“St. Nicholas"

Isaiah 11:1-6

Matthew 19:13-14

Pastor Tom Johnson, December 6, 2013
Concordia University Chapel

“You better watch out, You better not cry, Better not pout, I'm telling you why: Santa Claus is coming to town. He’s making a list, And checking it twice; Gonna find out Who’s naughty and nice. Santa Claus is coming to town. He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good, So be good for goodness sake! Oh, you better watch out! You better not cry. Better not pout, I’m telling you why: Santa Claus is coming to town!”

This song is terrifying. 24 hour surveillance all year round! Perhaps Santa should strap an ankle monitor on all the children of the world! He has declared crying and pouting to be unnatural acts. And so, all tear ducts must stop their watery ways. Santa has divided all children into two: bad or good. He does not want to hear your story of struggle with bad and longing to be good. He has made his judgment. There are no gifts for children who have been naughty, stayed up past their bedtime, been passive aggressive, or shed any tear. And so, as this story goes, our motive for good behavior is the threat of empty stockings. And, if that is true, even the fear of a white bearded home invader will  not change us. Fear of punishment never transforms. The threat of the Law only damns. There is not a shoe out in the hallway that deserves one coin or ounce of chocolate. All our shoes deserve to be empty forever. Merry Christmas!

But thanks be to God that this very recent Santa folklore is nothing less than a defamation of the historic St. Nicolas' character. He was born and lived in what is now modern day southern Turkey far from the arctic circle and over 1,500 years ago in the early fourth century. He did not own or supervise a toy factory. He studied theology—perhaps sent away by his wealthy parents to study the Scriptures in Jerusalem. St. Nick was ordained and later became bishop of Myra—also in modern day southern Turkey. The truth is that Bishop Nicholas’ parishioners loved him. They were struck by his love for all people—especially the little ones, the children. Perhaps it’s difficult for us to imagine living in a culture that treated women and children as property, but that is exactly the kind of treatment that St. Nicholas rejected and abhorred. We know that people in this time of the Roman Empire would leave their newborn infants outside the city walls exposed to die. And it was often the Christians who adopted them as their own.

There is one story about St. Nicholas that might transform the way we look at our socks and shoes during the Christmas season. Like our day, the sex trade and human trafficking in the fourth century was at one of its heights. In the town of Myra where St. Nicholas was bishop, he found out about a group of young girls who were soon to be auctioned to the highest bidding pervert. And so, legend says, St. Nicholas filled three pairs of stockings with coins, threw them into the courtyard where they were locked up, and subsequently purchased their freedom. And that is the root of our hanging stockings jammed with gifts—a reminder that we too have been purchased with a price—not with gold or silver—but by the precious blood of Jesus—not because we have controlled our emotions, stayed in our beds, been on our best behavior, and lived in fear—but because of the one who says, “Let the little children come to me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

And so, St. Nicholas’ loved children. “A little child shall lead them” (Isiah 11:6) Scripture says—even children who are naughty and not always so nice. Little children lead us to a right understanding of the love of God even though they are smaller, weaker, and needier—no, because they are smaller, weaker, and needier. Little children epitomize what it means to be a human being and an object of the grace, mercy, and love of God—the Friend of sinners. What made St. Nicholas jolly was he was a sinner saved by grace too—by Jesus, the greatest lover of the human race especially her little ones. That’s what captured the heart and imagination of Bishop Nicholas and whose childlike and Christ-like love inspired generations. For all I care, the Santa of folklore can stay in isolation at the North Pole! But the true St. Nicholas has me singing and praying that great, Advent prayer, “Amen, come Lord Jesus!”