St. Nicholas
December 5, 2007
Galatians 2:20
As early as the year 1949 we hear voices that sound the alarm on the commercialization of Christmas, of the seemingly incessant need to have all that is written on our wish list regardless of whether or not we have been naughty or nice. Elwyn Brooks White noted in the opening lines of an article that appeared in the New Yorker, “to perceive Christmas through its wrapping becomes more and more difficult with every year.” I wonder what Elwyn White would have said if he saw the year 2007. We know, however, the extent to which “wrapping” has become the central focus of the Christmas season. Amid all the festivities that December brings, the one that is most important, that of Christ’s incarnation is left to the bitter cold of the holiday rush to buy this and to covet what we do not have. As in the days of old, there is no room for Christ at the inn of the human heart—a heart that is all too easily carried away by shiny new gadgets and what has long been touted as the “most wonderful time of the year.” Though the music piped into stores and shopping malls may beat to a different drum—often Christmas hymns confessing the babe of Bethlehem as God in the flesh—the lifeblood of this holiday season is anything but the lifeblood of the one who shed it for our sakes, but it is consumed by the decorations and splendor of material wealth. The nativity set and its simple message of life for all must now compete with milk, cookies, and a bright nosed reindeer. Certainly these days Santa Clause and his jet propelled sleigh get more air-time than Jesus and the shepherds of that first Christmas morn.
But, what we must keep in mind is that until that glorious day when we shall walk amidst the heavenly mansions of our Advent King, the tension will exist between a secular culture and a Christ centered culture. As one author reminds us, it is Christ and culture in paradox. This leads us to the reality that while we ought not vilify the characters of our childhood that brought smiles to our faces and presents under the tree, we must also, in the same breath, confess and recognize the history of the church and its many faithful servants who were gleaming examples of what it means to be a Christian: To live as one redeemed by Christ and so give freely one’s life, which is now secured in Christ for all eternity, to one’s needy and dying neighbor.
And though there is many of such a mold, tonight we shall focus on St. Nicholas. When December 6th comes around, many of us can recall receiving small gifts from St. Nicholas in our shoes. So also there are many of us who attribute the giving of gifts at this wintry time to a character named Santa Clause. So it is not unusual to hear Santa Clause referred to as St. Nicholas. As it has been pointed out by many, Santa is a word for Saint, and Claus is a shortened form in Dutch of the word Nicholas. But as to how these similar names became melded in the America child’s mind, such an explanation is indeed beyond the scope of this sermon. Suffice it to say, to live with the knowledge of both names is to live in the tension of the secular and sacred.
So as we walk the sacred halls of the fellowship of the saints we learn that St. Nicholas lived during the formation of the early church, around 300 A.D. He was born into a wealthy family in Asia Minor by parents who set him to studying the sacred books at the tender age of five. His parents died when he was fifthteen in an epidemic that swept his native land, leaving him with a comfortable fortune. Nonetheless, he devoted his life to the church and his riches to his neighbor. He eventually became bishop of a city called Myra. Myra was a degenerate and corrupt city, and St. Nicholas quickly became well-known for transforming it by His pious hard work and preaching of the Word of Christ. He was also known for his love for those in need, such as poor widows and orphaned children. As bishop, he saw to it that the church worked to care for the needy.
One of the most famous and well know stories about St. Nicholas concerns a poor man who had three daughters but could not afford a proper dowry for them. Hearing of this poor man’s plight, St. Nicholas decided to help him but being to modest to help the man in public, he went to his house under the cover of night and threw three purses filled with gold coins through the window opening onto the man’s floor. There are many variant readings to this story. One version has him throwing one purse for three consecutive nights. Another has him throw purses over a period of three years. Another has the father confront the saint, only to have Nicholas say it is not him, he should thank only God alone. In another, Nicholas learns of the poor man’s plan and drops the third bag down the chimney instead. And yet another tells of the daughters having washed their stockings that evening and hung them over the embers to dry, and that the bag of the gold fell into the stocking.
