A Christmas Classic
Dan Kunz
What’s your favorite Christmas classic - “It’s a Wonderful Life”, “Miracle on 34th Street”, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, “Elf”, “Home Alone”? (Don’t say “Die Hard”. That only takes place at Christmas time!) One of my favorites is “A Christmas Carol” better known in America as “Scrooge”. George C. Scott has always been one of my favorite actors, so I’m biased toward the 1984 version with Scott playing Ebenezer Scrooge. The acting, costumes, and staging are all fantastic!
Although many memorable events in the movie come to mind, Jacob Marley’s soliloquy is really the hinge pin which starts Scrooge on his journey of “redemption”. Marley’s ghost says, “I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it link by link and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?” According to Michel Martin del Campo’s commentary on the movie, “The chains represent each act of greed Marley committed in life. The chains are tied to money boxes, ledgers, and other heavy items that symbolize Marley's greed in life that he must now drag everywhere.” Especially vivid in the 1984 version is the image of Jacob Marley’s ghost wearing his heavy chains while dragging even more behind him. What if all our sins made up a chain – greed, lust, hatred, idolatry? You get the idea. We wouldn’t be dragging any chain. We’d be buried under a mountain of chain – literally!
Remember I wrote that “A Christmas Carol” or “Scrooge” is one of my favorite Christmas classics? My really, truly, all time favorite Christmas classic is “The Night God Came To Earth To Remove My Chains”! Don’t look for it on Netflix, or Amazon Prime, or even The Hallmark Channel. The best place to find this classic is in the Bible. God’s Word tells us the little baby, born in Bethlehem over two thousand years ago, would grow up to live a perfect life in our place. He would die a horrible, painful death on the cross in our place. He would be forsaken, abandoned, and deserted by his Heavenly Father in our place. But then, on Easter Sunday morning, he would rise from the grave to announce his victory over, not only earthly death, but also eternal death. We can now take our place in heaven with him, because of him. We are now the perfect ones in God’s eyes. Jesus Christ, the baby born in Bethlehem, has rid us of our chains of sin and guilt, once and for all. Have a truly blessed and joyful Christmas!
Luke 2:8-14 8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.