I was listening to a few great sermons today by Mike Fabarez of Focal point Ministries (http://www.focalpointministries.org). In a few sermons, Mike was discussing some of the truth behind the myths and legends that have become such a big part of our cultural view of Christmas.
Whether it's waiting on Santa Clause to bring us gifts, or building our nativity sets with 3 wise men, there are many aspects of our traditional Christmas that have interesting truths behind them. For this post, I'd like to tell the story of the man whose legend would become Jolly Old Saint Nick.
In Acts chapter 21, we see Paul still on his 3rd missionary journey. In verse 1 we read, "after we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Kos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara. (emphasis mine)"
The story of Pastor Nicholas, or Saint Nick as we have come to know him, begins in this port city of Patara. Paul's visit to Patara during his missionary journey means that the gospel he was preaching from place to place, likely took root in some form in this port city. However it occurred, we see by the third century that Christianity had taken root in various areas of Patara.
Nicholas was born to wealthy Christian parents in the city of Patara where Paul had traveled many years before. From his earliest childhood, Nicholas and his parents were attending a Christian church in the area. He was a very devout Christian from an early age, and excelled in his knowledge of doctrine and the Bible.
When Nicholas was around age 9, his parents both passed away. His uncle, who was also associated with the church in Patara, took Nicholas in, and maintained the lifestyle of devotion to Christianity to which he was accustomed.
The years went by, and Nicholas eventually came of age and would soon have to leave his uncle's care. Being of age, he was also in line to receive his parents wealth by inheritance.
I imagine Nicholas as a teenager or young adult, given an abundance of wealth. If it were me, I would have likely been out buying all the newest and coolest gadgets, while also giving to others. Nicholas thought only of others.
As his biography goes, Nicholas prayed to God that his wealth could be used to further the kingdom and to help those in need.
Many stories exist regarding his early generosity, but the one most historically accepted involves a very poor man.
The man, possibly a member of Nicholas' church, had three daughters. The town of Patara was near the area of Lycia in Asia Minor and temple worship of the patron goddess of the area was common. A profession many young women fell into in those days was temple prostitution.
The poor man realized his oldest daughter was of the age to marry, but he had no wedding dowry. Without a dowry, his daughter would not find a husband (based on the cultural custom of the day). At his most desperate moment, he had finally exhausted all other options and considered letting them go into prostitution at the temple (the only way to survive with this type of destitution).
The story goes that Nicholas heard of this man's plight, and using some of his abundant wealth, snuck into the man's house late one night and left a bag of gold for the man's daughter's dowry.
The man was overjoyed to find it, but also curious as to who his anonymous donor had been. With Nicholas' gift, the man and daughters lived well for a few more years until the next daughter came of age. Faced with another wedding dowry, and no money to pay it, the man was back to square one.
Apparently, Nicholas continued this practice until all three of the man's daughter's were married off, so that by his generous giving, the man's innocent daughters were spared from having to go into temple prostitution.
Nicholas' generosity apparently became very well known within the area of his hometown of Patara. After some years, news of his sound doctrine, Christian living and giving nature had spread to another church in the nearby town of Myra. The church, in need of a pastor, requested that Nicholas take the position.
Nicholas accepted, but ended up pastoring in a time that was one of the most persectued in Christian history. The Roman emporer of the time, Diocletian, was perhaps the bloodiest persecutor of Christians. Nicholas became pastor at Myra at almost the exact time of Diocletian's persecution of Christians. As a result, he was arrested and held in prison.
Political climate changed during Nicholas' time in prison, and soon Constantine took over the empire. Constantine, unlike Diocletian, was in favor of Christianity, and released all of the imprisoned pastors and leader sof the Christian church once taking over the reigns.
As a pastor, Nicholas was known to be hard nosed in doctrine and soft hearted with people. In other words, he was a staunch defender of orthodox Christian doctrine, but also had great compassion for people. In this way, Nicholas was very much a Christ-like figure of the Christian church, and likely one of the greatest early Christians. Nicholas' life was lived fully for God, and his wealth was made fully available to the work of the kingdom. His pastoring also had great influence during a tumultuous time of Christian history.
Constantine, though in favor of Christianity, left most doctrinal decisions to the many Christian pastors. In 325, Constantine called the Council of Nicea to address the heresy of Arius, which made claims against the doctrine of the Trinitarian nature of God.
Pastor Nicholas was one of many to attend this meeting to help set the record straight. There is a legend that Nichoals was so upset with Arius for his distortion of the gospel that he slapped him in the face, but this is likely just a story.
Nicholas remained a bishop in Myra and eventually died and was buried there.
Within a few hundred years of his death, churches were already being named for this great example of the Christian faith. The Catholic church eventually sainted him in whatever process it is they use to do such things. I'm not so sure Nicholas would have desired that sort of recognition, but then again, many people given sainthood after death would likely not have wanted that attention.
It is interesting to think that the story we tell about Santa Clause now, has little resemblance to the actual, historical Pastor Nicholas of Patara. Practically the only attribute in common is the extremely giving nature of both the real Saint Nick and the children's' legend.
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