Missing the Point

Two Christmas stories

Ebenezer Scrooge. The Grinch. What instantly comes to mind whenever we hear those names? Greed. Hatred. Meanness.

Why?

Isn’t the whole point of both stories that even the most evil among us can change dramatically? Scrooge “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.” The Grinch’s heart “grew three sizes that day.” They were both redeemed to a new way of life.

Shouldn’t our immediate thought when we hear one of those names be, “I remember him; he’s the one who became so much better than anyone ever thought he could be”? Shouldn’t we keep those positive images in our minds at this time of year?

It’s the theme of the entire Bible. No one is beyond redemption. Not Adam and Eve. Not Jacob. Not Thomas. Not Peter. Not Saul. Not Augustine. Not John Newton. Not Charles Colson. Not Rosaria Butterfield. Not me or you.

We seem to accept the changes in these people’s lives as being permanent. Why not do the same with poor old Scrooge and the Grinch?

I have to admit that we might be influenced simply by the sounds of their names. The authors chose well. Those names don’t sound pleasant or happy.

But surely it must go deeper than that.

Another reason could be that both fictional stories end with a brief glimpse of their new personalities and that’s it. We don’t really get to know them after they’ve been redeemed. In contrast, we have a great deal of information about the real people named above as they’ve lived out their new lives.

Maybe that’s all it is.

Deeper reasons

But I’ve wondered for several years now: Why don’t we get the message of A Christmas Carol (by Charles Dickens) and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (by Dr. Seuss)? Why do most of the images of the Grinch that we see at this time of year show him with that evil look on his face? As if he’d never changed.

Maybe we find it too hard to believe that anyone can be transformed so drastically in so short a time. No one goes from being despicable to being lovable instantaneously, do they?

Maybe we can relate better to the unredeemed Scrooge and Grinch. Their new selves set too high a standard for us to live up to, and we know it. We feel like failures compared to these remarkable characters. We’re more comfortable around their faults than their virtues.

And maybe it’s a reflection of our darker nature, the part of us that finds pleasure in hating. In an article on the “Public Discourse” website, Daniel Sonnenfeld writes, “Much ink has been spilled on charting the roots and causes of hate and its diverse manifestations. Yet in all these intellectual analyses and sociological investigations, one cause has largely escaped notice: the simple pleasure of hate.”

A tag line for the 1980s prime-time soap opera “Dallas” was “the man you love to hate,” referring to popular character J. R. Ewing. There’s something attractive, something pleasurable, in hating someone.

In the case of Scrooge or the Grinch or J. R., where that hatred is directed against an obviously evil target, it feels virtuous. But it’s not. Jesus tells us to love those who do evil things (Matthew 5:44). That’s what He does (Romans 5:8).

The abundance of bullying and online trolls demonstrates our human capacity to hate simply for the pleasure of it. Maybe we enjoy the anger and hatred we feel toward Scrooge and the Grinch at the beginning of their stories more than we enjoy our admiration for their new lives.

The original Christmas story

What do we think of at Christmas time? Santa Claus, reindeer, snow, decorated trees, lights. Maybe a baby in a manger.

But even when we consider the biblical side, do we limit our thinking to an infant, a holy family, a bright star, angels, wise men, and shepherds? That’s certainly better than remembering the bad side of Scrooge and the Grinch, but it still falls short.

Just as those characters didn’t remain the same by the end of the story, Jesus didn’t remain a baby or even a young man. He didn’t just become a good man or a prophet. He wasn’t killed as a martyr, but as a sacrifice. The whole point of His coming was to die to redeem us.

At some level, we get this. We recognize the fictional stories as Christmas stories even though their theme is redemption, not birth.

Shouldn’t our immediate thought when we see the baby in the manger be, “He’s the one who came to save me from my sins”? It’s the theme of the entire Bible.

One reason we stay focused on the manger scene is simply that babies have a natural way of touching our hearts. We like the warm fuzzy feeling they give us.

But surely it must go deeper than that.

Another reason is that the Gospels mostly cover Jesus’ life as a man on this earth. We only get a brief glimpse of the risen Christ. As with Scrooge and the Grinch, most of what we read about our Savior comes before His transformation.

But that’s not all it is.

Deeper reasons

It can be hard to believe that the Son of God would do such a dramatic thing as being born in a human body and dying on a cross all for the sake of mere people. Hasn’t history proven that we’re a lousy, violent bunch of animals that don’t deserve to live, much less live eternally? All we do is bring misery and suffering to a beautiful natural world that would be better off without us. Why would the Lord of the universe go so far as to die for us?

We can relate better to Jesus the man, living, walking, working, talking in this world. He ate, He prayed, He slept, He cried. We’re more comfortable around a vulnerable and compassionate human being than the risen Son of God.

Part of our darker nature refuses to admit that we need to be redeemed. Many people believe that they’ll go to heaven when they die just because. Because they’re not as evil as Hitler. Because the good things they’ve done outweigh the bad things. Because God loves everybody and will therefore forgive anything and everything they’ve done without anyone having to pay any kind of price for it.

And part of our darker nature doesn’t want what Jesus has to offer. Living a self-centered lifestyle is so much fun! We enjoy the darkness more than we think we could enjoy a godly life (John 3:19).

Getting the point

It’s okay to celebrate the birth of Jesus, just as it’s okay to get a kick out of the stories of Scrooge and the Grinch even before they change. Another reason we like them before their redemption is because of the cleverness and creativity the authors display in developing their characters.

But just as we need to move beyond their initial ugly personalities and remember the whole point of the books—their transformation—we also need to move beyond the attraction of a baby in a manger. We need to remember the whole purpose behind the Son of God taking on a human body.

Those characters have become popular because they changed so dramatically. There would be no story if they didn’t. In the same way, we need to celebrate Christmas because it leads to Good Friday and Easter. There would be no point in Jesus’ birth apart from His sacrifice to redeem us sinners.