2nd Sunday in Advent The Saints of Advent: #2 “St. Nicholas”
December 8, 2024 Galatians 2:20
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Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ
In the Christian Church Year, there are, what we call, ‘minor festivals.’ These are days when we give thanks to God for the apostles, & faithful Biblical people & martyrs, /& some leaders of the early Christian Church. For example, the day for the nativity of John-the-Baptist is June 24th, as he was 6 months older than his cousin, Jesus. During these Sundays in Advent, we’re looking at 4 faithful people, whose festival days are in the season of Advent: the apostles Andrew & Thomas, along with Nicholas & Lucia. The day assigned for Nicholas is December 6th. And our reading of focus is from Galatians 2:20 —
“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.”
The idea here is: Christ is God’s gift to us, so that we can give to others. Today, a man named Nicholas is our example.
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A common complaint of Christians is that Christmas has become too commercial & secular. It’s true; far too many people observe a ‘Christmas’ as an ‘X-mas’, with little attention to it as the holy ‘festival of the Nativity’ of the world’s Savior. Everything’s about parties & decorations, pop-music & presents, without any reverence for the real focus of the incarnation of the Son of God = His taking on of our flesh to save us. ‘Santa Claus’ gets more attention than Jesus.
However, it could be helpful for us if we would understand where the legend of Santa Claus comes from; there is an actual history behind old ‘St. Nick.’ The name has come to us from the Dutch: Santa is a word for Saint, and Claus is a shortened form of Ni–cholas.
Sinta Klaas. Saint Nicholas. Since the early 1800s in America, Santa Claus is the stuff of fairy tales, not faith; influenced by pagan & cartoon-ish ideas that appeal to non-Christians for things like giving presents & making merry celebrations.
But St. Nicholas was a real person in the church – who lived in the early 300s AD;
and because of his stand-out faith, he is remembered in the Church Year. Let’s review his life, and consider what it has to teach us about Christ and Christmas.
Nicholas was born in Asia Minor; what is now the country of Turkey, (to the north of the Mediterranean Sea). Some history says that he was from a wealthy family. But after becoming a Christian, Nicholas devoted himself to the Church. He eventually became a ‘bishop’, or the head-pastor for a city called Myra. Myra was a morally corrupt city, and Nicholas became well-known for transforming it by his holy living, and by the preaching of the Word of Christ.
Nicholas 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 hard to care for the needy.
His giving of gifts, especially to impoverished children, is part of what formed the ‘St. Nick’ tradition in various places.
There is one most famous story about Nicholas & his work. There was a man in the city of Myra who had 3 daughters; but he did not have enough money to provide his daughters with suitable dowries necessary for marriage. And without being able to marry, it was likely they would end up as prostitutes, like other poor women. Nicholas was deeply troubled about this, and he decided to help, without drawing attention to himself.
Evidently from his own resources, Nicholas prepared three bags of gold. On three successive nights, Bishop Nicholas went to this man’s house, and threw a bag of gold into an open window = one bag of gold each night for the 3 daughters, to provide their dowries.
Later, when this story was told in colder regions, Nicholas was portrayed as dropping the bags of gold down the one common opening to any house of the time = the chimney.
Still to this day, three golden bags [or golden spheres] are the sign of a pawnbroker; it recalls how Nicholas bought these 3 daughters out of ‘hock’, you might say, redeeming & rescuing them from an awful future.
There are other accounts of Nicholas helping people. For instance, once there were three men who were falsely accused of a crime by a crooked governor, & sentence to death. Nicholas stepped in, & spoke in their defense, and was able to secure their release and give them their lives back. It’s interesting that in the stories of St. Nicholas, the number 3 keeps popping up == 3 daughters without dowries, 3 falsely accused men; and another story of 3 sailors that he rescued from drowning, and 3 young boys he raised from the dead.
Altho some of these stories are likely ‘apocryphal’, the number 3 is fitting, because Nicholas was a staunch defender of the Trinitarian Faith. He believed & proclaimed the one & only true God is threefold in His being: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
In fact, it is quite possible that Bishop Nicholas was one of the church leaders present at the Council of Nicaea, which defended & confirmed an essential truth about the Trinity = the teaching that Jesus is both true God and true man. It is from this council in 325 AD that we get the Nicene Creed, which we confess here, especially on Communion Sundays.
