A Christmas Carol: Lessons for Today

Introduction

As we near the end of Advent season and move steadily closer to the joyful celebration of our Lord's birth, it seems appropriate to think about a particular work of one of the greatest authors in the modern era, Charles Dickens. The work that is so pertinent, one of the most popular Christmas stories being retold in countless movies, plays, and musicals, is A Christmas Carol. The wonderfully moving, redemptive story of Ebeneezer Scrooge. Though it may seem odd to focus on a story that is not purely Christian, A Christmas Carol is nonetheless filled with Christian themes from which we can learn. Three of the themes to be found in this story, though these are not necessarily the main themes, are contentment, charity, and redemption. Meditating on these themes should result in action by all of us during the advent season, and more importantly, we should strive to live out these themes throughout the year.

Contentment

Contentment can be defined as satisfaction with the present moment, possessions, situation, etc., or in some cases as the opposite of greed. For those who do not know the plot of A Christmas Carol, one of the supporting characters, an employee of Ebenezer Scrooge, is Bob Cratchit who is a very poor man with a large family. He provides us with the greatest scene of contentment in the story. During Scrooge's visit with the second Spirit, he is shown what the Cratchit Christmas looks like. We are shown a scene of complete poverty. Mrs. Cratchit is described as "dressed out but poorly in a twice-turned gown"<1>, and Bob's clothes as "threadbare".<2> When their family gets to their dessert the pudding Mrs. Cratchit makes is described as "a small pudding for large family",<3> with the narrator making the point that no one would dare point that out. Then when they are around the fire and Bob is pouring out a special drink to share with his many children and his wife, the only glassware they have is "two tumblers, and a custard-cup without a handle."<4> These descriptions paint a fairly dismal picture of the Cratchit family's finances, this does not even include that some of the children are forced to work to help support the family.

One would think that in such a state, no one could be joyful or content. One would have to be mad or a fool to be able to enjoy a holiday without stressing over the finances! But despite their poor state, the Cratchits are glowing with joy and do not once complain of their lack of money. Instead of bemoaning the state of their clothes, Mrs. Cratchit puts on ribbons to be festive, and Bob cleans up his "threadbare" clothes as best he can just for the special occasion of Christmas.<5> Though the pudding is too small, the entire family compliments Mrs. Cratchit on her baking achievement and fawns over the pudding.<6> And though they had to share glasses around the fireplace, they did not complain and the narrator describes the glasses as "These held the hot stuff from the jug, however, as well as golden goblets would have done; and Bob served it out with beaming looks".<7>

The narrator gives a final description of the family as, "not a handsome family; they were not well dressed; their shoes were far from being water-proof; their clothes were scanty; and Peter might've known, and very likely did, the inside of a pawnbroker's. But they were happy, grateful, pleased with one another, and contented with the time"<8> Despite their poverty, throughout the entire scene the family is joyful because they are together, and they are content with what little they do have. And as if to show off their attitude once more, they all toast each other with, "A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us!"<9>

There is much to learn from the Cratchit family in our postmodern age, where we must have the latest of every good, and we have a holiday devoted to buying new, oftentimes unnecessary, things. I find that I am least content when I am concerned with upgrading my possessions. Suddenly my phone, which works perfectly fine, is not enough when an ad for the newest iPhone pops up in front of me. Or I see a neighbor's car or bigger house and seemingly out of nowhere, I am unhappy with my possessions. As Paul writes in 1 Timothy 6:6-8

"But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content."

Paul's point is that we are not the source of our wealth, of our prosperity, that belongs to God. Even if we are the source and these things truly belong to us, it would not matter because they will not follow us into heaven. We then should be content with what we have been given. We need not worry about our provision, as God is the one who provides, and because God provides what we need, we should not become consumed with wants.

Charity

When using the word charity, I do not mean the monetary type of charity, though that does happen in the story. When I use charity, I mean to be gracious towards others, specifically in thoughts, words, and actions. We again go to Bob Cratchit as an exemplar, though this time of charity. In the same scene we had discussed above, when the family is around the fireplace, we see Bob give a toast in Scrooge's honor as the supplier of the feast.<10> For those who do not know the particulars of the story, this may not seem odd as Scrooge is Bob's employer, but this is a truly amazing attitude for Bob to have. For at the beginning of the book, we are given a taste of the poor treatment Scrooge has given Bob, and it is explained, and portrayed, how little Scrooge pays Bob. Evidence of this poor treatment is given by Mrs. Cratchit being very uncharitable toward Scrooge, describing him as "odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling".<11> Again, as opposed to how many of us would respond, Bob does not join his wife in talking poorly of Scrooge, he instead gently reminds his wife that it is Christmas day, implying that they should be gracious towards Scrooge.

