In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
(Luke 2:1-20)
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I love Dickens. He is truly one of the great authors in the history of the English language. Ovet the course of his life, Dickens wrote 15 novels. The most famous were probably “Great Expectations” and “A Tale of Two Cities.” But he's probably best known for one work in particular: “A Christmas Carol.” It's the story of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge – probably Dickens' most iconic character - whose sole goal in life seems to be to take the joy out of Christmas for everyone connected with him, but who, in the end, undergoes a monumental transformation of heart and soul as the result of visits from the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. But while we applaud Scrooge's transformation, the image most people have of him is of the miser. In fact, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary includes the word “scrooge.” It's a noun, defined as “a miserly person.” Among the synonyms the dictionary offers for “scrooge” are cheapskate, skinflint, tightwad and penny-pincher. Well, sometimes I like to go against the grain, and I started wondering if poor old Ebenezer wasn't getting a bit of a bad rap. Maybe he understood something about Christmas that the rest of us don't. In the most famous movie version of the story, we first meet Ebenezer on Christmas Eve of 1843 – and we're outside the London Stock Exchange.
BUSINESS MAN #1
Ah, Mister Scrooge...
SCROOGE
Your servant, sir.
BUSINESS MAN #1
Are you off home to keep Christmas?
SCROOGE
I am not in the habit of keeping Christmas,
sir.
BUSINESS MAN #2
Then why are you leaving so early?
SCROOGE
Christmas has a habit of keeping men from
doing business.
BUSINESS MAN #2
Come, it's in the nature of things that ants
toil and grasshoppers sing and play, Mister
Scrooge.
SCROOGE
An ant is what it is and a grasshopper is what
it is and Christmas, sir, is a humbug. Good
day.
Poor Ebenezer. He sounds so miserable. Think of those words: “Christmas, sir, is a humbug.” A humbug! You know what? I didn't even know what a “humbug” was – but it's not an insect like ants or grasshoppers! So, what was Ebenezer saying? Well, I looked up “humbug” in my dictionary. In Britain, it's a mint-flavoured candy, but I don't think that's what Ebenezer was referring to. I think he was thinking more along the lines of this definition that Merriam-Webster includes: “ an attitude or spirit of pretense and deception.” Really? Christmas could be thought of in that way? But – but – Christmas is so wonderful. And, as we all know, people are so much happier and friendlier and more generous at Christmas. Which might actually be the problem. Is it possible that our friend Ebenezer might have been on to something. Could Christmas really be a humbug? Could it be filled with pretense and deception? Let's fast forward through the story a bit. It's later on Christmas Eve. At his office, Ebenezer is visited by two more businessmen, who are on a mission that Ebenezer is not going to think too kindly toward.
BUSINESSMAN # 1: This is Scrooge & Marley's, I believe. Do I have the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge or Mr. Marley?
SCROOGE: Mr. Marley has been dead these past seven years. In fact, he died seven years ago this very night.
BUSINESSMAN # 1: Well, we have no doubt that his generosity is well represented by his surviving partner.
BUSINESSMAN # 2: At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge, it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly. Many thousands are in want of the most basic necessities; many more thousands are in want of the most common comfort, sir.
SCROOGE: Really? Are there no prisons?
BUSINESSMAN # 2: There are plenty of prisons, Mr. Scrooge.
SCROOGE: And the Union workhouses? Are they still in operation?
BUSINESSMAN # 1: They are, sir. Still, I wish that I could say that they were not.
SCROOGE: The Treadmill and the Poor Law – they must be still in full vigour, then.
BUSINESSMAN # 2: They are both very busy, sir.
SCROOGE: Well, I am relieved. I was afraid, from what you had said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful courses. I'm very glad to hear otherwise.
BUSINESSMAN # 1: I don't think you understand, sir. Such things scarcely furnish Christian cheer of either mind or body to the multitudes, and so a few of us, who are more fortunate, are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the poor some meat and drink and means of warmth.
SCROOGE: Why?
BUSINESSMAN # 2: We choose this time, Mr. Scrooge, because it is a time above all others when want is keenly felt. What shall I put you down for?
SCROOGE: Why, nothing of course.
BUSINESSMAN # 1: I see. You wish to remain anonymous.
SCROOGE: I wish to be left alone, gentlemen. You ask me what I wish – that is what I wish. I don't make myself merry at Christmas, and I can't afford to make the idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I mentioned through my taxes. They cost enough, and those who are badly off must take advantage of them.
BUSINESSMAN # 2: But many can't, Mr. Scrooge. And some would rather die.
SCROOGE: Well, if they would rather die, then they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.
BUSINESSMAN # 1: But you're a wealthy man of business, sir. Surely you can have some pity?
SCROOGE: Pity is not my business. It's enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people's. My business occupies me constantly. Good afternoon, gentlemen.
BUSINESSMAN # 2: But, Mr. Scrooge ...
SCROOGE: GOOD AFTERNOON, GENTLEMEN!
Wow. The dictionary was right! What a cheapskate! What a tightwad! What a skinflint and penny-pincher this Mr. Scrooge was. I mean, all these poor businessmen wanted was to “ make some slight provision for the poor and destitute.” Oh. Wait a second. I wonder why they only want to make a “slight provision”? And why, only, at “this time.” Scrooge gets all the bad press – but I wonder if he didn't realize something about this Christmas spirit of generosity that these businessmen were so busy promoting. Were they really hoping to help the poor and destitute? Surely, if they had real concern for the poor and destitute, they'd be making more than a “slight provision” for them – and they'd be doing it more than simply once a year. I wonder if this might not be the sort of thing that convinced Ebenezer that “Christmas, sir, is a humbug.” Maybe Ebenezer realized that if Christmas only makes a difference for one day or a few days out of the year then it means nothing. If that's as seriously as we take the appearance of Jesus, the coming of God to earth, then maybe there is “an attitude or spirit of pretense and deception” around this thing we call Christmas. Because, as the Ghost of Christmas Present said to Ebenezer, “the child born in Bethlehem does not live just one day of the year, but all the days of the year.” Perhaps, Ebenezer realized, as he talked wit these businessmen, that they hadn't been touched by the spirit of Christmas and they hadn't been changed by the spirit of Christmas. They had, at most, been shamed by the spirit of Christmas into making “some slight provision for the poor and destitute” - perhaps a result of feeling guilty that they did nothing for the poor and destitute the rest of the year. Perhaps. And, if so – then, indeed, Christmas is a humbug.
How do we make sure that Christmas isn't a humbug in our own lives? By realizing that God doesn't ask us to be generous and cheerful only for a few days out of the year – but for all the days of the year. Only by allowing the spirit of God to transform us completely, and not simply by letting the spirit of Christmas transform us for a few days.
There came a point when Ebenezer realized that Christmas was not a humbug; when he realized that it actually meant something. Dickens makes that clear. Ebenezer
became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they shuld wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him. ... And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.
Ebenezer knew how to keep Christmas well because he finally realized that Christmas had to make a difference to his entire life, and not just to a few days out of the year. And so, I leave you with the words of Charles Dickens: “May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, God Bless Us, Every One!”
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