At Who the kings shut their mouths,
Whom the Gentiles will seek,
Come to deliver us, do not delay.
This is essentially the same as the fourth verse of the popularized chant, Come, oh Come Emanuel,
O Come, Thou Rod of Jesse’s stem,
from ev’ry foe deliver them
that trust Thy mighty power to save,
and give them vict’ry o’er the grave.
Walter Brueggemann, later in the 4th chapter of the book I promise to get back to when I'm feeling up to it says:
"Emmanuel, Which Means God With Us"
Thus the Christmas announcement of Jesus is precisely out of the war tradition of the LORD fighting for his people. It is the angel Gabriel who announces his birth (Luke 1:19, 26) and it is no accident that the name of Gabriel means "mighty man of war." The birth announcement is the assertion that God is powerfully at work for those who cannot fight their own battles. The coming of Jesus is the Lord Radically and powerfully with his people in times of distress to rescue them. Jesus is the mean through which God's faithful covenanting is evident to his people (Luke 1:72-74). In the announcement narratives Jesus is given two names:
a) . . . she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
b) Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel (which means God with us) (Matthew 1:21, 23).
The first name calls to mind the great heroes of Israel who intervened on behalf of his people in time of trouble (cf. the book of Judges). The second is a quite from Isaiah 7:14 concerning the LORD's assurances that he will invert the situation of political oppression and historical hopelessness.
I think this Christmas, a lot of us are feeling like those who cannot fight their own battles. Or at least in need of divine help and a higher moral authority than secular political struggle and media is ever going to produce. I know I do.
The "root of Jesse" refers to the prophesy of Isaiah that from the "stump of Jesse" (the father of David, David's the "stump") a root will come that brings .... Here's what it says, Isaiah (11:10)t.
10 On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.
Earlier in the same chapter, he also talked about what would come from "the stump of Jesse". in Isaiah,
Peter Witte - O Radix Jesse
Corona Vocalis
Michael Schmoll, director
Update: I should add that, as with RMJ's post this morning, the lectionary readings for the third Tuesday in Advent start with the birth of Samson from the Book of Judges 13 to keep with the point Brueggemann made.
And "radix" reminds us that "radical" refers to "root," not "fringe."
ReplyDeleteThe radical nature of the Magnificat is that it proclaims justice will come up from the roots and put the human world in its right order; right out to the fringes.
See? I can even use it in a sentence!
It's what the word "radish" comes from, too.
DeleteI always liked the name of this one because of that word, O Clavis David, too. The O Antiphons sort of clue you in to the Jewish nature of Christianity. Though some of the clueless won't like that idea.