25 Thoughts on “A Christmas Carol” – December 12th

Happy Christmas Dear Readers,

“'Oh! captive, bound, and double-ironed,' cried the phantom, 'not to know, that ages of incessant labour by immortal creatures, for this earth must pass into eternity before the good of which it is susceptible is all developed! Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness! Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused! Yet such was I! Oh! such was I!'

'But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,' faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.

'Business!' cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. 'Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!'”

As we end our interview with Jacob Marley there are two points he makes that are eternal. The first is that life is too short for the “vast measure of usefulness” of a working Christian spirit. The time will most assuredly fly by if we are engaged in the work of caring for the things for which Christ cares. When we focus on following Christ and that alone the time does indeed seem short. It is when we labor at things for our own want and greed that time seems to stretch into and eternal endless treadmill.

Scrooge attempts to placate his dead friend by suggesting that he was a “good man of business.” Marley’s reply points to the misconception that lives within our culture today. We have lost the core notion that in all our business, mankind is our business. The common welfare, charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence are all the core of our business. Christ speaks that two commands are the greatest. The first is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. The second is to love our neighbor as our self. I would posit that if we are doing the former, we cannot help but do the latter.

It is our obligation to see the needs of others as what we must do for Christ. Marley in this last line points out the dealings of his trade were just a means to conduct his real business. How much wealth lies in the hands of Christ followers while people go hungry? How much of the common welfare could be supplied if Christ followers refused to hoard their wealth? We must be about the business of caring for those in need or our wealth does fetter us to a sluggish tread through time that leaves us without an true assurance that we are doing all we can for Christ. This burden then makes the mountains we must climb steeper and the valleys we go through deeper. It extends and stretches the time between our glimpses of that other world whose bourning we so desire. It makes the journey so very long.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a home owner. He brings new and old things out of his treasure store."