Bible Text: Isaiah 11:1-10, Matthew 3:1-12 | Preacher: Rev. Jenn Geddes
I recently watched a program on the anatomy of a Redwood Cedar tree. I know, it sounds boring, but I really found it fascinating. The Redwood tree in California is the tallest living thing on earth. In one year they can grow to be six feet tall. The trees are so tall and dense at the top that they have soil embedded in their tall branches that is called canopy soil and this soil can contain thousands of living species. But what I found most fascinating is that Redwoods, while capable of germinating through a cone, also reproduce by stump sprouting. This means that the stump- even when the rest of the tree is cut down- remains alive. If a Redwood is felled- by wind, fire, lightening, or human hands, a ring of new growth sprouts from the burls around the base of the trunk. The tree develops these buds which remain dormant until they are needed- they only sprout when the tree is damaged. The parent-tree’s roots are then incorporated into the sapling’s trunk. What amazes me is that this new life is ever present but quietly at rest until pain, or death of the tree top, springs these sprouts into action. While I don’t know that Redwoods are found in the Holy Land, I believe that Isaiah had the Redwood in mind when he said that a shoot would come out of the stump of Jesse and that a branch shall grow from his roots. In essence the Davidic line was fractured and struck down during exile and for the Israelite people that involved a lot of pain. But from this felled family tree, new sprouts of hope and peace will be established.
What makes the comment about a new sprout coming from a stump an interesting image is that it could apply consistently to the rise and fall and rebuilding of any empire or kingdom. But perhaps it wasn’t a kingdom that Isaiah was prophesying about. We often interpret the shoot sprouting from the stump of Jesse as Jesus- and there is nothing wrong with that- except that the following verses would then make it sound like Jesus had failed in his mission. But what Isaiah’s passage states and conversely what John’s words encourage is that the old must pass away in order for the new to begin.
When I said that if we use this passage from Isaiah as a future casting toward Jesus then we are setting up for failure, it is because the person that Isaiah describes is a soldier- and Jesus wasn’t exactly a soldier. A soldier doesn’t usually need a strange voice from the wilderness to prepare others for his coming. But that in essence is what John does. John becomes this trumpet blast that tells people to get ready for the coming of someone great. Then, instead of getting on our knees, bowing before the royal entourage, John tells the people to repent.
I think we have all been in one of those situations where we are approached by a stranger and they say, “Repent!”, or we have seen the signs of some awkward, possibly delusional soul, who has a large handmade sign that says, “Repent!” I’m not really a robust fire and brimstone preacher who stands here and says, “REPENT FOR THE END IS NEAR!” And so it might surprise you that I side with John on this one- that we must repent! The word repent has become a bad word among mainline, traditional churches, and it is one we don’t say all that often as a result. The Greek word is metanoeo and it literally means “to change one’s mind” or “to think differently”. To repent following an encounter with Christ is to change one’s purpose. The root of the word is to turn, to have a dramatic change or shift. It is not all that different from a new root shooting up from an old stump. To repent is to turn away from the old life of living in sin, without Jesus as one’s guide, aimless and therefore without deep purpose, to living a new life focused on the values and practices acceptable to the kingdom of God. When we accept Jesus as our guide we must repent, turn from our old life and live anew.
The challenge for many of us is that we never had that shift in our lives. We were born into a life of church and faith- many of us never had to change or turn from one life to another and therefore our repentance looks radically different than what is described in Matthew’s text. In fact, it looks so different that those from more “born again” roots judge us for not being real Christians, because we never had that transformational moment of giving up our old life for a new life in Christ. But you did all choose to be here this morning and so surely there was a small moment in your life when you choose to turn away from sleeping in to coming here. Repentance does not have to be some major religious experience or event; it just needs to be a choice to turn away from one thing, and live accepting another.
Isaiah’s passage then describes an incredible turn of events in the order of creation. Eugene Petersen’s The Message describes it as, “A living Knowledge of God. The wolf will romp with the lamb, the leopard sleep with the kid. Calf and lion will eat from the same trough, and a little child will tend them. Cow and bear will graze in the same pasture, and their calves and cubs will grow up together…The whole earth will be brimming with knowing God-Alive, a living knowledge of God.”
As we think of repentance this is quite the turn. Predators and prey that once destroyed each other, ate each other, attacked each other, will dwell in harmony. Michael Chan says, “Those carnivorous instincts are transformed, and the most vulnerable humans in society, like children are free to play with venomous snakes…violence effectively comes to an end and harmony ensues.” This is a big deal and a complete change to even the natural order of things.
Repentance is sometimes a change from the natural order; sometimes our sinful actions feel perfectly legitimate. I love to gossip- it even comes naturally to me. But in an effort to turn from the old and live in the new I have to work hard at not doing what comes naturally. I’m sure there are habits that we have all tried to break or change and turn around, but we know how difficult it is. Often, the best way to change is to stop surrounding yourself with the people or experiences that encourage said habit; instead we must immerse ourselves into a program or community that helps us change.
You know, immersion was a big part of John’s image of repentance as well, because right after he tells the people to repent, what does he do? He baptizes them in the river. They are immersed in water. Then John tells them that where he baptizes with water, Jesus will do so with the Holy Spirit and with fire. I know Pentecost Sunday was a while ago- but if you recall when the Holy Spirit shows up it is accompanied by tongues of fire. Through the spiritual baptism that took place at Pentecost, the apostles were then able to preach and proclaim the Gospel. The church was forever changed. And through the Holy Spirit we are given the strength to immerse ourselves in faith and repent.
Communion is our chance to repent as a community. It is an act that we do that is symbolic but is also meant to give us peace and demonstrate our willingness to choice Christ. We are transformed into a brand new shoot in the lineage of Jesus Christ. Through the sacrament of bread and juice, we immerse ourselves in the life that the kingdom demands. Amen