What does an old stump growing twigs have to do with Christmas? Short answer: everything! You’ll notice that the bible is written in pictures… especially the Old Testament. The writers often use objects to describe something rather than words… for example instead of “God is awesome”, they would say, “God is my rock”. So keeping that in mind, there is an ancient prophesy that Isaiah spoke which said the Messiah would come from the family tree of King David.
“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him…” Isaiah 11:1-2
A shoot or a sprout is that green twig looking thing that grows at the base of a lot of trees and stumps. Although the tree may be long gone, the roots are still alive and sending up a new sprout to replace the old. Jesse was David’s father. Israel would eventually be cut down like a tree. But God said that out of that stump, a “shoot” would come up.
Many hundreds of years later Matthew would document a small detail that Jesus eventually lived in Nazareth. “…and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.” Matthew 2:23
But there is no prophecy that says the Messiah would be called a Nazarene. If you’re confused, you should be! Matthew was hinting at the Isaiah prophesy by saying Jesus was from Nazareth. Here’s how: Nazareth comes from the Hebrew word “Netser” which means “shoot/sprout”, as in from a stump. Nazareth means “sproutsville” or “shoottown”. This is why they called Jesus the Nazarene! They are hinting that Jesus is the promised sprout from the old tree that will bear fruit and who embodies the Spirit of the Living God!
So just maybe, the next time we see a pathetic Charlie Brown twig tree, or an old dead stump that has fresh green sprouts shooting up around it, we will remember that God sent the Nazarene to a tired and dying world to bear new fruit and that it is in His branches we find peace with God.