proud, lofty forests and contrasted to the humble stump of Jesse.) The First Reading’s strong warning is a call for us humbly to repent: to turn in sorrow from our sins, to trust God to forgive our sins, and to want to do better. So, we repent—we repent of our sinful natures, and we repent of the sins we continue to commit even having redeemed natures. With the Antiphon, we call out for deliverance. With the psalmist, we call out for restoration. When we so repent, then God forgives our sin, whatever our sin might be. Even though human beings typically are thought to die and remain dead, God through Isaiah indicates that apparent death is not always final, just as some trees that are cut down once can sprout again.
Our closing hymn tonight, “Lo, How a Rose is Growing”, originally dates back to the 15th-century but is a favorite still today. Originally in 23 stanzas, the hymn connects Isaiah’s prophecy of a branch of Jesse with the fulfillment as told in the Gospel accounts of St. Matthew and St. Luke. As was common in the Middle Ages, the hymn originally was addressed to the Virgin Mary, identifying her as the “shoot” or “rose” of Jesse, who in turn bore the branch that is Jesus Christ. The hymn as we have come to know it and use it rightly has shifted the emphasis and action, from Mary, to her Child, Jesus Christ. He is the seed of the woman, the branch of Jesse that really matters. The Spirit of the Lord rests upon Him. He delights in the fear of the Lord, the right relationship with the Father. Jesus Christ lived the perfect life we fail to live, and He died for our failure to live that life. His life resurrected from death is even greater than the seemingly dead and pitiable line of Jesse’s producing another king at all. Jesus Christ truly is a King greater than both David and his greater son, Solomon. As Isaiah describes, this Branch of Jesse not only restores Israel but also restores creation. In place of our sins, Jesus Christ gives us His righteousness, when we believe and trust in Him.
Sadly, however, not everyone believes and trusts in Him. Tonight’s Third Reading tells how some people and Jewish leaders, who had heard Jesus speak about Himself as the source of living water or the water of life, said that He was the Christ, while others who did not know of His descent from Jesse and David and of His birth in Bethlehem did not believe and trust in Him. Then as now, there is a division among people over Him. Those who believe and trust in Him come here, to the Church, where His Word and Sacraments give the forgiveness of sins. They come to the Baptismal font, where we find water that gives life. They come to a pastor in order to privately confess the sins they know and feel in their hearts for the sake of receiving individual absolution from the pastor as from God Himself. They come to the altar rail where, through bread that is Christ’s body and wine that is Christ’s blood, Christ abides in them, and they abide in Him as branches in the vine. In such a way He grafts us into Himself, as it were, and, then as the life‑giving root, He brings forth fruit from us, as His branches.
In tonight’s Second Reading we heard St. Paul by Divine inspiration quote from Isaiah’s prophecy of the Root of Jesse, as St. Paul described Jesus Christ as the hope of Jew and Gentile, with both races coming together to praise God, as Isaiah had prophesied (remember the “ensign” like a flag around which troops rally?). We may not know what will become of the outdoor plants subjected to cold overnight temperatures this week, but we do know what becomes of the root of Jesse and its branches. As the Office Hymn paraphrase of the Antiphon put it, He will “deliver them / That trust [His] mighty pow’r to save; / [He will] Bring them in vict’ry through the grave.” The stump may be a relic of past glory, but it is also a hopeful starting point for a better future. As God delivers and restores the righteous at the Resurrection, they will take firm root, drawing on the rich provision of God’s grace. They will be secure, flourish, prosper, and be fruitful as never before. So, take your service folder and let us again responsively pray tonight’s O Antiphon:
O Root of Jesse, standing as an Ensign before the peoples, before Whom all kings are mute, to Whom the nations will do homage:
Come quickly to deliver us.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +