We humans often feel a strong desire to "get back to our roots," as Alex Haley's epic novel, Roots, proved. This is a nagging concern in our rootless American culture. Most Americans are cut off from their past. Yes, the old people came from "over there," but we really don't know much about "there." We care primarily about "here." We feel rootless in our hearts and minds. That rootlessness is often magnified at Christmas and especially for people that have been uprooted from their immediate families by divorce or distance or conflict. Human, traditional connections are the stuff of real, daily life.

We dismiss our past by describing it as "baggage" or "issues." This is true when we feel that our past or our family history is embarrassing or too humble or even too foreign. First generation American-born people tend to be dismissive of the "old country," and gung-ho for all things American: baseball, hot dogs, careful English, apple pie, etc. That's OK, because it is a sign of assimilation. However, the past must never be repudiated, and we try to do so only at our peril. We must take into account who we are through appreciating our past and the meaning of our history. We need to go back to our roots.

Even our Lord Jesus Christ had a root, a source, a history. His source from eternity was His heavenly Father from whom He was ever begotten, without beginning or end. Late in time, He comes as the offspring of the Virgin's womb. He comes from the root of Jesse. Perhaps there was something embarrassing about this human lineage. Isaiah declines to identify the Messiah's source with the name of King David, who was the son of Jesse. He names instead his lesser known and distinctly non-royal father. He identifies Him with the stump that appears dead. Isaiah is intending to say that the sign of the King's return is humble, unexpected, even foreign. No one looks at the shoot that comes from the root of Jesse and declares His glory or names Him King. His background, His roots do not attract us to Him. He is of the cut down house of Jesse. What's the big deal? And for some people His humility means, "no deal."

He is not rootless. He comes from humble stock. He comes from human stock. Like us. Ah, His roots tell us how much like us He is. My Lord is true man born of the Virgin Mary. He comes from God as God of God. His root is fixed in eternity. He comes from God and returns to God, so that we might know who is born of Mary and comes from the stump of Jesse. This root of Jesse is the eternal Son of the Father. It is good for us to know what our roots really are. If we are in Him, then we are rooted in God.