One hot summer day, a young pastor decided to change the oil in his automobile for the very first time in his life. He had purchased five quarts of oil, a filter wrench, and a bucket in which to drain the used oil. He carefully and gently drove the car onto the shiny, yellow ramps and eased his way underneath his vehicle.

Unfortunately, lying there on his back, all he could see when he looked up was a confusing mass of hoses, wires, and unknown metal objects of various sizes and shapes. Uh-oh! "I'll never be able to get through this," he moaned aloud. "I can't even find the oil pan or the plug. This filter wrench doesn't look like any other wrench in my tool box. Everybody will laugh at me now."

Suddenly he heard a tiny voice exclaim, "I won't laugh at you, pastor. Let me show you something."

The startled pastor quickly looked around and saw five-year-old Melissa, his neighbor, crouching down beside him. "My daddy lets me help him work on his car. This is what he showed me," she remarked as she edged her way beside the pastor. She then pointed out the plug. She showed him how to place the filter wrench. Then, with wise confidence far beyond her age, remarked, "Now, you do it for yourself." And he did. Ah-hah!

In the midst of a mess, "a little child shall lead them" proclaims Isaiah (11:6). In the midst of a hopeless, chaotic mess, often of our own making, God provides a vision of what God's promised salvation looks like. For the pastor, that vision took the form of a wise little girl. For us, on this second Sunday of Advent, that vision of salvation looks like a manger, a baby, a cross, and an empty tomb. Christ has come! Christ is coming! Christ will come again! Advent is a time to prepare for God's promised vision of a new reality; a time to prepare for the birth of the little child who leads us.

Our text in Isaiah 11:1-10 is a wonderful and poetic description of God's glorious vision of promise to a people trapped in the midst of a frightening, terrible mess. Political corruption and moral depravity were common. Religious leadership was weak, and business was conducted dishonestly. Pride and arrogance characterized a false belief that God would protect the people no matter how flagrantly they sinned against God. Elders and government dignitaries wrote laws to oppress the poor and needy (Isaiah 10:1-2). Prophets taught lies. The people were left in confusion (Isaiah 9:15-16). Uh-oh!

Even though the Lord stirred up the Arameans and Philistines to attack, God's people did not return to their faith (Isaiah 9:13 cf). "For wickedness burned like a fire ... and the people became like fuel for the fire" (Isaiah 9:18-19). Uh-oh!

Finally, mighty Assyria became the instrument of God's wrath against a disobedient and unfaithful people. "The club in their hands is my fury! Against a godless nation I send him ... to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets" (Isaiah 10:5-6). Uh-oh! Now that's a mess all right!

Assyria, the club, the axe, was indeed lying at the root of the trees (Matthew 3:10), cutting and destroying forests; reducing the northern part of the nation to stumps, brush, and thorns.

Is the axe at the root of our trees? Our behavior? Our priorities? Our promises? In the midst of our incredibly crowded schedules during Advent, do we ever experience the feeling of impending doom ... that everything might come crashing down on us with no time to stop the chaos from destroying us?

Have you ever locked your keys in your car? In the act of slamming the door you see the key in the ignition but cannot stop in time. Uh-oh! Chaos! And you did it to yourself. We all do.

So then, where's the good news in all the doom and gloom? Where is God's promise? Where is the "ah-hah"?

First, in just one day, God will turn back the Assyrian armies before they can overcome Judah and Jerusalem, its capital city (Isaiah 10:17 and 34). It happened. God promised to destroy the controlling bondage of sin in our own lives and in the lives of all people. It happened ... Christ has come! Christ is coming! Christ will come again! Here is the Advent promise! Here is God's "ah-hah!"

Second, the Assyrian axe did leave a "stump" of God's people remaining. The "stump of Jesse," the father of King David (1 Samuel 16:1 cf). The kingship in David's line remained safe in Jerusalem. Although only a stump of the great tree, Israel, remained, God's covenant of faithfulness to God's people remained steadfast and secure. Indeed, fear was still tangible. Enemies still surrounded the people. Discouragement was still a common experience. Nevertheless, God was still a very real and guiding presence in their midst.

After the horrific devastation of the gulf coastline of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama by Hurricane Katrina in the fall of 2005, residents were overwhelmed by the enormity of destruction. The task of rebuilding and reclaiming their lives often appeared futile to them and, in fact, to the entire nation. Nevertheless, examples of hope and renewal, through many acts of kindness, heroic self-giving, and incredible generosity, were demonstrated daily. One sign in particular reveals the energetic and vital faith of the survivors and volunteer aid workers. Hanging in the hallway of Christus Victor Lutheran Church in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, was a large poster proclaiming "Katrina was an act of nature. What we do here is an act of God." "Ah-hah!"

Destruction of the gulf region was immeasurable. Nevertheless, a "stump" of hope remained strong in this God-given vision of promise and encouragement.

Today, this second Sunday of Advent, God gives us "discouraged stumps" a vision of God's promised love as we view the cross, the altar, and see God's gathered people surrounding us. "Ah-hah!" 

Third, from out of that stump of Jesse, Isaiah reminds us, will come a shoot, a king from the line of David. Do you begin to see the Advent promise here? Can you begin to see God's vision of a new reality taking shape? Just what, or better, just who, is this shoot, this branch? Is it the remainder of God's faithful people in Judah? Is it to be an unnamed future king of Judah? Scholars are uncertain regarding Isaiah's specific reference. Nevertheless, this new shoot is the vision of new life sprouting from a mutilated, devastated, and discovered people ... in the midst of a mess. Today we see, in these words of Isaiah, the vision of God's promised upside-down and inside-out reality in the person of Jesus Christ, whose birth we prepare to celebrate.

For Isaiah, this new king from David's line and his descendants will be bearers of the Spirit of God ... a spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and might, of knowledge and the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2). These are not simply qualities of character. The gift of God's Spirit is intended to result in practical actions. This new king will discern and do God's will. He will not be deceived by false claims of morality, contrary to the corrupt and unfaithful actions of previous leaders. He will act on behalf of the poor and weak in society (Isaiah 11:3-5). Do you catch a glimpse of Jesus here? Does this sound anything like the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7?

Look on in this text as Isaiah describes the new order — God's upside-down and inside-out order of the coming kingdom of this righteous branch. In the new creation, natural predators will live in peace with their usual victims: wolves and lambs, leopards and young goats, lions and calves, bears and cows, babies and poisonous snakes, will live together in peace (Isaiah 11:6-9). Now what kind of world is that? What kind of vision is that anyway? When is this ever going to happen? Aren't our lives, our communities, our very existence barely hanging on in the midst of one giant mess? Are we not living in the midst of so many "uh-ohs" that any "ah-hah" seems beyond the realm of possibility in the far distant future?

Indeed, at the beginning of both verses 10 and 11 Isaiah uses the phrase, "on that day." The Advent message, God's Advent message for us today, is "that day" has already dawned. The shoot from the stump of Jesse has grown into a mighty tree of life, a sign to all the nations that God's new creation has already begun with the birth of a little child who leads us into life in God's upside-down, inside-out new kingdom.

"Uh-ohs" still exist and seek to overwhelm us. But God has given us the everlasting and eternal "ah-hah!" in that little child, that mighty king, our Savior Jesus Christ.

Christ has come!

Christ is coming!

Christ will come again!

Ah-hah! Now that is good news! Amen.