The prophet Isaiah reminds us that the coming messiah will be a shoot out of the stump of Jesse. Why on earth does this matter? Who is Jesse? Why does this dead stump we call a Jesse tree matter? Why does heritage matter?
From Jesse's lineage would come the great king David, and from David's line, in David's city...in Bethlehem...a child would be born.
It’s very simple at this time of the year to get caught up. We get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holidays. We get caught up in Christmas cards and Christmas carols. We get caught up in the idea of that precious baby whose presence we eagerly await. But, none of this matters if we don’t understand WHY that baby was born—if we don’t understand why a messiah was needed and who this messiah was supposed to be.
The coming messiah was to be everything the present situation in Israel was not. The Israelites had experienced a lifetime of slavery and exile. The new messiah would bring freedom. The Israelites had experienced inequality and injustice. The new messiah would bring Justice and equity. The Israelites had experienced a lifetime of war and battle. The new messiah would bring peace.
Hundreds of years before Jesus, a woman named Ruth left all she knew to follow her mother-in-law Naomi. She gave up her family, her faith, and everything in her life to be a companion to Naomi. Eventually, Ruth would meet a man named Boaz and they would have a son. That son’s name was Jesse. From Jesse’s lineage would come the great king David, and from David’s line, in David’s city…in Bethlehem…a child would be born…a child that would answer years of questions and fulfill the prophecies.
Jesus himself was Jewish and for many people, he would be recognized as the fulfillment of prophecy and promise.
This child would come from hundreds of years of Jewish heritage—years of Hanukkah, Purim, Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur—this child would be taught the stories of the great ancestors Abraham and Sarah. He would know the history of the Exodus. HE would know the miracle of the lights. He would know about the Macabees and would celebrate all of the Jewish holidays and observances set forth in the Hebrew scriptures. This child would KNOW his heritage.
So it begs the question, why don’t we? Why don’t we understand or at least acknowledge the heritage that Jesus himself would have known and celebrate? To truly understand the coming of the messiah we must understand and honor the heritage from which he came. We have started that understanding here with the addition of the Jesse tree to our services and by telling these stories to our children. We have started to remember and recognize the Jewish heritage of our savior.
No, we aren’t Jewish. But our savior was, and in order to fully understand the work that Jesus did—to fully comprehend how miraculous his life, death, and resurrection truly were, we HAVE to understand that Jesus himself WAS Jewish and for many people, he would be recognized as the fulfillment of prophecy and promise. So, YES heritage matters. The Jewish heritage of our coming king deserves recognition and respect. His heritage is part of our own family tree and by denying our own connection to Jesse’s stump, we deny ourselves the fullness of the miracle of Christmas.