Isaiah 53:1-6
Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, [there is] no beauty that we should desire him.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
During this Christmas season, I must admit that I am humbled by the stark reality of this text. Isaiah, speaking prophetically of Christ, clearly relates that Christ was not some beautiful thing that people desired. In fact, he was born in a manger smelling of cow and sheep crap, learned a simple trade from his father, and was despised by the popular culture of today. Now I know it seems sort of drastic to say this, but I am not sure that anything has changed since the time of Christ's birth. Christmas has become a holiday celebrating mass consumerism, not a baby born in a feeding trough next to animals that was the incarnate son of God that would one day restore the broken relationship of humanity to God. During this Christmas season, I find myself more and more considering how the importance of Christmas is not consumerism, is not Santa, is not pretty decorations, its a nasty poo-filled stable where Christ would start a journey that would ultimately lead to salvation. Yet during this wonderful time of the year, we miss this. We still, being the good sheep we are (simply following the sheep-butt in front of us) just do like everyone else at Christmas. I think this is wrong, not just wrong, it is down right disappointing. Christ bore the ultimate torture for those whom he loved, and we would rather pray for snow that pray for salvation for others. This Christmas season, remember that the only real reason that we celebrate Christmas is because a little baby was born, grew up, and was torn up into a piece of raw meat that you and I might live eternally. Merry Christmas!
1 comment:
merry christmas dude. i like how you deal with the harsh reality of the Messiah's death. Something you said in class really kind of opened my eyes. Basically what you said was that the only reason for the birth (which includes all the christmas stories) was the death. It has been plaguing me like a thorn in my mind. Your writing can never cease to make me ponder. Keep up the amazing work.
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