I have heard that many people think the true meaning of Noel, Christmas, has gotten lost in all the hubbub that surrounds this holiday. I am going to try to help with that thought and put it to rest.

What is the definition of the word holiday?

noun

A day free from work that one may spend at leisure, especially a day on which custom or the law dictates a halting of general business activity to commemorate or celebrate a particular event.
A religious feast day; a holy day.
A vacation. Often used in the phrase on holiday

Look at definition number two. Christmas is a religious feast day, and that is certainly true. It is also a holy day. What is holy about this day? I know, because I celebrate the birth of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He came into this world as a human being, leaving his creative power, his immortality, his place with God behind. He came into this world to grow up to be despised, rejected, and murdered, crucified as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. His birth and death were foretold thousands of years before it happened.

Who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
    and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds, we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment, he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
    for the transgression of my people, he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
    and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
    nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
    and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered,
    he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
    and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
    and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many
    and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53: 1-12

It gives me great relief and great joy as I live my life in a rebellious world that is many times full of hatred, violence, injustice, racism, betrayal, disloyalty, selfishness, and abuse, all symptoms of a broken relationship with God Almighty. It is important to remember during those times when life comes against us when we are abused, despised, and rejected for being believers, even when those times happen during a celebratory time when our Lord is supposed to be at the center of it all.

Remember and embrace this: Jesus was willing to be despised and rejected and to submit himself to mockery, hatred, and a violent death. He was willing to have his father turn his back. Why would he do this? Why come into this world, and grow up as a fine man, only to be subjected to the most awful ending? Because He loves us, that is why! He did this so that we, his children. would know that no matter what comes our way, whatever we face during our time on this earth we are “perfectly and eternally loved.” He did this so that we would forever know our Lord’s redeeming love and that the time will come when we will be with him forever and ever.

That is the ultimate meaning of Christmas.

How amazing and joyous is that?!!

Derrick.