In the first half of the fourth century, St. Nicholas of Myra punched the Trinity-denying Arius in the face. At least, that’s how the story goes (and how could every meme on my news feed be wrong?). Regardless of the historicity of the event, the motivation behind its re-telling is clear: the true meaning of Christmas has been watered down by elevating a make-believe, secular figure to the same level as Jesus. The King of Kings has to share the spotlight with Kris Kringle. St. Nicholas appears to offer some help. On the one hand, he offers a certain “Christian” flavor to the Santa myth. In the “war on Christmas,” the Christians have a secret weapon. We have a man behind enemy lines – hiding in plain, red-coated sight. Likewise, St. Nicholas grounds Santa in history. The complaint of Christian parents vis-à-vis Santa has long been: how can we say both Santa and Jesus are real without expecting our kids to doubt the later once they stop believing the former?
You can see the appeal of the St. Nick option. Historically, Jesus and St. Nicholas are both “real” in the same way King Edward IV and Teddy Roosevelt both occupied time and space. Spiritually, Jesus and St. Nicholas are both “faithful” in the same way Thomas Aquinas and John Bunyan were both Christian. Once Santa is established as historical, so goes the logic, we don’t have to worry about our kids believing in him today but becoming scorned Atheists tomorrow. Similarly, if Santa is a thorough, Trinitarian Christian, we don’t have to worry about hanging our sleigh ornament on a branch under the Bethlehem Star. Both point to Emmanuel in their own way. Now, at the risk of seeming like a Grinch, I just don’t think this reindeer will fly.
Sure, I’m sympathetic to the goals behind the St. Nick option, and I certainly want to give a brother in Christ his due for going fisticuffs with a heretic. But Santa can’t be helped, I believe, because the problem isn’t with our view of Santa in the first place. You see, the reason Christ gets overshadowed by Santa isn’t because we have a faulty view of Santa. It’s because we have a faulty view of God. Even a cursory scan of evangelicalism will show that we view angels as little more than elves and God as the ultimate Santa Claus: jolly, seasonal, and meritocratic. The St. Nick option assumes that Christ will take his rightful place at Christmas once Santa is brought down to the level of a historical saint. But the real solution won’t lie in bringing Santa down in our estimation, it will lie in exalting God. In order to have “more Christ in Christmas,” we need less sentimentality in Theology. That is, we must come to view God as He is: sovereign, holy, and merciful.
God isn’t seasonal, He’s sovereign. With the exception of an isle at Hobby Lobby, we by and large restrict Santa’s influence to a specific time of the year. We tend to do the same thing with God. However, the Scriptures are clear: It is incumbent upon the rulers of the earth (whether they rule a nation, a business, a family, or an apartment) to serve the Lord in all they do – to “kiss the Son,” as it were (Ps 2:12). The first step in putting Christ back in Christmas is to realize that God, unlike Santa, claims crown-rights over the whole of reality. He will not be relegated to a “season.” The sun never sets on His kingdom, and His reign has no end. Heaven is not the great North Pole in the sky – a distant land to which we occasionally write with gift requests. On the contrary, Heaven alludes to the rule of God. Heaven is the reality that will one day so thoroughly invade earth that there will be no need for the sun, because the Son will be its light. We don’t simply go to Heaven with our requests, Heaven comes to us with the commission to live out the rule of Christ in the here and now.
God isn’t jolly, He’s holy. Santa isn’t stern; he’s not abrasive. He’s rosy and fluffy and jolly. Of course, this isn’t by accident. The “Santa image” was designed by a committee of the The New York Historical Society with the explicit purpose of creating a warm, approachable, aesthetically-inviting image. We often talk about God as if He were the creation of a committee whose chief concern were our personal happiness. From what He does, to what He loves, to how He responds to sin – our thoughts about God are often more based on what want we’d like to be true than what is true. Yet, despite our most earnest wishes, God will not be re-made in our image. He’s holy – wholly different from His creation. He was not designed by a committee, but is eternally existent in three persons. If we are waiting to approach His throne until He changes His disposition to better suit our sensibilities – we’re waiting in vain. God doesn’t exist to make us comfortable. The gospel isn’t a marketing pitch, it’s a divine announcement.
God isn’t meritocratic, He’s merciful. The logic of Santa is clear: if you’ve been a good boy or girl, you get a treat. If you’ve been naughty, bam – it’s coal for you! You get what you merit. We use God in the same way; He’s a “naughty deterrent:” a means to the end of keeping people in line. However, God’s justice system is different than Santa’s. By His cross and resurrection, Christ has united His church to Himself – making every reward that’s rightfully His available to His beloved bride. What’s more, He took upon Himself the condemnation that was rightfully hers. His mercy isn’t simply the turning of a blind eye to naughtiness. No, Christ shares His Father’s lavish gifts precisely by taking our punishment upon His person. God sent His Son in the mineshaft only to collapse it – Jesus took all the coal there was to give. Mercifully, God only has presents to give his children.
Once we understand the real problem to be a folksy religiosity which brings God the Father down to the level of Father Christmas, we’ll see that Santa tebowing at a manger in the front yard isn’t the solution, it’s part of the problem. Until we’re able to banish such sappy thinking from our theology, until we come to see God as sovereign, holy, and merciful, St. Nicholas can offer little more than a Band-Aid to the wound. In fact, our baptism of Santa may only serve to codify and sanction the real problem. The “war on Christmas” isn’t being waged by the secular left who’s forgotten Santa’s true identity. It’s being waged by the inside, by a church who’s forgotten God’s true identity. St. Nicholas took a stand against the heresy of his day; he punched Arius. Fair enough. However, the boxing match of our day is in the ring of sentimentality, not Arianism. So, until Santa punches Norman Rockwell, I don’t think St. Nick can save Santa.
An earlier edition of this post appeared on The Gospel Coalition.
