Most of us have family pictures displayed in our homes – family portraits, baby pictures, wedding pictures, vacation photos, relatives of far away or long ago. Why do we do this? I suppose there are many reasons, but one reason is that these pictures remind us who we are, where we came from, what we’ve accomplished. They remind us that we’re connected to a bigger reality, that we’re part of a bigger “picture.” Especially on days when we’re feeling alone and insignificant, they can strengthen us and give us hope.
We also have Church family pictures, images from our stories of faith that remind us of who we are, where we came from, and that we’re connected to a bigger reality. Every Advent we put up this big painting of the Jesse Tree. This was painted by some parishioners about 15 or 20 years ago, because they thought it was important for us to remember where we come from.
Let’s look at the different images and remember our story. First of all, we see the tree itself, reminding us that this is a family tree, not necessarily a family of blood, but a family united by a common faith. And the Star of David shows us that we are rooted in the Jewish faith. Our story is a part of the Jewish story, and our lives are forever intertwined with theirs.
From the Jews we get our understanding of God, and of how God created all things, including Adam and Eve. Now, we don’t have a picture of Adam and Eve here, but we do have some pictures that remind us of them – the apple and the snake. You know the story – Adam and Eve bit the apple and, ever since, our teeth ache, as the old proverb goes. They sinned, and we inherited this tendency to sin, what we call “original sin”, from them.
But God had a plan to save us from the beginning. Our ancestor in faith Noah to build an ark to save the humans and the animals from the flood. That reminds us that the Church is an ark that saves us from the flood of sin. And the rainbow above the ark reminds us of God’s promise to save us.
One of our greatest ancestors, you might call him the granddaddy of them all, was Abraham. He and his wife Sarah were visited by three angels who told them that they were going to have a son, even though they were very old. Sarah laughed when she heard that, so they told her the baby would be named “laughter – Isaac”.
Isaac had a son named Jacob, and one night Jacob had a dream. In his dream he saw the angels descending and ascending a ladder to and from heaven. Another night, Jacob had a mysterious encounter with God that involved some wrestling – and Jacob won! So God gave Jacob a new name – “Israel”, which means “the one who wrestles with God and wins.
Well, you know what happened to Jacob and his twelve sons. They ended up in Egypt. Things went well for a while, but then their descendents ended up as slaves. Seems like people are always feeling threatened by the Israelites and end up persecuting them. This went on for four hundred years! Then God had enough of that and raised up Moses to deliver his people and lead them to the promised land. Moses met God in the burning bush, and later on God gave Moses the Law. For them, freedom came through faithfulness to God, demonstrated by obedience to the Law.
When the Israelites finally got to the Promised Land, things weren’t easy. They had to fight the locals for control of the land. This went on for generations. Some things never change! Once city they came up against was Jericho. Joshua sent spies to find out how they could best attack the city, and they met a prostitute named Rahab. When the Jericho soldiers went looking for the spies, Rahab hid them and helped them escape. As a reward for her help, the spies told her to hang a red sash out of her window and the Israelite army would spare her when the attacked the city. She ended up joining the Israelites and is a direct ancestor of King David and of Jesus.
King David’s great-grandmother was another foreigner, a woman named Ruth. When she was widowed, she told her Israelite mother-in-law Naomi, “Wherever you go, I will go. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.” She was gathering wheat in the field when she met her future husband Boaz.
Then came David, who played the harp. The key represents the promise that one of David’s descendents would be a king who would rule forever and open the gates of eternal life for us. Of course, that was Jesus.
David’s son Solomon built the first temple, but later he turned away from God. The Israelites became divided and unfaithful, so God had to raise up prophets to remind them who they were and whose they were.
A reluctant prophet was Jonah (the whale). He was called not to preach to the Israelites, but to those awful foreigners the Ninevites. From this we learn that God wants to save all people, no matter what tribe or country they’re from.
The lilies represent Mary, the mother of Jesus, who was pure and beautiful. And, of course, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the City of David, which means “House of Bread”. Baby Jesus was put in a manger to show that he was the Bread of Eternal Life.
The herald angels announced his birth, and the star pointed the way to him. Here is the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, surrounded by the golden cord of charity.
Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. In the Beginning, all things were made through him, and in the End, all things will be fulfilled in him. And he holds out the crown of life to all who remain faithful to him.
This is our faith family tree – the Jesse Tree. It shows us where we’ve come from, and it points the way to where we’re going – eternal life with our King and Savior, Jesus Christ. It helps us to remember who we are, and whose we are. May we always remember and never forget!
