ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 TU’APULELULU NOVEMA 2, 2023

Root of Jesse

Ko e Aka ‘o Sese

ISAIAH 11:1, 10

THERE SHALL COME FORTH A SHOOT FROM THE STUMP OF JESSE, AND A BRANCH FROM HIS ROOTS SHALL BEAR FRUIT. IN THAT DAY THE ROOT OF JESSE, WHO SHALL STAND AS A SIGNAL FOR THE PEOPLES-OF HIM SHALL THE NATIONS INQUIRE, AND HIS RESTING PLACE SHALL BE GLORIOUS.

‘AISEA 11:1, 10

1 PEA ‘e fisiki mai ha lito mei he sino‘i ‘akau ‘o Sese, pea ‘e fua ha huli mei hono aka.  10 Pea ‘e hoko ‘i he taimi ko ia, ko e huli ‘o Sese, ‘a ia ‘oku tu‘u ko e fuka ki he ngaahi kakai, ‘e kumi ki ai ‘a e ngaahi pule‘anga; pea ko hono nofo‘anga ko e koto lāngilangi.

From December 17 to 23, the church has traditionally sung the "O Antiphons," the third of which is O Radix Jesse ("O Root of Jesse") - or, in Hebrew, Shoresh Yishai. This stanza is based on Isaiah 11:1, 10. The prophet employs three images from nature to describe the Messiah: shoot, branch, and root. Now it is one thing to call God's anointed "a shoot from the stump of Jesse" or "a branch from his roots." That is surely glorious, for it means he is the promised Son of David, who sprouts from Jesse's line. It is far more radical to call him "the shoresh of Jesse," for this means he is the root, source, and foundation for Jesse himself!

How is this possible? How can Christ spring from Jesse and Jesse spring from him? In one way and one way only: by being both God and man, divine and human. Jesus is the Son of Mary and the Son of God, of onenature with us and of one nature with the Father. In him we see God and in him God sees us.

O Root of Jesse, standing as a sign before the people, come and deliver us.