At that time, a certain false preacher named Arius was teaching that Jesus was not of the same substance as the Father; that the Son of God was a created being; godlike, but not true God. {that’s a false teaching that is used with the Mormons & Jehovah Witness’ in our day}
The Council of Nicaea fervently rejected that heresy, and reaffirmed the Scripture position that Jesus is both fully divine, and fully human in one undivided person; true God from all eternity.
Whether or not Nicholas was present at that church-wide council, he was a defender of that faith; faith in Christ Jesus, the Son of God, as man’s only Savior from sin, death, & the devil. Nicholas preached Jesus; he baptized people into Jesus’ body of believers; he absolved people of their sins in Jesus’ name; and he fed them with the life-giving body & blood of Christ. That is the real Saint Nicholas.
So, he wasn’t a ‘Santa Claus’, taking attention away from Jesus; he was a preacher drawing everyone’s attention TO Jesus. He wasn’t one ‘making a list and checking it twice’ to see who was naughty or nice. He knew that his people were both sinners and saints at the same time; and that all people desperately needed Christ’s covering of forgiveness & mercy. By God’s grace, the love of Christ was heard in St. Nicholas’s preaching, and seen in his living.
Although his most important work was proclaiming the Gospel in Word, water, bread & wine, it is okay for us to give attention to the generous deeds of Nicholas – because that ultimately draws our attention to the generous love that he himself first received from God.
The giving-heart of Nicholas reflects the bigger & better Giving Heart of God Himself.
And that’s what the love of God in Christ does in & thru every Christian; & that’s ultimately why we do ‘good works.’ The very Spirit of Christ is working in you to bear the good fruit of faith in your own words & actions toward others. That shows ‘Christ.’
And by the example of people like Nicholas, you & I are encouraged not to hold back in our kindness and charity to those in need.
So when Nicholas sacrificed of himself, and gave of his own resources to save three daughters, it’s a reflection of what Jesus did for us. Jesus gave & sacrificed himself for us to rescue us from being eternally violated by death & the devil. He redeemed us, not with bags of gold or silver, but with his holy, precious blood, and with his innocent suffering & death.
For only that reason, we are prepared as God’s holy people. In Bible terms, we are washed into His Church, which is called the Bride of Christ; cleansed in His blood, and being prepared for the heavenly marriage feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom.
Likewise, as Nicholas stood up to defend 3 men accused of crime, he was risking his own name & reputation. That’s what Jesus did. As our mediator, He stood between us and the judgment of eternal death. Jesus presented himself as our substitute on the cross, to keep us from having to suffer that most capital of all punishments: eternal separation from God.
The Scriptures say that, even now, Jesus stands before the Father as our Advocate, defending us from all charges with the merits of His own blood & righteousness. Thru Him, we are set free to be holy; ‘saints’; the forgiven children of God in the world who live by His teachings.
The same love of Christ that was at work in St. Nicholas is at work also in you. Being baptized into Christ, you have been crucified with Christ, and you no longer live, but Christ lives in you, & thru you. Altho in Galatians 2, Paul speaks in the 1st person, this truth is for every Christian: “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.”
The Lord is working in you so that His bottomless love, which He has shown to you, would spill over to others as you give them your help, your serving, your resources. Jesus has given to you spiritual & material things so that you will be a benefit to others. And it can often be ‘anonymous’ == like a bag of gold thru an open window at night.
As a young child, I remember receiving some gifts where the tag on the present said ‘from Santa Claus.’ Which brings to mind the image of a chubby man dressed in red, with a big white beard. To improve that image, when giving an anonymous gift, we could put on the tag ‘from Saint Nicholas.’ Maybe that would give an opportunity to recall how Nicholas of Myra reflected the love of Christ to others.
Of course, every present that we give is a sign of that greatest gift of all, the Christ-Child in the manger. He was nearly anonymous; noticed only by a few shepherds on that night, and recognized only by a relative few people throughout His earthly ministry.
But hidden within the wrapping of His lowly humanity dwelt all the fullness of the God-head in bodily form; full of grace & mercy. And that’s the greatest miracle-gift; for if Jesus was just another ‘creature’ & a good man, then how could He redeem a whole creation? Jesus is love in the flesh for you, because he is God in the flesh. There is no greater present than that.
‘Do you believe in Santa Claus?’ I believe there was a ’sinta klaas’, who’s historical reputation was one of faith-at-work in giving to others. We can thank God for the faithful who have gone before us = like Nicholas; who believed the Gospel-promise, so that his life on earth was to be spent in trusting God, and helping & defending others.
Why? Because the Son of God came & spent His life for us, to give us a new & fruitful life now, with a heavenly life to come.
Amen