This passage talks about stumps and shoots. We used to live on a property that had some big ol’ trees in the back yard.  When one of them got too big and old and became a danger to our kids or to the home, it finally had to be cut down, leaving only a stump.  We thought it was dead, having no leaves to soak in the sunshine, and no trunk or branches to pass the sap through. But inevitably, in the Spring a new green shoot with glossy leaves would begin to grow out of the side of that old stump.

That’s the picture that the prophet Isaiah uses. Seven hundred years before Jesus was ever born, Isaiah prophesied that a Messiah would come from the root of Jesse. Jesse was the father of King David, an ancestor of both Mary and Joseph. While nearly all of King David’s royal line would be wiped out, God promised a Messiah would come from the stump of Jesse.  

Out of what looked like a dead royal line — when a pagan, Roman government rather than a Hebrew king ruled over Israel — God brought about that new shoot: the Messiah – Jesus.

Jesus didn’t rule like King David with an earthly palace or majestic throne or royal robes conquering enemy nations through a mighty army. Instead, Jesus came in poverty and humility, to reveal a heavenly kingdom and to conquer the curse of sin through his own death.

Rather than ruling in a palace, Jesus came to rule in the hearts of you and me. His desire is to rule in the hearts of everyone and anyone who will open the door to their life.  In a world of unrest and hatred and fighting, Jesus has come to bring us peace – hence the name ‘Prince of Peace.’  During this Christmas season, let us intentionally share the Prince of Peace with others.