Advent #8 of 10::

The record of the lineage…

(Matthew 1:1)

That’s how Matthew begins his Gospel. The Eternal Son did not just drop from the sky: “He was born of a woman, born under the Law” (Ga 4:4). His family tree stretches back a thousand years to David; and, even further, another thousand years to Abraham: “Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Mt 1:1).

From David comes the promise that his “kingdom will be established forever” (2Sam 7:14). It didn’t appear so. The immense empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece and now Rome seemed to put an end to the Promise. Yet, all along, God’s people continued to sing songs of “the sprout of David,” who would be “God’s Anointed One” (Ps 132). And the prophets spoke of a day when “the root of Jesse will arise” (Isa 11:10); and “a fresh shoot from the tree of David… will set things right” (Jer 33:15).

When we cut down our big tree in the front yard, the landscaper saturated its roots with Roundup thinking that should do it. But, by and by, little sprouts started popping up out of the ground. Eventually, we had to bring in heavy equipment to dig out the roots. I haven’t seen a sprout since, but I wouldn’t count it out. Who knows? Maybe the next owners will notice a sprout coming up from somewhere deep in the ground. Perhaps our young neighbors, who will then be as old as we were when we cut the tree down, will remember and say, “That looks like a sprout from a big tree the Heath’s cut down.” That is how it went with the Tree of David. In the midst of the world’s mighty kingdoms, the kingdom of David lies hidden awaiting the “fulness of time” (Ga 4:4).