Santa Claus Saves Christmas

Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
 
The night on which we gather is most known for two things. The first is the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. The second is a man known as Santa Claus bringing joy throughout the world. These two statements might seem to be unrelated from each other.  It was the man who came to be known as Santa Claus, who in a unique bit of history helped define the true meaning of Christ’s birth.
 
The story starts about 270 years after the birth of Christ in a small village in what was then Greece[1].  A young man named Nicholas was born to some very wealthy parents. Nicholas grew up as a devout Christian, which helped sustain him as he lost his parents at a very young age.   So, Nicholas received a significant inheritance that he became renowned far and wide for his giving of gifts to the sick, needy, and especially his love of children.   
 
Once upon a time: Nicholas came across a family that was down on its luck[2]. The Father had been unable to work for months.  The family was hungry and forced to beg on the streets. This saddened Nicolas, so he went to the Marketplace and bought a large sack of food, then in the middle of the night, laid the sack on the door, knocked, and vanished anonymously into the darkness.
 
The most well-known story of Nicholas’ generosity includes the day’s traditions where fathers would pay dowries for their daughters to marry a good husband[3].  Well, one father had three daughters and little money. The daughters without the dowry seemed likely to end up in slavery.  Only for on three different mysterious occasions, bags of gold were tossed into the home’s open windows landing in stockings left by the fireplace.  Nicholas’ secret act was discovered and fame spread.
 
Nicholas’ legend led to children throughout the land, hanging similar stockings awaiting a gift from Nicholas the gift-giver.
 
Well Nicholas above all else dedicated his life to serving God.  Nicolas became the Bishop of Myra as a young man.  When Nicholas was a Bishop, the common wardrobe was the wearing of red robes[4]. 

Well during Nicholas’ life something remarkable happened within the Christian Church.  The same Roman Empire which had forced Mary and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem, the same Roman Empire who appointed Herod the Great that tried to kill the Christ Child.  This Roman Empire during Nicholas’ life saw their Emperor convert to Christianity and the empire along with it.  A short time later, a big meeting took place in Nicea to determine what exactly the Christian Church believed about the Birth of Jesus Christ[5]. 
 
One side argued that on that night in Bethlehem, a child was born, no different than every other child born before him merely possessing the presence of God in his life.  
 
The man who came to be known as Saint Nicholas would argue instead that the child born in Bethlehem was God crashing down from the heavens in human flesh.  The child born doesn’t merely point the way to God’s salvation, but is God’s salvation himself.  Nicholas got so worked up during this debate he ended up slapping his opponents and spending the night in jail. 
 
Saint Nicholas perhaps more than any human being that ever lived understood that there is no such thing as a “Christ”-less Christmas[6], anything that minimizes Jesus in the salvation story misses the true meaning of the season.
 
So how did Saint Nicholas become Santa Claus? Saint Nicholas remained popular like few saints in the years after his death. December 6th the day of his death came to be celebrated through the sharing of candies, small gifts, nuts, and apples being placed around the house as a way to remember Saint Nicholas the gift-giver[7].
 
Martin Luther suggested changing the day of gift-giving from December 6th to December 24th/25th to draw attention to Christ being the true-gift giver to the children of the land[8].  The popularity of Saint Nicholas lived on even as German immigrants moved to this country.
 
In 1823, a very popular poem by a seminary professor was written of which you may have heard titled “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” also known as “The Night Before Christmas[9].” 
 
The Saint Nicholas in this poem was: dressed in red fur, rosy cheeks, a white beard, a round belly, and a bundle of toys upon his back[10].  Other popular poems around this time describe a Saint Nicholas like figure arriving from the North upon flying reindeer[11].
 
The legend of Saint Nicholas helped spread Christmas observance in this country making Christmas carols popular and bringing more children to the newly found Sunday School movement to participate in pageants[12].
 
Eventually Harper’s Weekly which was a very popular magazine in the wake of the Civil War would publish drawings of Saint Nicholas but change the pronunciation to the Dutch translation of Saint Nicholas “Sinterklass[13].”    

Saint Nicholas though did not merely bring gifts on Christmas but saved Christmas’ true meaning.  Saint Nicholas began his life no different than the Shepherds, Joseph, and Mary who star in our Christmas story. Saint Nicholas was an outcast on account of his faith from the world’s most powerful empire. Nicholas was a Bishop in days when Bishops were routinely imprisoned by this same empire[14]. 
 
The most powerful message of the Christmas story is one that would come to define Saint Nicholas’ life: Caeser Augustus might appear to be in control of the story and of the future[15]. Poor shepherds in a field might seem to be nothing more than undereducated, social outcasts.  Mary might be nothing more than a scared, young child giving birth to a baby boy in an a strange/ unfamiliar way.
 
Someday, this child soon to be born will triumph over all the forces of this world. The following is the Good News which the Angels proclaim! God was Born in a Manger; God was born Immanuel “For He Will Save the People from their Sins[16].”  Saint Nicholas spent a night in Jail because he was so convinced of this.  Christians ever since have come to believe it,  On this day: “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.[17]”.  

In 1934, the famous Christmas classic Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town [18]was written.  The theme of the song is that the reason we celebrate the Christmas season is Santa Claus’ presence if and only if we’ve been good enough to make his list. Saint Nicholas saw a much different meaning for the season.   Jesus Christ was born for us, regardless of how good we’ve been.  It is this Christ Child who on this night delivers the greatest of all gifts in the hope of his salvation that is to come. Amen
 


[1] “Saint Nicholas.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 11.Dec.2018. Web. Dec.12.2018. 
[2] Stier, Leon. “Santa’s First Job.” Email Meditations. 28.Nov.2016. Web. Dec.12.2018. 
[3]
[4] Vander Zee, Leonard. “Santa Claus Saves Christmas.” South Bend Christian Reformed Church. South Bend, IN. 25.Dec.2005. Web. Dec.12.2018.  Taken from Saint Nicholas Center. 
[5] Vander Zee, Leonard. “Santa Claus Saves Christmas.” South Bend Christian Reformed Church.
[6] Veith, Gene Edward. “Slappy holiday: Why not take the Santa Claus tradition a little further?” World Magazine. 24.Dec.2005. Web. Dec.12.2018. 
[7] Saint Nicholas Center. “Saint Nicholas and the Origin of Santa Claus.” Web. Dec.12.2018.
[8] Swartz, David. “A Very Not-So-Merry Christmas: How Protestantism Nearly Killed St. Nick.” Saint Nicholas Center. Web. Dec.12.2018. 
[9] Saint Nicholas Center. “Saint Nicholas and the Origin of Santa Claus.”
[10] “A Visit from Saint Nicholas.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 12.Dec.2018. Web. Dec.12.2018.
[11] The most prevelant of these being the 1821 work by William Gilley The Children’s Friend which described Sancte Claus. Gilley was a close friend of Clement Clarke Moore. 
[12] Saint Nicholas Center. “Saint Nicholas and the Origin of Santa Claus.”
[13] Saint Nicholas Center. “Saint Nicholas and the Origin of Santa Claus.” The cartoonist involved was Thomas Nast.
[14] Vander Zee, Leonard. “Santa Claus Saves Christmas.” South Bend Christian Reformed Church.
[15] Saraas, Niveen. “Commentary on Luke 2:[1-7] 8-20.” Working Preacher. Luther Seminary. 24.Dec.2018. Web. Dec.12.2018.
[16] Matthew 1:21,23.
[17] John 1:14
[18] “Santa Claus is Comin to Town.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 11.Dec.2018. Web. Dec.12.2018.