Just a few pages after this scene, we are given our next example of charity in Scrooge's Nephew, Fred. This is another person whom Scrooge has treated poorly. Though we are not given their entire backstory, Scrooge's attitude toward Fred at the beginning of the book makes it clear that he does not care for, and probably dislikes, Fred. Though many of us may think Fred then has justification to be rude back to Scrooge or to simply cut Scrooge out of his life, Fred does the opposite. Fred opposes the rude nature of Scrooge with charity and forgiveness. In talking with some of his friends and his wife about Scrooge, Fred replies only with charity toward negative comments aimed at Scrooge, even saying "I have nothing to say against him".<12> At more negative remarks, Fred responds, "I am sorry for him; I couldn't be angry with him if I tried. Who suffers by his ill whims! Himself, always."<13> Even more incredibly, Fred continues, saying, "I mean to give him the same chance every year, whether he likes it or not, for I pity him."<14>

What a response to give to someone like Scrooge! How many of us treat what we describe as "toxic" family members as this? How many of us simply cut these people out of our lives without a second thought? This is not to say that there is not a time and place to do so, but how often do we treat someone poorly or ignore them because we find them obnoxious or rude? Should we not love them despite these traits and treat them with love?

Our Lord said, in Luke 6:27-28,

"But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you."

How radical of an attitude to have toward those who treat us poorly. Love them? Do good to them? Bless them? Pray for them? We unfortunately live in a culture where we cater everything to ourselves, from food, to entertainment, to even the people in our lives. What happened to bearing with one another, despite the ways we might annoy each other? This is not to say that we should just go along to get along, especially when someone is blatantly hurting or sinning against you, but we all too often respond incorrectly. We often do not respond in love.

Redemption

The final theme we will focus on is redemption. The entire plot of A Christmas Carol is a story of redemption. It is all about the radical change of Scrooge from a mean, selfish, frankly heartless man to a selfless, loving, respectable man. The clearest examples of this redemption are in his changed interactions and attitude toward Fred and Bob. Scrooge begins the story greatly disliking his nephew to loving him and wanting to dine with him. He goes from terrorizing Bob and paying him poorly, to sending him the biggest Christmas turkey, becoming like a second father to Tiny Tim, and increasing Bob's pay. This is a complete 180-degree change in Scrooge's life. It was completely unexpected, and it likely seemed impossible to those around him.

One of the greatest examples of redemption we are given in scripture is ourselves. The entire story of scripture is the story of God redeeming mankind and ultimately sacrificing himself to do so. The gospel is about our redemption through the sacrifice, through the blood of Jesus. Paul writes in Ephesians 1:7,

"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace".

Through Christ, we are redeemed and forgiven. This is a gift for all people across the world, and we must remember, that no one is beyond redemption, for even we could be redeemed.

Conclusion

As we finish out the advent season, I highly recommend you either read or watch A ChristmasCarol and look for these themes. But do not leave with these themes as simple head knowledge, for we cannot make a change in our culture and the world abroad if we only think about these things. We must put this knowledge into action. Use the Christmas season to practice contentment and charity. And remember that though Christmas is about the birth of our Lord, it also points to the ultimate sacrifice he made for our redemption. I can think of no better way to end the year than by celebrating the redemptive sacrifice of our God. That all being said, Merry Christmas and in the words of Tiny Tim, "God bless us every one!”<15>

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles.

A Christmas Carol.

Thorold: Paper Mill Press, 2021.   <1>                 Dickens, 55. <2>                 Ibid, 57. <3>                 Ibid, 60. <4>                 Ibid. <5>                 Ibid, 55. <6>                 Ibid, 59-60. <7>                 Ibid, 60. <8>                 Ibid, 63. <9>                 Ibid, 60. <10>               Ibid, 61. <11>               Ibid. <12>               Ibid, 67. <13>               Ibid. <14>               Ibid, 68; Fred here is speaking of inviting Scrooge over to celebrate Christmas with him. <15>               Ibid, 60.