The Real Reason For the Season (or) The Original Christmas Tree

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.  By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?  And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.  Isaiah 53:3-12

By now everyone has decorated their Christmas tree, wrapped all the presents, hung enough lights to qualify as an electrician, and gradually grown sick of "its the most wonderful time of the year" and the rest of the music loop played since Thanksgiving.

But what of that Christmas tree?  You know the one.  The little one Charlie Brown fretted over.  The aluminum one that kids these days don't understand.  The live one that may or may not have a woodland creature still inhabiting.  The pre-lit plastic-y one that lives in a box in the attic from New Years day to Thanksgiving.  The giant one next to a famed ice skating rink in the Big Apple.

How about the real one?  The only one that matters?

This is why Jesus Christ was born.  To die.  For you and all of creation.  To pay for your sin, the sins of all mankind, and the sin that brought death.  And to rise again from the dead so that you may rise also on the Last Day.

So think on the real reason for the season as you sip hot chocolate and watch Rudolf for the fiftieth time.

Glory to God in the highest.