Bring to life an ancient Christmas tradition — The Jesse Tree

Bring to life an ancient Christmas tradition — The Jesse Tree

Commentary by Lisa Ormond | FāVS News

My husband and I come from different Christian backgrounds. And neither he nor I had ever heard of a Jesse Tree. I recently learned about the Jesse Tree when I was doing research about Advent. I was surprised to learn that this is an ancient way of telling the lineage story of Jesus and has been an embraced tradition by Christians dating back to the medieval times. What a cool discovery! 

So, this year we’ve decided to make a Jesse Tree for our home instead of buying and decorating the traditional Christmas tree. Our Jesse Tree will look more like the Peanuts Charlie Brown tree which was missing needles and looked scraggly but had a special spirit surrounding it.  

Jesse Tree background   

The Jesse Tree represents Jesus’ family tree. The Jesse Tree is named after Jesse, a prominent figure in the Old Testament who was the father of King David and a descendant of the Messiah. Many Christians refer to Jesse as the first “branch” in the genealogy of Jesus. The name is taken from Isaiah 11:1 in which Jesus is referred to as a shoot coming up from the stump of Jesse, the father of David. The ornaments on the Jesse tree tell of Jesus’ ancestors and of the events leading to his birth.

Rooted in art and storytelling

Some of the first Jesse Trees weren’t actually trees but were in the form of art, like stained-glass windows in churches, tapestries and carvings. Jesse Trees first appeared in the Middle Ages — a time when most people were illiterate. Also a time when the invention of the printing press had not yet made Bibles readily available, so faith largely was passed along orally. Theologians and artists worked in tandem to teach men and women of all ages the story of salvation history through the Jesse Tree. 

The pictures of people and symbols helped tell the Bible stories by assigning illustrations to the words. The Jesse Tree window in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres in Chartres, France, is a particularly famous and majestic example, but often many Jesse Trees were more modest in nature representing their simple parish church location and communities of the time.

Giving our Jesse Tree life

My husband and I recently moved to the Coeur d’Alene area and are discovering new places to hike and enjoying the beauty that surrounds us. While on a hike with my husband, we found the materials to build our tree, which is made from gathered fallen branches and is arranged such that the branches will hold about 25 decorations or symbols that tell the story from the Bible leading up to Jesus’s birth. 

Building simply from Scripture

For us, each evening we pause, pull out our Bible and read to each other the passages that relate to the day. We then create an idea to make an ornament that reminds us of the symbolism of Bible verse reading — working hard to not overthink it!  We use regular household materials readily available to make the tree ornament. 

Our ornaments haven’t been ‘typical’ in respects to the commercialized Christmas tree. We’ve used such items as yarn, fishing line, feathers, rocks, leaves, colored art glass and white paper plates to make the tree decorations. An example is on day four for the Genesis reading about Noah and the Ark, we hand drew a rainbow on a white paper plate, cut it out and glued a round, decorative blue piece of glass to it for our finished Jesse tree decoration. We’ve hung, wrapped and taped items to the tree sticks so far, having fun just allowing ourselves to be kids doing an art project with no expectations and letting the spirit move us. It’s a blast!

Way more meaning and heart involved

I’m grateful we are taking time during this busy holiday season to ponder the mysteries of Jesus’ arrival and what it means to our world today using our Jesse Tree to connect ourselves to his birth over 2,000 years ago. It brings us closer together as a couple and toward the true meaning behind Christmas. 

Obviously, we’re still in creation mode with our tree, and we are not quite sure what its final look will be. But this is kind of like preparing for the birth of a child or the coming of Jesus. You just trust and go with the flow waiting in joyful anticipation. 

Discovering the true Christmas meaning 

And what about the true meaning of Christmas? Well, sometimes it seems we lose our way in telling the story with so much glitz surrounding the season. However, few can argue with Peanuts character Linus Van Pelt’s famously delivered Luke Gospel passage in 1965 at the conclusion of the iconic TV special “A Charlie Brown Christmas”: 

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of theheavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News. FāVS News values diverse perspectives and thoughtful analysis on matters of faith and spirituality.