Lessons
& Carols
24
December 2013
Saint
Faith’s Anglican Church
Vancouver
BC
A
long time ago in a country we now call Turkey, there lived a family of
Christians in a town called Myra on the coast.
Now in those days, more than one thousand seven hundred years ago, being
a Christian was illegal. In some places
Christians were thrown into jail and even executed, but Myra was a little bit
different. Most of the people living in the
town were Christians, so the government officials, some of whom were secretly
Christians themselves, quietly ignored any orders coming from the Emperor in
Rome.
One
of those secretly Christian officials was a man named Timothy. He was a lawyer who administered the town’s
laws. He had a nice house, a wonderful
wife named Lydia and three children. The
oldest was Michael who was twelve, then Frances who was ten and the youngest,
Thomas, was eight. Timothy’s younger
brother, Nicholas, also lived with them.
Nicholas worked in the harbour for one of Timothy’s friends who ran a shipping
company. To the three children Nicholas
was more of a very much older brother than an uncle and they adored him.
Now
in those days Christians exchanged gifts on Epiphany, twelve days after
Christmas, as a reminder of the gifts of the Magi to the Christ Child. One day Timothy called the children into his
study. “This is a very special year,”
said Timothy, “your mother and I have been married fifteen years and your uncle
Nicholas turns twenty. So, in honour of
this, I am giving you a bit more money to buy your gifts for Epiphany.” He pulled out his coin purse and counted out
three gold coins.
The
children were amazed. Three small silver
coins, the size of our dime, would buy nice presents, but three gold coins,
well, that was a fortune. With one gold
coin a poor family could live for a year or more. Michael, Frances and Thomas couldn’t believe
their eyes. They were rich!
So,
the next morning they set out to buy their gifts. Michael, being the oldest, kept the money
hidden inside his shirt. “You never
know,” he told his sister and brother, “when someone might try to take it. We have to keep this a secret.” Frances and Thomas quickly agreed.
They
decided to walk down to the harbour and visit their uncle Nicholas. He always had interesting stories to tell
that the sailors shared with him from their travels. But when they arrived at his office, they
immediately saw that Nicholas was very unhappy.
“What’s the matter,” Thomas asked.
“One of the smaller ships came into today,” he responded, “but the
captain ran away with the money he was supposed to bring to my boss. That’s bad enough, but, without the money
from the captain, the sailors won’t get bad.
It’s the captain that pays them, not us.” “How much does the captain owe them?”, asked
Frances. “One gold coin would pay them
all what they are owed,” sighed Nicholas, “but I don’t have that much money.”
Thomas
looked at Frances and Frances looked at Michael and Michael looked at
Thomas. All three of them nodded. Michael reached into his shirt and pulled out
one gold coin. “Here you are, Uncle
Nicholas,” said Michael, “now you can pay the sailors.” “Where did you get this money?” asked a
surprised Nicholas. “It’s a secret,”
said all three children at once.
The
children turned and left Nicholas’ office.
Nicholas arranged for one of the clerks to pay the sailors and then went
off to follow the children. He knew that
they were good children and that they had come by the money honestly. But he couldn’t help but worry about them
wandering the town alone. However, he
decided to follow them at a distance. He
knew that they considered themselves quite grown up and they would resent him
checking up on them.
Michael,
Frances and Thomas decided to go into the centre of town to search for
gifts. They weren’t worried. Two gold coins was still a fortune. To get to the market they had to pass through
one of the poorer parts of the town. As
they were passing one of the poorer homes, they saw one of the young women who
worked in their home from time to time.
She sat on the doorstep crying.
Frances,
who knew the young woman better than her brothers asked, “What’s the matter,
Mary?” “Oh, young mistress,” sobbed
Mary, “I was going to be married in three days, but my fiancé’s family won’t let
him marry me without a dowry. We don’t
have any money and so now I’ll never find a husband.” Now in those days getting married was one of
the ways that poor women could find a better life and it was customary that a
woman brought a sum of money into the marriage.
Without a dowry, most poor women could not marry and would, over time,
most likely become poorer and poorer. It
wasn’t a fair custom, but it was the way it was in those days.
