JESUS, THE ROOT OF JESSE


19 DECEMBER

Judges 13:2-7,24-25; Ps 71:3-6,16-17; Lk 1:5-25

Jesus, the Stock of Jesse

The Church venerates and adores the Eternal Word as the Stock or Root of Jesse. As we explained yesterday, God’s revelation of His Word is the foundation of our existence and well-being. Thus, after the fall of Adam and Eve, which happened as a result of their disobedience to the word given to them, God did not abandon man and woman, whom he made in his own image to be a temple for his Son. He upheld the human race by his promise of salvation. In due time, he called Abraham and revealed his word to him. The Word that God gave to Abraham is the foundation or root of human salvation history. The word of God is the infallible foundation of all things, for the Word is God. To be the foundation of our salvation, we need to believe in the Word. Therefore, all the patriarchs are built on a firm foundation of the word of God through their faith, for without faith, it is impossible to please God.

By calling the Saviour the Root of Jesse, the Davidic branch of the tree of salvation is brought to the fore. That is to say that it is from the house of Jesse of Bethlehem that God chooses a king who is after his own heart. The promised king will be the fulfilment and completion of David’s faithful rule and dynasty. It is in this sense that the messianic title ‘Son of David’ is given to Jesus. Examples are given to us of how God intervenes through the faith of couples to send a saviour to his people in their time of distress. From the book of Judges, we read of the conception of Samson through divine intervention brought by an angel. “There was a man of Zorah of the tribe of Dan, called Manoah. His wife was barren; she had borne no children. The angel of the Lord appeared to this woman and said to her, ‘You are barren and have had no child. But from now on take great care. Take no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean. For you will conceive and bear a son. No razor is to touch his head, for the boy shall be God’s Nazirite from his mother’s womb. It is he who will begin to rescue Israel from the power of the Philistines.’” By this intervention, and through the faith of the couple, Samson was born to them. Because they obeyed and raised the child according to the instructions given to them, their son, Samson, delivered Israel from the hands of the Philistines as the word of God promised. It is for us to receive the word of God and make it our own in faith, as this couple did and brought up Samson for the deliverance of Israel.  

The conception of John the Baptist is also given in the Gospel. In the case of John the Baptist, the visit of the angel of God was to his father, Zechariah. “In the days of King Herod of Judaea, there lived a priest called Zechariah who belonged to the Abijah section of the priesthood, and he had a wife, Elizabeth by name, who was a descendant of Aaron. Both were worthy in the sight of God and scrupulously observed all the commandments and observances of the Lord. But they were childless.” They were just, and walked according to the Commandments. Zechariah’s little faith posed a hindrance to divine intervention. When the angel Gabriel visited him and informed him of God’s plan for them and the people of Israel, he doubted the power of God to bring about the plan. “Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is getting on in years.’ The angel replied, ‘I am Gabriel who stands in God’s presence, and I have been sent to speak to you and bring you this good news. Listen! Since you have not believed my words, which will come true at their appointed time, you will be silenced and have no power of speech until this has happened.’” His dumbness was a result of his doubt, for God’s words by the angel Gabriel had already been accomplished by the fact of the revelation. God is able to build us on the solid foundation of his Word only through our faith. Let us praise the wonderful works of God in faith, and the salvation which the Saviour brings will be realised in us.

O stock of Jesse, you stand as a signal for the nations; kings fall silent before you whom the peoples acclaim. O come to deliver us, and do not delay.  

Let us pray: O God, who through the child-bearing of the holy Virgin graciously revealed the radiance of your glory to the world, grant, we pray, that we may venerate with integrity of faith the mystery of so wondrous an Incarnation and always celebrate it with due reverence. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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