Look! The LORD is coming from his dwelling place; he comes down and treads on the heights of the earth. The mountains melt beneath him and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope. All this is because of Jacob’s transgression, because of the sins of the people of Israel. (Micah 1:3-5)
It is amazing at the number of cartoons you see this Christmas season obsessing over gift-giving and stuff like that. People are scared to death that they will not give the right things or slight someone or not give enough. Kids have lists that are, as one cartoon showed it, in 2 point type, single spaced, back and front of the paper with a URL at the bottom directing you to a website with the rest.
The song Jolly Old Saint Nicholas is almost from another planet. Johnny wants a pair of skates, Susie wants a sled, Billy wants a picture book, yellow, blue and red. Show me the kid that wants something that simple.
Christmas has become a travesty of what it was intended to be. And Nicholas of Myra, the fourth century bishop that Santa Claus is modeled after has become a mockery of what he was intended to be.
Why do we give gifts in the first place. Two reasons come to mind.
One is that the wise men brought gifts to the baby Jesus. Three of them are mentioned. I really liked one celebrity telling that she only gave her children three gifts for Christmas because that was what Jesus got.
The other comes from the legend of Saint Nicholas. According to legend he gave three gifts to a man who needed the money for dowries for his three daughters but could not afford it. Again, the number three. I don’t think that is apocryphal in any way, but it is good for making a point.
The gifts are minor in the season. Or at least they should be. It is not what we give each other and how much we spend. It is that God gave to us.
The power of the gift of Jesus was enough to melt the mountains and split the valleys of our lives and our hearts. All because we had sinned.
Since we had sinned, there was no way to come before him any longer, because, after all, he is perfect and we are not. The holy cannot share space with the unholy.
But he wanted to be with us. Jesus came, a man like us yet sinless like God, and gave us the opportunity to be with him again, to touch him through the agency of Jesus.
That is what Christmas is about. Not a Nintendo system or other junk. That is minor and overblown.
Christmas has been co-opted by the merchandising people and made what it wasn’t supposed to be. Santa Claus like we see him is relatively recent and bears little or no resemblance to Nicholas except that he gives from him heart.
The difference was that Nicholas gave to need. Santa gives to greed.
The mountains melt and the valleys split before Santa Claus too, but they are mountains of common sense. We kill ourselves to buy everything our kids want and forget the whole point.
Now, this column will probably be etched into the hearts of people everywhere and will no doubt bring on a revival. Humanity will change and people’s hearts will be turned to the real reason for the season.
Not.
But it is right.
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