I didn’t stop “believing” in Santa until I was 12. True story. Actually, I never stopped believing in him. I have 3 kids that are in the prime of experiencing Christmas magic and this time of year is the most fun time in our house.
There are a lot of people who think that the “Christian” thing to do is not practice historical Christmas traditions. The way I heard one parent put it was “If I tell my kids Santa and the tooth fairy are real, then one day they could think Jesus/God aren’t real.” This logic is so flawed it’s incredible. If a person’s faith in God can be shaken by finding out the tooth fairy might not be real, they probably never had a real faith to begin with. If you’re nervous about your kids not believing in Jesus because you practice Christmas or cultural traditions, you’re probably already on the losing side of the battle.
Here’s the secret about child-like faith. It really only works for children. I guess the approach that many parents have illustrates the spiritual immaturity of the average Christian. If a person thinks that the greatest disappointment a child can face is finding out the Easter bunny isn’t real, they may be truly delusional. What will happen when your children become adults and believe God for healing for themselves or their friends and it doesn’t happen? What happens when they experience true suffering and sacrifice that is inherent in a life of following Jesus?
What will happen to our children when they begin to understand that safety is not guaranteed? That God is not an American? That sometimes our definitions of “good” and “bad” are not the same as God’s? What happens when our children grow older and begin to wrestle with the idea that God is the higher life-form and sovereignty sometimes means God isn’t our genie in a bottle? I guess for some Christians, they’ve torn Hebrews 12 out of their Bible. Or they don’t realize it exists. I want to cultivate in myself and my children the faith of Job. “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.” (Job 13:15).
That’s not really what I want to write about today. I want to talk about Santa. The co-captain of Christmas.
My kids believe in Santa. And they will always believe in Santa. He was/is a real person. Why wouldn’t we believe in him? And the true story is even better than the legend.
The true story of Santa
St. Nicholas of Myra is the inspiration for our picture of Santa Claus. Little solid historical information is known about Nicholas except that he was Bishop of Myra and died around 350 AD.
The story goes that Nicholas was born in 270 AD to devout Christian and wealthy parents who raised him to follow Jesus and taught him from Scripture from the age of 5. His parents died from a plague when he was young and he inherited their wealth. He felt lonely for much of his life, but determined to use his wealth to help other people.
He once heard about a father who, through an unfortunate turn of fortune, was left destitute with three daughters. At this point in history, if a father didn’t have a marriage dowry to go along with his daughters, they would not be married, and most often would be condemned to a life of prostitution, so Nicholas threw some small bags of gold coins into the window of the home (some traditions say down the chimney), thereby saving the man’s daughters from a life of misery. There are numerous other stories of his generosity and gift giving.
As he got older, he felt a call to ministry, and was ordained as a bishop in the city of Myra, an ancient Roman city on the coast of modern day Turkey. He devoted his life to challenging the paganism and Emperor worship of the Roman Empire. Legend has it that evil spirits “fled howling before him”
During his time as a bishop, three innocent men were condemned to death by the governor Eustathius. As they were about to be executed, Nicholas appeared, pushed the executioner’s sword to the ground, released them from their chains, and angrily chastised a juror who had accepted a bribe.
For most of his life, Christians were subject to great persecution and martyrdom within the Roman empire by emperors Decius, Valerian, and Diocletian. The goal of these emperors was the complete eradication of Christianity as a belief system in the Roman Empire. This persecution lasted from 280 AD – 20 years before his birth – until 313 AD – when he was 43.
Throughout this time, church leaders like Nicholas were sentenced to death. Christians were also stripped of any land, possessions and titles that they held if they refused to worship the Roman gods and Emperor.
When Diocletian became emperor, he ordered all churches burned to the ground, and any scripture his soldiers found was meant to be burned.
Christian and church possessions were confiscated. and christians were prohibited from assembling in any size. Untold numbers of Christians were executed or tortured for owning scripture or gathering together. the preferred method for most roman cities was to tie them to a stake, cover them in pitch and oil and lit at the feet first, slowly burning them to death while they illuminated these city streets. This was known as a Roman Candle. Tacitus, a Roman historian described it this way:
“Covered with the skins of beasts, [the Christians] were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.”
These edicts made their way to Myra, where St. Nicholas was a church leader. One historian writes:
”as he [Nicholas] was the chief priest of the Christians of this town and preached the truths of faith with a holy liberty, Nicholas was seized by the magistrates, tortured, then chained and thrown into prison with many other Christians.”
After the death of Diocletian, Constantine became Emperor of Rome and ended the persecution of Christians. Those who survived Diocletian’s purges were called “confessors” because they wouldn’t turn back on their confession of Jesus as Lord.
When Bishop Nicholas walked out of the prison, the crowds called to him: “Nicholas! Confessor!” He had been repeatedly beaten until he was raw, and it is said that his body was the color of vermilion. It is believed that he was beaten because he frequently intervened on behalf of unjustly charged prisoners and actively sought to help people survive by paying for food to be brought to people who were starving in jail.
During the Council of Nicaea, he got into a heated debate with a well-known heretic named Arius, and the debate ended suddenly when Nicholas punched Arius and knocked him out on the floor of the meeting.
At the end of his life, he became most famous for always giving secret gifts to people who had needs. Many of them who he never met.
In the Netherlands, he became known as Sinterklass, and many traditions were developed for the Dutch people to act like him around Christmas time.
This is mostly where our modern understanding of Santa originates. Do your kids a favor. Teach them to believe in Santa. One day, I hope to tell my kids about how the real St. Nicholas was even cooler than the Santa who brings presents. And that if he was real, we can fight the good fight and be generous just like him. Let’s all embrace the spirit of this season and slap a heretic!