Thomas
looked at Frances and Frances looked at Michael and Michael looked at
Thomas. All three of them nodded. Michael reached into his shirt and pulled out
one gold coin. Frances took the coin and
gave it to Mary. Mary couldn’t believe
her eyes. Ten small silver coins would
have been more than enough; one gold coin would set her future husband and her
on a very good path. “Where did you get
this money?”, Mary asked. “It’s a
secret,” said all three children at once.
Before she could stammer her thanks, the children quickly
disappeared. Nicholas, peering from around
a corner, saw the whole thing.
As
they entered the market, Thomas said to his sister and brother, “Well, one gold
coin should be enough, don’t you think?”
“Yes,” said Michael, “but when Papa sees what we buy, he’ll know that
it’s only worth one gold coin. What will
we tell him about the other two coins?”
Frances, who was the wiser of the three, had the answer. “We’ll remind him, if he asks, that sending
three young children into the market of Myra is a sure-fire recipe for them to
get cheated,” she suggested. “True
enough,” said Thomas, “he was just saying yesterday how one of the grain
merchants tried to cheat him by charging him too much for a bushel of
wheat.”
Their
confidence restored, the children walked into the market only to bump into
their parish priest, Father Andrew.
Father Andrew was always so cheerful, but today he had a very worried
look on his face. “What’s the matter,
Father Andrew,” asked Michael. “I’ve
just learned that the Bishop will not be able to support the school that the
parish runs for poor children,” Father Andrew said with his head hung low. “How will we share the good news without the
school?”
Thomas
looked at Frances and Frances looked at Michael and Michael looked at
Thomas. All three of them nodded. Michael reached into his shirt and pulled out
one gold coin. With one gold coin Father
Andrew could run the school for a whole year and teach even more children about
the good news of God in Christ. “Where
did you get this money,” he asked. “It’s
a secret,” said all three children at once.
Without one more word they turned and ran off towards their home. Nicholas, of course, had seen the whole thing
and followed the children home
As
they entered the front door, they ran into their father --- literally. “Careful,” he said, “what’s your hurry? Where are the presents?” “It’s a secret,”
said all three children at once.
Nicholas came in just behind them and they all washed up for dinner. Dinner was very quiet. The children went to their room in silence
without any idea of how to explain things to their father in the morning. They had nothing to give to their parents on
their anniversary and nothing to give to their favourite uncle. They were doomed.
Early
in the morning the whole family gathered to share their presents. Timothy and Lydia loved their children very
much, so there were many gifts for them.
Then came the moment of truth:
Michael, Frances and Thomas were to give their gift to Uncle
Nicholas. “Where’s the gift for Uncle
Nicholas?”, their father asked. “We
don’t have one,” the children whispered.
“WHAT?”, yelled their father, who almost never raised his voice. “I gave you a fortune and you have nothing to
show for it.”
Before
he could say another word, Nicholas interrupted him. “Timothy,” he said, “what has God told us is
good?” Surprised by the question,
Timothy answered, “To do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with
God”. “Just so,” Nicholas said, “and
that is the gift the children have given to the three of us.” And he told Timothy and Lydia how the
children had paid the sailors’ wages, had given Mary a dowry and had ensured
the survival of Father Andrew’s school.
Even though Timothy was still a little bothered, he and Lydia had to admit
that there could be no greater gift than three children who gave gifts of
justice, mercy and humility.
Now
there is more to this story. Nicholas
was so inspired by his nephews and niece that he decided to become a
priest. He followed their example and
became widely known for his commitment to justice, mercy and humility. He cared for the sailors, for young women who
needed dowries and for children who needed to be freed from ignorance and
neglect. The people of Myra so admired
him that he became their bishop and over the centuries people throughout the
world came to know his story. Some
people, who didn’t know his story well, mispronounced his name and called him ‘Santa
Claus’. But that’s another story for
another time.
All
you and I need to remember is what Michael, Frances and Thomas taught their
uncle. God has given us many gifts and
asks us to return his generosity with three gifts of our own: justice, mercy and humility. There are no greater gifts than these.
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