Beliefs Change: Santa’s Lap, Newborn King Jesus, etc.
Beliefs change.
There are two Christmas stories in the Bible. One is in Matthew, which was written primarily for Jews who were part of the Jesus movement. In Matthew’s version of the Jesus story, Jesus is the King of Israel, threatening the existing King, Herod, and the power structure he represents. The other one is in Luke, which was written for outsiders – non-Jews, poor people, women. In the Luke story, the hero is Mary, a poor nobody, and a bunch of shepherds who live outdoors being visited by angels announcing that the God of the Universe is sending someone to help all of humanity (not just the Jewish people).
I grew up believing that the things in those stories happened in history. But for a decade or more, I haven’t. They might have. But I don’t need them to have happened in order for me to believe that something meaningful was happening in Jesus and his friends’ experience of him. Many scholars and historians think that the stories are legends, stories that people following Jesus told to express something about their beliefs.
Santa’s Lap
Every year, I took my kids to visit Santa Claus in the mall. We all stood in line, and they sat on Santa’s lap and told Santa what they wanted for Christmas. We rehearsed this ritual, beginning when they were tiny. We read books about Santa Claus, and watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on TV, and on Christmas Eve we wrote a note to Santa and left milk and cookies. We listened for the sound of reindeer hooves on the roof. The next morning, no one could leave their rooms until they heard the sound of sleigh bells jingling. When they heard that sound, they ran to the living room, where Santa had left presents and candy and goodies. And the cookies and milk were gone; in their place was a nice note, written by Santa, thanking the kids and wishing them a Merry Christmas.
None of the things we all as adults told the children were factually accurate. And yet, they were true, because we were all having a shared experience. We were all – the parents and grandparents and kids, the stores and the malls and the advertisers and filmmakers – collectively affirming something we believe in. In the case of the Santa Claus story, we were all affirming the values of magic, and generosity, and wonder.
It’s true that at some point, children’s perception of this shared experience shifts; they stop seeing it as literally true, and it becomes something else.
Resistance And Acceptance
Sometimes people are angry when they are invited to move from a belief that was literal, into a belief that is figurative. They want the magical thing to still be literal. Sometimes this happens with people’s religious beliefs. It happens with their illusions around relationships. It happens when their eyes are opened to a pattern that needs to change. Sometimes they react with disappointment; sometimes they react with rage and a refusal to acknowledge what is real.
It’s impossible to know what Jesus actually literally said, but he’s reported to have said, “When you know the truth, it sets you free.” I don’t need for Santa Claus to be an actual person who lives in a workshop at the North Pole, in order for me to believe in – and practice – magic, generosity, and wonder, especially at Christmastime. I don’t need any of the Christmas stories about wise men or kings or angels to have literally happened, in order for me to practice things that are important to me. It took time for my beliefs to evolve. That’s good. I evolved. You can too.
