Over the past few months, it has been my pleasure to work in a fantastic production of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” I have had the opportunity to play the character Young Scrooge, the shadow that the bitter Ebenezer Scrooge watches in reminiscing joy as he learns to be happy, falls in love, and is eventually engaged to the young and cheerful Belle. The next heart-wrenching scene is that of Belle breaking the engagement and leaving young Ebenezer because he is engrossed in a pursuit of wealth while his life goals have changed. The scene ends with a touching duet between old and young Scrooge and a new understanding as to what it was that made Ebenezer Scrooge so cold.
Now, I don’t consider myself talented enough to call myself an actor—what I have to give, I try to give so that other people can hopefully take something uplifting away from the performance. However, I have to say that in the process of getting to know a character as I perform, I have learned more from young Ebenezer Scrooge than I have from any other character.
You see, Ebenezer Scrooge was not always a bitter old man. At one time, he was a carefree teenager, a young man who had the joy of living deeply engrained into his soul. His transformation into what we have morphed into an epithet for someone who is unfeeling and self-centered was not instantaneous. It was not borne out of some disastrous event in his life. It was not that he was destined to become an unkind man from the beginning. His change was not the result of irrational anger or intrinsic bitterness in heart. No, it is much more subtle than that.
The attitudes that developed over the course of Ebenezer Scrooge’s life were a response to the world he lived in. When Fred, his nephew, says, “Don’t be angry, Uncle,” Scrooge’s asks, “What else can I be when I live in such a world of fools as this?”
Is he wrong? Scrooge was a hard-working man. Most people nowadays would think him a good man if work ethic were the standard why which we judge. His suspicion that there were some in his community freeloading on charity and tax funded programs was probably true. The desire to “be left alone” is one that millions shared at his time and in ours. How many of us have said the same thing? Christmas comes at a cold and dark time of the year. If we had never had a Christmas to look back on fondly or to look forward to in anticipation, would we have any reason to be merry? At the time Charles Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol,” the concept of celebrating Christmas had all but vanished. How are we surprised that Scrooge found no solace in the holiday?
Scrooge’s look back on his own transformation gives us the best view into his heart. The conversation between Young Scrooge and Belle holds some perfect lenses through which we can see the grown Ebenezer.
Belle: Another idol has displaced me.
Scrooge: What idol has displaced you?
Belle: A golden one.
Scrooge: This is the way of the world. There is nothing harder on one than poverty, and I will not condemn the honest pursuit of wealth.
Belle: You fear the world too much. All your hopes have merged into the hope of acquiring money and power.
Scrooge: If I have grown so much wiser, what then? I am not changed towards you, am I?
Belle: When our promise was made you were another man.
Scrooge: I was a boy.
Belle: There, you have said it too. Your feelings betray that you are not now what you were… We promised each other happiness when we were one. That promised happiness has turned to misery. And so I can release you… I would gladly think otherwise if I could, heaven knows… May you be happy in the life you have chosen.
The song that follows says this:
Young Scrooge: “I was a boy—I was then so deep in love, I knew such joy. But now a man I face the pain of doing everything I can. This world is cruel; and if you don’t have the means to pay, it’s in the poor house you will stay—you’ll have nothing.”
Old Scrooge: “You were a boy. If you knew what love was worth, you’d stay a boy. But now a man, you’ve thrown away the greatest treasure that you can. This world is cruel; and if you don’t have that love today, you’ll never find a better way—you’ll have nothing. I was a boy. Now I’m an old man… (to himself) You fool!”
You see, young Ebenezer Scrooge was not overtaken simply by the allure of riches. He was motivated by fear. He was driven by insecurity. He was pushed by vulnerability. As he prepared to become a husband and eventually a father, Ebenezer Scrooge’s light was not choked out by greed, but was suppressed by rational worry over how to navigate the world in which he lived. He loved Belle and wanted to build a good foundation for them. That is why he could not wrap his mind around what Belle was saying about the pursuit of money. His impatience with her was not because she was a bother to his goals, but because he felt that she couldn’t understand what he was trying to do in providing a life for them.
In the end, it was not a deep, dark personal flaw that made Scrooge into the cold man he became. It was what is common to all men—he was afraid. He was overprotective of what he loved so much that he withheld other good things in his nature. He was so terrified of being vulnerable, of being able to be hurt, of being powerless and heartbroken that he turned off his heart. But it was broken anyway. At first, it was broken because of the solitude of his life. God broke it the right way in his old age and it led to his eventual abiding happiness.
The Savior told a parable about this when he spoke of a sower. This is the only parable to be included in all of the synoptic gospels. I think that it is because it stood out in the disciples’ minds and touched their hearts so much that all three of the writers felt the need to include it.
“A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.
And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.
And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.
And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear,” (Luke 8:5-8).
In this parable, the seed is the Word of God. It can be called in our story the Spirit of Christmas or the principles of happiness. The way in which these principles take root depends upon the condition of the heart when the seed is received and the continual process by which it is nourished.
