N Makes the Difference

Isaiah 11:1-10

I was surprised to receive her call since I was no longer her pastor. She and her husband were struggling with a painful decision. Her doctor had told them that their first child had some medical problems and that the best they could do was to have an abortion, with the evidence he had seen an abortion was the only reasonable line of action. If they were to have this baby they would have to spend all their life taking care of him. She had so many questions. They were facing a moral dilemma, they wanted the best for their unborn child, but they believe that abortion was not an option for them. They ultimately decided against following the medical advice. Today, this tall, intelligent, young man is in his late twenties. He is sign to his parents that miracles continue to happen all the time. But what did they see that the doctor did not, for them to choose otherwise?

“A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” This verse in Isaiah is not about positive thinking; it is not about looking at the glass half full rather than half empty. This verse is not a call for us to become irrational, delusional, or have a break from reality. This verse is about looking for the signs of God activities in our world. This text is about the ability to discern where God is at work at any particular time.

The ministry of Isaiah came at a critical time in the life of the nation of Judah. By the time of the ministry of Isaiah the kingdom was divided. Solomon’s oppressive policy had completely alienated northern Israel from the government in Jerusalem. Only the strong hand of the king had prevented a serious rebellion. When Solomon’s son Rehoboam came to the throne the northern tribes saw it as an opportunity to receive some tax relief. But Rehoboam’s arrogance made the split inevitable. The majority of Israel formed the kingdom of Israel in the north and only a couple of tribes remain in Jerusalem as the kingdom of Judah.

By the year 746, under Tiglath-Pileser III, Assyria was starting to become a powerful nation and was looking to add land and natural resources to the kingdom. During that time Israel was in crisis and in a ten year period they had five kings most of them coming to power by killing their predecessor. The new king Pekah joined Damascus and certain Philistines in an anti-Assyria coalition. They try to convince Ahaz the king of Judah to participate in the coalition but Ahaz refused. Israel did not do what we did when France decided not to join our coalition, we change the name of our French fries, but the Israelite coalition decided to invade Judah and place a friendlier king.

Edom took that opportunity to gain their independence from the power of Judah and joined the coalition’s attack against Judah. Therefore Judah was attacked from three sides. Ahaz decided to seek help from Assyria, under the notion that the enemy of my enemy must be my friend. The prophet Isaiah counseled Ahaz not to seek the help of Tiglath-Pileser, but he could not see any other option; Ahaz could not have the faith that Isaiah expected. The writer of the book of 2 Kings 16:7 tells it this way: “Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, “I am your servant and vassal. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.”

Being attacked in three fronts, the only real hope was to ask help from a nation that had all intention in taking them over; in fact even in Ahaz request he acknowledges that he was, in doing this, becoming a servant, a banana kingdom. Verses 2-10 of the prophecy of Isaiah paint a beautiful future about a king that would finally come and bring peace and justice. “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— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.” Yes, it sounds great; but he cannot wait. He needs help now. Isaiah could afford to dream, but he had a serious responsibility to run the kingdom; the choices were not the best, but he had to choose the better of two evils.

When we are in a crisis, when we do not have time to analyze the data, when we do not have enough time to make a list of the positives and negatives of a particular line of action we resort to our usual point of reference. In life we learn how to see the world. We look at the stump and concentrate in what to do with the remain of what was a great tree, or we learn to look at the shoot coming out of the stump, we look at the small insignificant branch coming out of the roots and know that another strong tree is coming. It is the ability to see the potential of people and things that made the prophets great. [STORY OF GRANDMOTHER SHOPING WITH TWO GRANDSONS…..]

Prophetic leadership is the ability to see what most people are unable to see and guide the people towards that vision. In first king we find the story of the prophet Elijah. Elijah confronts King Ahab because of the idolatry of Israel. “Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

After several years of famine, Elijah appears again before the king and promises rain. Elijah calls his servant and tells him: “Go and look toward the sea.” And he went up and looked. “There is nothing there,” he said. Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’ ” Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel.” How could Elijah tell that such a little cloud would bring such a heavy rain? And how could he know that there was going to be a cloud of any size?

Some of you may have read the announcement from our denomination communications offices. It reported that: Declaring war "incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ," the bishops of The United Methodist Church called on leaders of all nations to begin an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. The council of Bishops approved this resolution during their meeting in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina on November 9th 2007. The United States invaded Iraq in March of 2003, after four years and eight months our Bishops declare this war to be incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ. Now even Bush acknowledges that invading Iraq was not a good idea. The problem now is how to leave without Iraq becoming worse than before we invaded.

How do Isaiah, Elijah and other prophets are able to see what most of the faithful religious people of their day missed? The secret is a little letter, the letter “N” makes the difference. Some people live their life with the letter “M” as in Mary rather than the letter “N” as in Nancy. Most people live in impossible mode rather than in possible mode. The difference is living life inside possibilities. It is to not only believe that everything is possible, but to look for the signs, small as they might be. We have attempted to start a contemporary service in several occasions and we find it difficult to think that it can be done. The servant of the prophet Elijah went to see seven times before he saw a cloud as small as a man’s hand. Can you see the little branch coming out of the roots?

The December 3rd edition of Time magazine in its religion department has an article about Sunday school for atheists. The article talks about how nonbelievers are beginning to think that they might need something for their children. They use as an example a couple, Julie Willey and her husband who pack their four kids into their blue minivan and head to the Humanist Community Center in Palo Alto, California, for atheist Sunday school. This is happening at the time that many Christians are not taking advantage of Sunday school because there are too many other activities. These Atheists think that their Sunday school without God is more important than anything else that the world has to offer. Do you see the little branch coming out of the roots?

Many years ago my family and I went to Rochester, New York to start a Spanish speaking congregation. The first few services the congregation was made up of Maria and my three children. It took a couple of years before there were around forty persons in attendance. One of them was a young woman that had lived a promiscuous life before coming to Christ. She married a young man believing that she could not have children since in her many years of free living she had never became pregnant. So it came as a pleasant surprise, as an unexpected miracle to be expecting a child. She decided to work with the few youths of our church. In a few months there were over fifty young people gathering every Friday evening.

We are beginning to forget about the shootings in Omaha, Nebraska this past Wednesday. But the story is still unfolding. One of his best friends, Craig Kovac told reporters: "He wasn't a monster. He was a good person, I can't justify what he did, and I feel really sorry for the victims, but he wasn't a monster." Meanwhile, a newspaper report says a 17-year-old high school senior has been arrested on charges of threatening a 16-year-old girl for making Internet postings with unfavorable comments about his best friend: Omaha mall gunman Robert Hawkins.

Hawkins left a suicide note Wednesday at the house where he lived, before he went to the Mall and opened fire fatally wounding eight people before taking his own life. The first page of the note was for his friends: "I love all of you so much and I don't want anyone to miss me just think about how much better you are off without me to support." In the second page, addressed to his family, he wrote, "I've just snapped I can't take this meaningless existence anymore I've been a constant disappointment and that trend would have only continued." He added, "I love you mommy. I love you dad," and expressed love for several other people. The third page was his will: "I'm giving my car back to my mom and my friends can have whatever else I leave behind."

Last Sunday we presented to you our new youth pastor; it is just a little branch on the stump of First. Today we are receiving your commitment cards, your investment in the future of our church. Can you see the little branch? We are not here asking God to bless what we are planning to do, rather we are here trying to see what God is blessing and join God there. We never ask if God is on our side, rather we ask if we are on the side of God. We want to ask you to change the “M” in your life for an “N” “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.”