What the (2): Santa, Dutch Sailors and Coca-Cola!

At this point, after reading the title, you are probably thinking ‘I know where this is heading and I get that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus’. I can still remember the excitement as a child, the nativity stories and Christmas craft at school, the photo with ‘Santa’ and the huge wish list of presents. Then there was Christmas Eve with my brothers and the sleepless night before the big day where we got to open our presents and eat all the Christmas chocolates. It was heaps of fun!

As a young boy, I understood that the meaning of Christmas was about the birth of Jesus, which was for some unknown reason really special. “So what”, I thought, “Thousands of children are born every day”. Additionally, Santa, in my warped understanding, was somehow an agent of Jesus in delivering presents to “good” children. Santa was apparently Omnipresent (everywhere) and Omnipotent (all powerful). He saw your every move and was making a long list. Strangely, this was my understanding of God- that he was sitting in heaven demanding unattainable actions from me and marking down my every false move.

What is Christmas all about?

The general consensus is that Christmas is about Santa, family, fun and friends. After doing some research, I found that St Nicholas, or better known as Santa, was a Catholic man who did miraculous deeds (apparently raising many Dutch sailors from the dead). He would donate gifts on Christmas to ‘good’ children and the Dutch called him Sinterklaas, which is how we get Santa Claus.

This phenomenon hit the States when many Dutch sailors, who adored the story of St Nicholas, arrived in New York, spreading his legend everywhere. Coca Cola grabbed hold of the story and used Santa Claus as their Christmas icon. Today, Christmas is really all about Santa and presents.

Jesus, the birth of the King and Saviour

For thousands of years, the Jews had been waiting for a long awaited King who would rescue them and re-establish the Kingdom of God (Genesis 3:14-15; Deuteronomy 18:15-19; Isaiah 9:6). In eager expectation they waited for a child, who would be born of a virgin, born in Bethlehem, from the blood line of David (a Jewish King, see 1st and 2nd Samuel Old Testament), anointed by God as the Christ and would be God incarnate (God in a human body). The Jews had been decimated, as you would notice if you read 1st and 2nd Kings in the Old Testament, not to add the reign of the Greeks and Romans. The Jews long awaited freedom, which would come through this King!

Jesus arrived on the scene about 2 000 years ago, fulfilling all these prophesies, which were predicted in the Old Testament. Jesus was and is the King of the Universe, who came to earth to re-establish the Kingdom of God and rescue all of humanity from their sin. He claimed that every human is sinful and evil and in need of him. The arrival of Jesus was a huge event, which was received both warmly and bitterly. He was ultimately crucified on a cross and resurrected three days later conquering sin, Satan and death.

Santa vs Jesus

So what does all this have to do with the Christmas celebrated today? To be truthful, absolutely nothing! If anything, the story of Santa Claus is totally antithetical to the real Christmas story. Jesus came to give the good gift of eternal life to the messed up, troubled and normal people, contrasted to Santa who gives gifts to ‘good’ people. Christmas is a celebration of the birth of the incarnate God and our saviour and not a fat man who has prejudice against troubled people!

Am I suggesting that we discard celebrating Christmas this year? Absolutely not; Christmas is a great time of year, but I am urging you to reconsider, embrace and present the real meaning of Christmas this year. Why not give your children a gift not from Santa but rather from you, explaining that God gave his children the free gift of eternal life through his Son Jesus; not to good people but people who are broken and in need!