The Greatest Gift 

Irrespective of personal beliefs, many people feel that Christmas has become too commercialized and too secularized. Today, many observe the holy day of the Christ Mass without any acknowledgment of Christ at all.

More attention is focused on parties, presents and television specials without any reverence for the main focus of Christmas, namely, the incarnation of our Lord, and His taking on of our flesh to save us. Santa Claus gets more attention than Jesus. Perhaps, however, this problem can begin to be corrected by understanding where the legend of Santa Claus comes from and the actual historical basis of who he is. Most of us have heard Santa Claus referred to as St. Nick or St. Nicholas.

And, in fact, that’s where the name comes from—Santa is a word for Saint, and Claus is a shortened form in [German] of the word Nicholas. Santa Claus, St. Nicholas.

St. Nicholas was a real person who lived in the early AD 300s, born into a wealthy family in modern day Turkey.  He was orphaned at a young age, but having grown up as a devout Christian, all of this shaped him into the person he came to be. Nicholas chose not to pursue a life of riches, but instead he devoted himself to the Church, becoming the bishop of the city of Myra. He became known for his love for those in need, especially the poor and orphaned children, eventually giving away all of his possessions and inheritance to the same. As bishop, he saw to it that the Church worked to care for the needy. Perhaps his giving of gifts, especially to impoverished children, is part of what formed the Santa Claus tradition.

Most important to him, though, was the gift of faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as the only Savior from sin and death and the devil. Nicholas preached Jesus, baptized people into Jesus’ body, absolved people of their sins in Jesus’ name, and fed them with His life-giving body and blood. This is the real St. Nicholas. He wasn’t a Santa Claus taking attention away from Jesus. He was a preacher drawing everyone’s attention to Jesus. 

By God’s grace, the love of Christ shone forth in St. Nicholas’s preaching and in his life. He literally stood in to defend those facing death, risking his own name and reputation. Is that not what Jesus did and still does for us? He stood between us and eternal death on the cross and thereby kept us from having to suffer that most capital of all punishments.  Through him, we are set free to be people of God.

When given from the heart, every present we give is a sign of the greatest gift of all, the Christ Child in the manger—hidden within the wrapping of his lowly humanity, yet dwelling with all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, full of grace and mercy.

Jesus is love in the flesh for you. There is no greater present than that.