Notice that there are four general conditions through which the seed may progress. Each of these conditions represents a different type of person or situation that prevents us from truly being happy.
1. Those that fell by the wayside. These represent those who hear the word but have no understand of what it means. They don’t even listen to find out what those principles of happiness are. They miss the entire spirit of Christmas. They may just not be ready.
2. Those that fell on a rock or hard ground, sprung up, and withered. These are those that felt something amazing when they had their first interactions, but when things get difficult, they have no root, no moisture, and wither away. Their enthusiasm for life dies out when trials come. As Mark puts it, “they are offended.” They complain that what they are facing is unfair or perhaps more than someone else. I think we all have these moments because we simply can’t see what other people are overcoming. Everyone has their own heartaches.
3. Those that fell on good ground and bare fruit in 30’s, 60’s, and 100’s. These are those that had an “honest heart” and really tried to share and keep the spirit of Christmas and those principles of happiness alive. They multiplied those fruits endure with patience. They found warmth amidst the cold of winter and imparted of it.
4. Those that fell among thorns. These are those that had taken root—those who understood the principles of happiness, the gospel of Christ, and the true spirit of Christmas at one point. But the thorns and weeds, the cares of the world begin to choke out that plant of faith and optimism.
Ebenezer Scrooge understood those principles of happiness when he first met Belle. The Word had been planted in his heart. But as he grew, the cares of the world—that worry over providing for a family, of work and school and the material things necessary to live on the earth—made him so afraid, so monochromatic, and so focused on providing those needs that he was consumed by it. It blocked the rest of his vision and hardened his heart and did so in a way so subtle that he didn’t even notice it.
These things are not a sin or a transgression, but they are a distraction. We’d do well to realize that distraction is a choice weapon of the Adversary to choke our faith.
The difference between pre-ghostly visit Scrooge and post-ghostly visit Scrooge is not a large one. It is only a slight adjustment. Ebenezer Scrooge simply decided that what God thought of him, what he thought of himself, and the well-being of his fellowmen were all more important than those cares of the world. Seeing Tiny Tim gone and the struggle of the Cratchit family at dealing with the loss broke his heart. He decided to believe that one person could actually change another’s life. He chose to be that change. He realized that caring for others is more essential to a man’s soul than a comfortable home and productivity. He chose to be vulnerable in the name of Christ-like love. He chose to produce fruit abundantly. The question we must answer of ourselves is how much fruit will I bear?
We too struggle with the cares of the world. It may be the same concern as Scrooge—we may be anxious about the provision of a good temporal life for our family. We may be struggling to make ends meet or pay off debt. We may bury ourselves in a fortress of books in the hope of getting the grades we need to get into a good graduate school. We may be hiding our children from the cruelty of the world behind our own front doors to try to protect them. We see people how they are and assume the worst in them because it means we are not left open to attack or pain. We are afraid to share our talents because we fear they may not be well received. We may be unforgiving in the hope that we are never pained again. We let the incessant demands on our time, money, and energy become incessant demands on our spirits. We lose faith in the goodness of humanity. We find ourselves thrust deep into the darkness and cold of winter.
Ebenezer Scrooge had lost faith in humanity. His eye-opening experience was in seeing that not only was he depleting his own happiness with such an attitude, but that he had inadvertently fallen victim to the very attitudes he had accused others of possessing. Through his painful visions he realized that not only did God have power to change and save him, but that he himself had power to help save others. It was through that broken heart that he found a new life.
Often I think that in order for us to be truly happy and to make others happy, we have to allow our hearts to break. We have to be willing to be vulnerable. God wants our hearts to be more tender. He wants us to be like him—and he is very tender-hearted.
CS Lewis said:
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one… Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”
This was the condition of Scrooge’s heart. This is quite often the condition of our hearts. Ebenezer Scrooge represents each of us in our moment of selfish worrying about our own problems. That was Scrooge’s weakness. That is where he had gone astray.
The final scene of the production shows Ebenezer Scrooge alone in his office with a single candle. It is evident in this scene that not only was Scrooge a new man, but his faith in God restored his faith in God’s children.
Scrooge: “I don’t deserve it. I just don’t deserve to be this happy. But I can’t help it…
God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay.
Remember Christ, our Savior, was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan’s power when we had gone astray;
Oh tidings of comfort and joy.”
None of us truly deserves to be happy—it’s a gift that we cannot repay. Yet we are happy and can continue to be happy as long as we understand where it comes from.
The tidings of comfort and joy that Christmas brings are this:
“All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on [Christ] the iniquity of us all,” (Isaiah 53: 6). Notice how the song does not say “if” we had gone astray, but “when” we had gone astray. Whether it be lost in the cares of the world or the darkness of winter, Christ, a SAVIOR is come into the world to save us from the distractions that harden our hearts and rob us of our happiness. Allowing him to give us what we need to have broken and tender hearts is the key to being happier than we know we deserve.
Christmas is a reminder that we have no reason to dismay. And for that, we should have joy.
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