As you can see stories and their variant readings abound about St. Nicholas helping others. He is said to have helped people from famine, sparing the lives of those innocently accused, and much more. He did many kind and generous deeds in secret, expecting nothing in return. Within a century of his death he was celebrated as a saint—but a saint not because of His pious works, and sly gift-giving, but because He was a defender of the faith, one who preached Christ as the Son of God, the only Savior from sin, death, and the devil. Nicholas preached Jesus, baptized people into the Body of Christ, absolved people of their sins by the name of Jesus, and fed them the supper of the Lord which is the sustenance of life eternal.
We give attention this night to the generous deeds of St. Nicholas because in His life and work he embodies the words of St. Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” [Galatians 2:20]. Just think about it. Nicholas sacrifices and gives of himself to save three daughters. He defends and rescues those facing death even at the cost of his own reputation. He gives to the needy and poor not only the blessings of material objects, but gives in Word and Sacrament the one concrete object which is God Himself, Christ Jesus our Lord, crucified and raised on the third day for sinners who by such work are now saints. Indeed, Nicholas lived and was what Luther would call, a “little Christ” to his neighbor.
And so the same love which brought this five year old child immersed in the Word of God to self-giving bearer of Christ love and mercy is at work also in you. Through the waters of holy Baptism you have been crucified with Christ, joined with Him in His death, and raised with Him in His resurrection. “The life you now live in the flesh you live by faith in the Son of God, who loved you and gave himself for you.” How so? As Luther aptly tells us, “I do indeed live in the flesh; but this life that is being led with me, whatever it is, I do not regard it as a life. For actually it is not a true life but only a mask of life, under which there lives another One, namely Christ, who is truly my Life.”[1] Christ is now your life. The life you now live is the life of Christ, the Son of God, whom you posses by faith. Faith so intimately cements you to Christ that “He and you are one person, which cannot be separated but remains attached to Him forever and declares: “I am as Christ.” And Christ, in turn, says, “I am as that sinner who is attached to Me, and I to him. For by faith we are joined together into one flesh and one bone. Thus Ephesians 5:30 says: “We are members of the Body of Christ.”[2]
Nicholas lived this truth. He lived as an intimate member of the body of Christ, who gave unceasingly to the needs of his neighbor. The gifts he gave were simply the reflection of Christ’s love, a love and mercy which overflowed in unbounded measure to all. His life clearly reflected the way each one of us is called as a member of the Body of Christ to show Christ’s love to others, especially those in need. Indeed, every present that we give this year, and for years to come, is a sign of the greatest gift given to all—a baby foretold and promised by the prophets and whom we wait in great expectation for this Advent Season, a baby born in the city of David wrapped in swaddling clothes who name is Jesus, the God-man who will save His people from their sins. There is no greater gift than the gift of Jesus, the gift which makes sinners into saints, and the faithful dead rise from the grave unto eternal life.
May it be unto us this Advent season and the ones to come, that though the secular will proceed toward the relative values of convenience, of complexity, and of speed, we concern ourselves with the sacred, the reverent, and with the company of saints like Nicholas whose life and work spoke loudly of the One who redeemed it and gave Himself for it. Like Nicholas, may our Christian life lead outward toward the needs of the neighbor and not inward toward the desires of the self. May we remember that no amount of material gifts will be as precious, welcoming, and hopeful as the gift and light of the incarnate Christ who comes to restore and reconcile Himself to the world.
Peace be to you and grace from Him
Who freed us from our sin
Who Loved us all, and shed his blood
That we might saved be.
Sing holy, holy to our Lord
The Lord Almighty God
Who was and is, and is to come
Sing holy, holy Lord.
Rejoice in heaven, all ye that dwell therein
Rejoice on earth, ye saints below/
For Christ is coming, Is coming soon
For Christ is coming soon.
E’en so Lord Jesus quickly come
And night shall be no more
They need no light, no lamp, nor sun
For Christ will be their All!
In the Name of the Father and of the Son+ and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
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[1] Luther Works: Lectures on Galatians Vol. 1-4, pg. 170.
[2] Ibid, pg.168