We are all getting ready for the holidays as Christmas shopping and present wrapping ensues. Everyone knows the robust man with the red coat and the beard. But is there a back story to our jolly friend?
Saint Nicholas was born March 15, 270, and was a fourth-century Christian in Myra — a city in Asia Minor. He is depicted in multiple ways, some showing him with a long flowing beard — others with a more trimmed beard. Either way, from what legends and folklore tell us about this man, we know he did a lot more than just deliver presents.
Nicholas was known to be a man of powerful prayer and humility, as he always credited God with any glory. One particular story says that during a famine, a butcher lured three young boys into his shop, chopped them up into pieces and put the children in a barrel to cure. The butcher planned to sell them off as ham. Nicholas, who saw the whole thing, ran over to the barrel and began to pray over the childrens’ remains. Miraculously, the three boys came back to life through the power of Nicholas’ prayer. (He then allegedly reached in his sack and gave each one a new video game.)
Another story tells of three young women who were too poor to have dowries, meaning they would most likely be forced into prostitution, or at the very best, be single for the rest of their lives. Nicholas took pity on them, but still wanted to allow them to keep their dignity — for it wasn’t honorable to accept handouts. In the middle of the night, while not a creature was stirring, our crimson Christian tossed three bags of gold into their window, providing enough for them to have bright futures.
One more story is a little more biblical in nature. During the same famine mentioned in the earlier story, Nicholas stopped a ship delivering grain to a nearby port. Nicholas asked the men on the boat to unload a portion of the grain to give to the needy folk in the area. The sailors on the ship, probably raising an unbelieving eyebrow at the rosy-cheeked man, were not thrilled at the idea, for the boats were weighed to make sure the voyage from port to port were fair. Nicholas then presumably let out a belly laugh and then said that no weight would be changed. So reluctantly, the men agreed — sure enough, although they had unloaded a significant amount of grain, not a pound was decreased from the boat when weighed.
Our man Saint Nicholas was a giver, but was also a short-tempered old elf. Legend says that during a debate between Nicholas and Arius at the Counsel of Nicaea, Arius, a local dummy, said that Jesus was a created being, quoting John 1, where the Gospel speaks of the Word becoming flesh. Nicholas, probably sick and tired of arguing with a counsel member walked over to Arius and simply punched him to the ground. (All other counsel members then bought T-shirts after the match and asked for Nicholas signature.)
I love stories — and they very well may be just stories — of individuals who stood up for the weak and helpless, but always chose to give the glory back to God. Nowadays, it seems that a good deed that is done for glory isn’t necessarily a good deed. Nicholas lived in a way that brought glory to only God, not for himself. There is nothing more powerful than a God-fearing saint with a strong right-hook.
