Glorifying God in Santa Claus???

12/4/2016

Santa Claus has annoyed me since I was a child, not only because I find the songs about him obnoxious, but because I always felt this gaudy fairy tale usurps the place of the truly beautiful coming of God’s Son to redeem sinners. Can we possibly glorify God in Santa Claus?

“Is Santa Claus real?” children may ask. To which we may answer, “Sure, in the fourth century he was a bishop in the Christian church who loved Jesus very much.” Saint Nicholas (in Dutch, Sinter Klaas) gave generously to care for the poor, most famously to three daughters of a poor man who could not afford a dowry to get married. But because he took so seriously Jesus’ command to keep your giving in secret, tradition holds that he snuck the money into their stockings that were hanging out to dry. (Apparently his generosity has not stayed secret since.)

In the intervening years, of course, many legends have sprung up around him that stretch the credulity even of a child, and children that are genuinely seeking the truth about him should not be deceived. But at the heart of all the stories is a real man, sanctified by the blood of Jesus, who lived his life as a disciple, according to his master’s teaching. After all, when Jesus taught us to give generously to those in need, to give even to the point of self-sacrifice because we love them as we love ourselves, not in a way that points to ourselves but that glorifies the kindness of our God, he knew a thing or two about that.

When you see pictures of Santa Claus in the stores or on your Christmas tree this season, may you see not an image of secularism but Saint Nicholas, a life transformed by the sacrificial love of Jesus.