Reflection: God has a plan for everything. Long before Jesus was born, there lived a man named Jesse. Jesse had seven sons, the youngest of whom was named David. When David grew up, he became a great king of Israel. God had a plan for Jesse and for his son David, even before they were born. A stump with a shoot (or branch) growing out of the side is a common symbol used to represent Jesse and David and their long line of descendants (their “family tree”). After many generations, one of David’s descendants gave birth to Joseph, Jesus’ Earthly father. So Jesus was also part of Jesse and David's family tree, born many, many years after David! The symbol of a stump and a branch comes from a passage in the book of the Prophet Isaiah (11:1) that reads (adapted), “A shoot will sprout from the stump of Jesse, and a branch will grow out of his roots”. In this passage, Isaiah predicts that Jesus will become part of Jesse and David’s family tree. By comparing Jesus to a branch of life growing from a stump (the dead remains of a tree) Isaiah is predicting that Jesus will bring hope and life and love to a hopeless world.
People waited a long time for the birth of the saviour. This Advent, we will remember some of the important biblical people who waited for Jesus by gluing their symbols on our special tree from yesterday… our Jesse tree! Hanging (or in our case, gluing) symbols on a Jesse tree is an old Christian Advent tradition that helps us remember important events that lead up to the birth of Jesus.
Just as the biblical people waited for the coming of Jesus for a long time throughout history, the season of Advent is a season of waiting for us. We wait for Christmas, the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus. It is hard to be patient, especially when we are waiting for something wonderful like Christmas! But it is important to learn to be patient, and to trust that God has a plan for us, too.
Discussion: What are some ways that we can become more patient in our lives?
To Do: Locate the symbol of a stump sprouting a branch (labelled #2) in the Advent Calendar Symbols document. Cut out and colour the symbol. Paste it onto your Jesse Tree from yesterday.