阅读经文 

我在美国西南部长大，有很多机会看到沙漠里开花的景象。鲜花盛开的沙漠是地球上最美丽的景观之一。它的美丽能如此令人惊叹，部分原因是由于在一年中的大部分时间里，沙漠看起来像一片荒地。它看起来就像以赛亚描述的那样——“干旱之地”——直到仙人掌开花时节，明亮、灿烂的颜色遍布整个景观。这给生活在那里的人带来许多欢乐。

以赛亚描述沙漠对此的反应是欣喜和快乐。他所描绘的画面是干旱之地上无望之人生出的希望。

“看，玫瑰花开茂盛”描述的就是这幅画面，并联系到以赛亚的预言，有关从耶西的树干必生出一根嫩芽。（参赛 11:1）它将红花的绽放与从耶西的儿子大卫的家族中生发的“嫩枝”联系在一起。这一意象随后又与基督的诞生联系起来。“真神又是真人，祂来拯救祂子民，脱离罪恶黑夜。”

在基督的降生中，我们看到了希望、喜悦和欢欣。耶稣给我们带来了生命之水，把我们从罪恶和死亡中救赎出来，用更新的力量和永恒的喜悦取代了我们的悲伤和叹息。

Growing up in the southwestern United States gave me a lot of opportunities to see the desert in bloom. A desert in full bloom is one of the most beautiful landscapes on earth. Part of the reason it can be so breathtaking is that for most of the year the desert looks like a wasteland. It looks the way Isaiah describes it—as a "parched land"—until the cactus blossoms and bright, radiant colors abound across the landscape. This can bring so much joy to the people who live there.

Isaiah describes the desert as responding with gladness and joy. The picture Isaiah paints is one of hope for the hopeless in a dry land.

"Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming" takes this picture and connects it to Isaiah’s prophecy of a shoot coming from the stump of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1). It ties the bloom of the crocus together with the "tender stem" that sprouted from the line of David, the son of Jesse. This imagery is then connected with the birth of Christ: "True God and yet true man, he came to save his people from earth’s dark night of sin."

At the birth of Christ we see hope, joy, and gladness. Jesus brings us the water of life, redeeming us from sin and death and replacing our sorrow and sighing with renewed strength and everlasting joy.