Many Christians might be surprised to learn that Santa Claus, or Saint Nicholas, was a real person and yes he really did give gifts to small children as a way to remember the gift that God gave to the world with the birth of Jesus Christ. However, what many might not know is how he saved the true message of Christmas by slapping the dickens out of someone for trying to get the Church to deny the divinity of Jesus Christ.
Born in the Turkish port city of Myra, where Paul took the Gospel in Acts 27, St. Nick became famous for secretly leaving gifts in shoes and stockings for children, anonymously helping those in need, and in one instance (central to the gift-giving tradition of Christmas) giving three coins to save three daughters from prostitution.
However, the man that many people think of as “Jolly ol’ St. Nick” had a moment when he was not so jolly. Church history records that Santa gave the “slap that saved Christmas.”
In AD 325, Emperor Constantine brought all the Christian leaders from around the world together to write down the foundational principles of Christianity. These principles would forever be the guiding teachings for Christianity around the world. The meeting was known as the Council of Nicaea.
At the center of this all important meeting was the question regarding the divine nature of Jesus Christ.
One man with considerable influence at the meeting was named Arius. As the Bishop of Egypt, he proposed that the entire Christian world should write down that Jesus was the Son of God, but was not equal to God the Father.
As Arius vigorously shared his view with the leaders, Nicholas realized that this teaching denied the divinity of Jesus as ‘God in the flesh.’ Nicholas couldn’t stand by and allow these teachings to be spread around the world. The more he listened, the more passionate he grew against the words of Arius.
Finally unable to listen any longer, he stood up, crossed the room, and slapped Arius across the face!
The Christian leaders were shocked. It was absolutely unheard of for a fellow Christian to slap a Christian leader. The leaders brought Nicholas to the Emperor Constantine who had him stripped of his priestly garments and thrown into a dungeon cell.
That night in a vision, Jesus and Mary both appeared to him in the prison cell and asked, “Why are you in jail?”
“Because of my love for you,” Nicholas replied.
Suddenly, a Bible and priestly clothes both supernaturally appeared in the lonely dungeon cell.
The next morning when the guards awoke, they found Nicholas dressed in ornate clothing reading God’s Word! The guards were scared and ran off to inform the emperor.
Astonished at the supernatural miracles that Nicholas had experienced that night, the emperor reinstated Nicholas as the Bishop of Myra. When Nicholas returned to the meeting, the leaders were astonished. They rejected the teachings of Arius and in their unified document, embraced the principles of the Holy Trinity which produced the Nicene Creed and to this day many Christians repeat this creed in unison every week.
This is in keeping with the prophecy of Isaiah in 9:6 that is read every Christmas, “For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Amen!!