You see, St. Nicholas was a bishop. A bishop is a pastor in charge of all the churches in his town. He makes sure that everyone is well cared for and that his pastors are teaching people true things about God from the Bible. St. Nicholas especially was concerned for all the poor widows and orphans in his city. If they didn’t have shoes, he’d bring them shoes. If they didn’t have a blanket to keep them warm at night, he’d give them a blanket. If they needed food, he’d bring them food. If they needed a place to sleep for the night, he let them sleep in the church. He was always looking for poor people to help, especially little children who had no parents.
The real St. Nicholas didn’t worry so much about whether children were naughty or nice. He knew that all children are both naughty and nice, sometimes at the same time. So are adults. He also knew that Jesus died for everyone, the naughty and the nice. St. Nicholas wanted everyone to believe that. He didn’t keep any kind of list that he checked over twice, except maybe a list of all the people in his congregation who needed some kind of help. He was careful about making sure that people knew how much God loved them by showing them his love. If you looked at St. Nicholas and saw how much he loved other people, you could see the love of Jesus shining through him.
You see, Virginia, St. Nicholas loved Jesus very much, and he knew that Jesus loved him. He believed that Jesus was his best friend in the whole world and his Savior. St. Nicholas knew that because Jesus suffered and died for him, he would live forever with Jesus. He knew that Jesus became poor so that we might be rich in heavenly treasures. That’s why he was always doing good things for poor people. He wanted to show them the love of Jesus from his own heart.
St. Nicholas worshiped Jesus much the same way that we worship Jesus every Sunday. He preached God’s Word and celebrated the Lord’s Supper with his people. He preached sermons about Jesus, just as your pastor does, Virginia. Sometimes the children in St. Nicholas’ church got a little restless and noisy, but St. Nicholas didn’t seem to mind that. He was so happy that the children were there with their parents to hear about Jesus that he just kept on preaching anyway. He told people how God sent His Son to be born of the Virgin Mary, how he suffered for their sins under Pontius Pilate, how he died on a cross and was buried to save everyone from death and hell, how He rose from the dead three days later and now reigns as our Redeemer, and how Jesus is going to appear very soon to take us to live with Him forever. Many people believed in Jesus because of St. Nicholas’ preaching. That made St. Nicholas happy.
St. Nicholas wasn’t always jolly. When people didn’t believe in Jesus or made fun of him, St. Nicholas became very sad. Sometimes he even cried when some people in his city never came to church. When people said bad things about Jesus, St. Nicholas would get very angry. One time, a fellow bishop named Arius said some bad things about Jesus. Arius said that Jesus wasn’t really God. That made St. Nicholas very upset. You see, St. Nicholas loved Jesus so much, he couldn’t stand to hear such awful things.
Some good bishops got together with St. Nicholas and wrote what we call the Nicene Creed. It’s the same Creed we say together in church every Sunday. Just think, Virginia, when you say the Creed, St. Nicholas is saying it with you! It makes him very happy to hear little children say the Creed by heart. St. Nicholas is always jolly and happy when children love Jesus and confess Him.
Show this to your children! (The rest of the letter says that Santa does NOT bring you gifts, so beware if you are still playing that game, but this may be a good way to break the news.)
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In