Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!… External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. Foul weather didn’t know where to have him. The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect. They often “came down” handsomely, and Scrooge never did.

Stave i, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

I am a cold and calculating person by nature. I suppose that is what compels me so much about the character of Ebeneezer Scrooge. Like him, I can go whole stretches of time in which my human interaction is limited to merely polite exchanges with those I meet. Nary much warmth, care, or concern outside of satisfying my own interests and staying up to date with my to-do lists. Scrooge might have continued in this way until his own death if the world of spirits had not intervened in his relaxed state of decomposition. I too am thankful for supernatural events which remind me often of the world to come and break me from my usual pattern of calculation and cold rationality.

By the end of Dicken’s immortal Christmas classic, the redeemed Scrooge is transformed from the enslavement of greed to freedom in generosity. His giddiness and child-like simplicity reveal an inner world that he had been out of touch with for decades. He is so transformed by his encounter with the supernatural that the reader can scarcely believe he is the same man. Indeed, Christians who recreate this short story in plays and musicals often drive home the point that the Lord of those same spirits is the one who truly brings Scrooge to his transformation. But one need not go too far past the original story to experience the Christ of Christmas who haunts every page as, Him who, “made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.”

Found a song on YouTube recently written from the perspective of the redeemed Scrooge. It is from the NYC adaptation called Everyone’s Carol, and its chorus makes it clear the source of Scrooge’s freedom is the forgiveness of sin:

And into the wind, He cast my sin
And like the dust, I watch it fly
Love is like a burning sun within.

If you too desire the transformation from cold and calculating to warm and giving, perhaps this story is just the ticket to unlock the hardness of your heart. Our own family is performing for the next few weekends in a musical rendition of A Christmas Carol. If you cannot make it to the theatre, our favorite movie version is available for free on YouTube. And now as Tiny Tim would say, “God bless us, everyone!”