“‘He grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground…’ Isaiah 53:2” (Erickson, 95).
This is day twelve of the Advent season. As we contemplate the immanent celebration of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, we are called today to think about what being “seen” represents in this Story of the Nativity. In our time, it is no longer wise to follow the adage “seeing is believing.” But if we can take a deeper view, if “seeing” can include “understanding” at its deepest level, we begin to actually view the incarnate God in the humble stable as a vulnerable “tender shoot” of Isaiah’s prediction. God is now one of us, one who has “showed up.”
Though it might be difficult for a root to survive in the environment of dry ground, this One “shows up” and goes through the growth process despite the obstacles. The symbol of a tree arising from the hand of God is portrayed in the illustration this week and it should be noted that both an acorn and a fully-grown oak are seen as perfect at their level of development. Again, we see the vulnerability of The Messiah prevailing over an often-hostile environment.
Scott Erickson says, “Incarnation is the process of becoming seen” (96). God with us provides us with insights into a growing shoot or root as well as understanding divinity in ways that only can be learned through embodiment. Growth came with limits. While embodied in Jesus Christ, God gave up omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience. The divine learned what it is like not only to be thought about but also what it is like to be “seen.” No doubt understandings of humanity’s frailties and tendencies were also a result of incarnation. Could God be learning about humanity while at the same time showing us more divine qualities? Was the incarnation both for God and for us?
And so God became seen through the Advent of Jesus Christ. Scott Erickson suggests that Jesus demonstrates a spirituality that is “grounded in the never-ending spring of love.” And further, “May you never thirst again at the wellspring waiting inside you.”
But it also might be suggested that once we are filled with the indiscriminate love from this wellspring, that we provide the same life-giving sustenance to those we encounter in our own life situations. It has been said that we should “fill ourselves with blessings and overflow onto others, in our abundance.” That is something we can do during this Advent. While it is a season of joy for many, it is often a sorrowful time of pain and loss for others. (“Inasmuch. . . .”) Are we going to “show up” for them as Jesus did for us?
Gary Huffaker and his wife, Suha, are looking forward to welcoming their second grandchild at the end of this month.