Approximately 300 years or so after the death of Jesus, in a town in what is today called Turkey, a baby boy was born. The child was born into a wealthy, well-educated family, and he grew up in an atmosphere of luxury and higher education. To his credit, though, he did not become an arrogant, self-absorbed, intellectual snob. Much to the contrary, he was exceptionally kind.

This young man’s name was Nicholas, and he would ultimately become the Bishop of Myra. Even more than that he would become Saint Nicholas. Not only were miracles associated with his life, he was also renowned for unmatched generosity. The best-known story regarding his generosity involved the three unmarried daughters of a very poor man who lived in the same town as Nicholas.

According to the story the life goal for each of the girls was to marry, but their father didn’t have enough money to provide them with dowries. A dowry was money, land, or some type of treasure a bride would give to her husband. Any girl who didn’t have a dowry faced the possibility of being sold into either slavery or prostitution.

Well, as the story goes, Nicholas heard about the plight of these three daughters and decided to help them. So, when the oldest daughter reached marrying age, he secretly delivered a bag of gold to her to use for a dowry. And not long afterward she got married.

When the next oldest daughter came of marrying age Nicholas secretly delivered a bag of gold to her as well, and a short time later she got married. That left only the youngest of the three girls unmarried. Of course, by now the father was wildly curious to learn the identity of his daughters’ benefactor.

Then came the time when the youngest daughter reached marrying age. The father, expecting another bag of gold to somehow arrive in his home, made a point of being on the lookout for the deliverer. And who did he catch in the act? It was none other than the wealthy, well-educated Nicholas. The father thanked him for his generosity, and the youngest daughter was soon married.

You see, if we can believe the legend, a man named Saint Nicholas not only lived but during one season of his life brought unexpected gifts in the night. Furthermore, the legend goes on to say that he spent the rest of his life displaying that same degree of charity and kindness. As his reputation for generosity grew, any time someone received an unexpected gift from an unknown source that person assumed it was from Saint Nicholas.

It was Dutch immigrants who brought the basic story of Saint Nicholas to America. Our name for Saint Nicholas is simply a corruption of the Dutch name “Sinterklaas.” As for the idea of Santa Claus leaving gifts in stockings, that detail comes from different versions of the original story. In one version, St. Nicholas throws a bag of gold for each of the first two visits through a window, but he throws the third bag down the chimney and it lands in a stocking that had been hung by the chimney to dry. In another version, he throws all three bags down the chimney and each time the bag lands in a stocking. But whichever version of the story gets used the outcome is always the same: St. Nicholas provides a dowry for each of the daughters, thus setting them up for marriage.

It is from these beginnings that the story of Santa Claus has grown and evolved into the one we know so well today. In 1809, Washington Irving wrote a story about children leaving stockings out for Saint Nicholas to fill. A few years later, in 1821, Irving wrote a book entitled “The Children’s Friend,” in which he said that Santa traveled by a sleigh that was pulled by reindeer. That was different from earlier versions of Santa’s story, which said that he traveled by wagon with the assistance of a magic white horse.

One year later, in 1822, a New Yorker named Clement C. Moore wrote “A Visit from Saint Nicholas.” It began, “Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house…” That story inspired an artist named Thomas Nast to draw a cartoon of Santa for the popular magazine Harper’s Weekly. That cartoon depicted St. Nicholas as a jolly, fat man. On and on the legend rolled, picking up new bits and pieces to it as it went, until we arrived at the full-blown version that is on display today in movies, tv shows, commercials, etc.

While it might be argued that Santa Claus is just clean, harmless fun, the problem we have at Christmastime is that he has become bigger than Jesus. The battle between Santa and Jesus was once depicted in a comic strip I saw in my local newspaper. (This was back when hold-in-your-hand newspapers were still a big deal.) As the comic strip’s two characters stood in front of a nativity scene, one of them said to the other, “Where does Santa fit into that nativity scene?” The other character answered, “He doesn’t. There are two separate Christmas traditions.” To that the first character said, “Ah, a little competition.” Then came the last frame of the strip, a frame that placed both characters sitting on a hill overlooking a shopping mall. On top of the shopping mall there was a giant Santa Claus with a giant reindeer beside him. The parking lot was filled with cars and there were all kinds of people rushing into the mall. As the characters stood there taking in the whole scene, one of them said to the other, “I wonder which one’s winning.”

Unfortunately, we don’t have to look very hard to see which Christmas tradition is winning, do we? Nevertheless, let us as Christians make sure that the right one wins in our lives. I figure that even Saint Nicholas himself would be embarrassed at what his name has come to represent, and we don’t need to throw any more fuel onto that fire. Just as you can’t spell “Christmas” without “Christ,” we should do our best to make the holiday a holy day. Even though I don’t expect that we will ever knock Santa Claus off his perch atop the world of Christmastime, we can do our part to begin that job until Jesus comes back to finish it once and for all.

You see, the winner of the war between Santa Claus and Jesus is already decided. This world is just waiting for the day when the one who was once the babe in the manger will become the King on His throne. That will put an end to the battle between Santa Claus and Jesus, and if Saint Nicholas was the devout Christian he is purported to have been, I’m sure that he will have no problem at all bowing the knee to the rightful King.