Several years ago, while driving through the Decatur area, I saw a grand oak tree. This tree was huge, with a bright green canopy. I don't know how many times I drove by this tree and paid it no attention. But on this particular day, I sat for a minute or two - the time it took for a traffic light to change from red to green - and admired the tree. Then I drove away. The next day the tree fell crushing everything in its path. It fell because its roots had withered and died. While the tree appeared magnificent and healthy, its core was rotten. When it fell, it did not even leave a stump, all that was left was a gigantic hole filled with dead roots.
As I reflected on today's readings, I remembered that tree. In our first reading from Isaiah 11:1-10, the prophet describes a new shoot sprouting from the roots of Jesse. This shoot will blossom and thrive because the Spirit of the Lord rests upon it. It will be a sign to all the nations of the world and will be sought by them. Here strong, healthy roots produced an inspiring leader filled with "a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD" (Isaiah 11:2).
We get a distinctly different tree image in today's gospel, Matthew 3:1-12. As he was baptizing people in the Jordan River, John the Baptist had a confrontation with the Pharisees and Sadducees. He questioned their sincerity and challenged them to "produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance" (Matthew 3:8). Like our grand oak tree, on the surface the Pharisees and Sadducees, appeared to be holy and devout people. They assumed that as descendants of Abraham, their salvation was assured. However, John the Baptist saw them differently. He called them a "brood of vipers!" (Matthew 3:7). They were arrogant and elitist and, like our grand oak tree; their core was so rotten that John said an "ax lies at the root of the trees" ready to chop them down. Trees with rotten roots cannot produce good fruit.
On this Second Sunday of Advent, John the Baptist calls us to repent with sincere hearts and to produce good fruit as evidence of our repentance. The Prophet Jeremiah said, "Blessed is anyone who trusts in Yahweh, with Yahweh to rely on. Such a person is like a tree by the waterside that thrusts its roots to the stream: when the heat comes it has nothing to fear, its foliage stays green; untroubled in a year of drought, it never stops bearing fruit" (Jeremiah 17:7-8).
Stir up within us,
O God of peace and mercy,
a sincere desire for repentance,
that, baptized with the Holy Spirit
and enkindled by the fire of your love,
we may bring to every situation
the justice, gentleness and peace
that the incarnation of your Word
has caused to sprout and blossom upon the earth.
Grant this through your Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.
AMEN
