One afternoon last week I was surprised when I noticed
two buds on a rose bush in my backyard. There haven’t been too many chilly days
yet this season on the Gulf Coast, but the last time I observed my rosebushes,
they were dry, brown, and covered in dead buds, having lost their bloom a
couple of months ago. Yet, here they were blooming on a chilly January day and I
smiled as I noted the flowers were on the red bush, not the nearby pink one. The
color evoked the description of Jesus as the rose of Sharon and brought to mind
the 15th century Advent hymn “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen,” or “Lo,
How a Rose E’er Blooming.” The song lyrics refer to prophecies from the book of
Isaiah which describe the coming Messiah as a rose. The writer pictures the
Rose springing to life on a cold winter night:
“Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming
Lo, how a rose e’er blooming
From tender stem hath sprung,
Of Jesse’s lineage coming,
As men of old have sung.
Lo, how a rose e’er blooming
From tender stem hath sprung,
Of Jesse’s lineage coming,
As men of old have sung.
It came a flow’ret bright
Amid the cold of winter
When half-spent was the night.
Isaiah ‘twas foretold it,
This Rose that I have in mind.”
Amid the cold of winter
When half-spent was the night.
Isaiah ‘twas foretold it,
This Rose that I have in mind.”
As is often His way, God used His own creation, in the
form of two simple blood-red rosebuds, to evoke the truth of Jesus’ sacrificial
life. Furthermore, He used the incident to also remind me that with Him,
anything is possible. Even roses in winter.
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