This morning, we started looking at how to make a Jesse Tree, through which we explore the reasons Jesus had to come to earth at Christmas. The name comes from Isaiah’s prophecy: ‘A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.’ (Is 11:1) Isaiah used the image of a tree to talk about Jesus, saying that Jesus would be like a shoot or a branch growing from the stump of Jesse, and the tree is a useful teaching aid, for it looks not only at the Christmas story but at God’s bigger story as it is found in the whole Bible.
The idea is to make tree decorations which illustrate specific Bible stories, and this week we looked at the following:
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an apple (representing the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil from which Adam and Eve ate and thus brought sin and death into the world, which is why we need a Saviour!)
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an ark & rainbow, representing the story of Noah and the flood, reminding us also of God’s promise never to flood the earth again and again reminding us that we need rescue from sin and evil.
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a dove, representing the hope brought back to Noah in the ark after the flood that the earth was inhabitable again (represented by the olive leaf) and also representing the Holy Spirit
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a scene from the story of Abraham’s life, reflecting God’s promise to him that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky, Abraham being the ‘father of faith’ to all who believe:
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a dagger, representing Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice the son of promise as an act of obedience to God, a reminder also that Jesus is God’s Son, willingly given to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
