Photos of Isaiah’s Hopeful Imagination 6: “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse.”

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears;
but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth." (Isaiah 11.1-4)

Like the poet-prophet he is, Isaiah sees life in death, newness in the old, positive possibility emerging from negative reality, hope for his people in his people's history. A shoot from a stump, new life from subterranean roots, and fruitfulness eventual and certain. 

The Advent word in this powerful passage is Jesse. The genealogies of Matthew and Luke go to some lengths to demonstrate the family history of Jesus, a son of the house of David – the son of Jesse. 

Read as a description of the ministry of Jesus, Isaiah's words resonate deeply with the ministry and words of Jesus. And what we cannot escape, in our politically fractious times, are the implications of the radical manifesto of the Messiah, and the declared intent of whose side Jesus is on. Justice for the needy, and righteousness (the doing of right by) the poor of the earth.

What has always impressed me about this text is the basis of its politics. Consider again the deliberate contrast between human politics and Divine policy-making:

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and of might,
    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
     and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

Out of such careful consideration, divine insight, and wise exercise of power come policies that find on behalf of the needy and treat the poor justly. Oh, I know. We would prefer to spiritualise the Kingdom of God. To make it about God's reign in our hearts rather than God moving in the world "to give decisions for the poor of the earth."

That separation of personal from social, spiritual from secular, faith from ethics, inner devotion from outer politics, is neither biblical nor theologically defensible. Isaiah's vision is for a transformation of all our human relations, – with God, with our neighbour, with the world's poor, with the Earth. Not separation from, but solidarity with. "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself."

So I photograph tree stumps – quite often actually. I look at tree stumps, apparently the last visible stage of a tree's life, and Isaiah says, "Forget apparently! What's apparent isn't always the whole story! A shoot will come, from these roots there will be fruit. Just you wait and see!"

Advent is when we look on the stumps of what used to be, and dare to question what's apparent.

Advent is waiting for the Coming One who "will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears."

And yes, Advent is the promise that from the stump will come a new shoot, and there will be restored fruitfulness. Maybe a tree stump should make an appearance somewhere in our Advent liturgical scenery, somewhere off to the left of the nativity crib.