A Techie’s Advent Devotional

And now for something completely different…

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
Isaiah 11:1

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, [John the Baptist] said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Matthew 3:7-10

The word ‘root’ has special significance in computer terminology. Root means control. In UNIX type systems root can refer to a user or to a location from which everything else is connected. A user who is root is a Super User. A person who is root has control of a computer. Also, in a UNIX file system, everything is treated as a file and every file is connected directly or indirectly to the root. Even devices attached to the computer (usb devices, disk drives, cameras, phones, etc.) are connected to root as a device (see image below). This system of connection is often referred to as the UNIX file tree. All of the files, devices, folders, and subfolders for a design that looks like a tree.

For this reason software that is design to surreptitiously take control of a computer is known as a rootkit. Its goal is to give someone other than the administrator control over the system. While these types of programs are considered malware used by crackers for nefarious purposes such as setting up spambots. But, there is another use of the concept.

Many technologically minded people love to get their hands on new gadgets and the newest smartphones (or ebook readers) certainly count as one of those gadgets. Often these devices are locked by the manufacturer (e.g., Apple) or the service provider (e.g., Verizon). Users might cry foul and take control of these devices. Doing this is known as jail breaking the phone or rooting the phone. A phone or ebook reader that has been jail broken is known as a rooted device. This means that the legitimate owner of the phone now has control over the device and can install software from any source and customize the device as desired.

John the Baptist warns his listenors that “even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees.” Isaiah gives us an image of a useless stump of a dead tree from which a green shoot will spring forth. From that which is dead something living can come. After John baptizes Jesus he says that “[Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). It is not that John must now fade into the background (Herod will take care of that). John recognizes a truth that applies to us all. To be a disciple means we must surrender to our Lord. We must allow the ‘old man” [Adam] to die so that the ‘new man’ [Christ] may grow in us (Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15).

Like those devices we have been bound up by many things that keep us from being truly free; things that keep us from reaching our full potential. But, when we find ourselves rooted by Christ, the fresh green sprigs will burst forth from our dead stumps.

“The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope.”
Romans 15:12

Image: http://codeidol.com/img/fedora-4/0672327074/graphics/05fig05.gif