How Christmas Stole the Grinch

Don’t judge me too hard for this. My wife thinks I’m ridiculous, but I’m done hiding it. One of my favorite Christmas movies is the live-action Grinch with Jim Carrey. I know, in a sea of Christmas classics like It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol, liking the critically panned live-action Grinch is not very sophisticated of me.
 
The Grinch lived high atop Mount Crumpit, near the town of Whoville. Christmas was a cherished holiday in Whoville, but the Grinch was, well, a Grinch. He hated Christmas. He hated the gifts. And most of all he hated all the noise, noise, noise.
 
One day, right before Christmas, Mr. Grinch got a terrible idea. He would pretend to be Santa... except in reverse. So, he went down into town and stole all the presents, food, and decorations. The next morning when all the Whos woke up, they found absolutely no sign of Christmas. The Grinch gloated as he believed that he had stopped Christmas from coming! But to his surprise, the Whos gathered around the unlit Christmas tree in the middle of town and celebrated without any of the decorations, gifts, or food.
 
In a moment, he realized the extra trimmings hadn’t been the meaning of Christmas, but it was love all along. Unexpectedly that love entered his heart, and the terrible reversal he had planned began to reverse once again inside of him! What he meant for evil turned him good! His undersized heart grew to an enormous size, and he reversed all his evil by returning everything he stole.
 
The Christmas that was supposed to be ruined, turned out to be wonderful. You see, the Whos that he hated so much, welcomed him in. When his heart was changed, everything he thought about Christmas was reversed.
 
Have you ever wondered why so many Christmas stories are about some kind of great reversal? The Grinch and Scrooge have their hearts changed. In It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey’s community comes together to reverse his misfortune. In Home Alone, Kevin gets the robbers, the neighbor reunites with his son, and his family makes it home. In each one, evil is overcome, and hope is realized.
 
I think it's because the original Christmas story is about the reversal of everything bad. Young Mary realized this and wrote one of the most beautiful songs in the Scriptures. Tomorrow, we see how her song about the great reversal can give us hope today and peace for tomorrow. Join us for worship on the final Sunday of Advent!