Growing up, I was taught that Santa Claus is not real, and we did not give gifts to each other from Santa Claus. When my children were little, I carried on the same tradition. However, there was a point when I started investigating the history of Santa Claus. My mind is drawn to inquire about things.
There are very good books detailing the history of Santa Claus, and my 25 Days of Christmas Devotional dedicates space to this rich historical tradition. I will not get too much into the details here. Suffice to say that the idea of Santa Claus is firmly rooted in Scripture, and the original Saint Nicholas was a bishop in the church and became a missionary.
Christ says in Matthew 25:40, “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’” Throughout history, going back to the 1st century, the wealthy giving to the poor has been the common and expected practice in the church.
Take Acts 4:34-35, for example, “For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.” The idea of giving to the poor is rooted in the Old Testament, where, for example, farmers were to leave some crops in the field for the poor to glean. Throughout the centuries, there have been wealthy people and kings who made distributions to the poor and became historical legends. Good King Wenceslas, Duke of Bohemia, is one of those who made it into the tradition of Santa Claus for the same reason as Saint Nicholas.
Santa Claus gives us hope in a world full of greed and selfishness. Francis P. Church wrote in the Sun in 1897, “He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to our life its highest beauty and joy.” The idea of Santa Claus is rooted in love and generosity, and we must never dismiss these highest callings of ours. Love and generosity are the heart of Christianity. Christ calls us to obedience of the second greatest commandment, which is to love our neighbors as ourselves. Santa Claus is an embodiment of this command of Christ’s.
A colleague of mine relayed how they band several office locations together to work with the local social services. Social services agents collect specific wish lists from children in difficult home environments and pass them along to my colleague. They then distribute the wish lists to their clients, who gladly participate. The employees of various offices in the community come together to wrap the gifts and provide them to social services, who then places the gifts into the homes.
This is the heart of Santa Claus, and all of these people collectively are Santa Claus to these children. Hope is inspired in the hearts of the children who receive, and giving impacts the heart of the giver too! I think of times gone by when wealthy business owners invested back into their communities. Milton Hershey was one such figure who used his profits to build schools, hospitals, homes, and support other community needs. Henry Ford wanted to ensure that his vehicles were affordable to the common working person and that his factories paid a living wage to employees. There was a time when business pursuits were not just about profits and extracting money from local communities for the sole purpose of competing to become the wealthiest person in the world.
While Santa Claus is not going to come down anyone’s chimney or glide through the air on a sleigh, you and I can be Santa Claus to someone who needs hope. Let’s never forget that.
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