How "the Grinch" is Christian

 

It occurs to me How The Grinch Stole Christmas is deeply Christian. There isn't a church or a cross in Whoville, but the Whos are celebrating Christmas with a Feast, with the pealing of bells - which also happens at the height of the Mass - and with evergreen trees topped with stars. The evergreen tree is a Christian symbol, not a pagan one. The Germanic tribes Saint Boniface of Mainz was trying to convert dedicated deciduous trees to the Germanic gods. He cut one sacred to Thor down and encouraged them to celebrate with evergreen trees instead because God is eternal. That's a good way to get oneself martyred, but the Hessians forsook their gods and became Christian. We celebrate the Incarnation of God with trees that keep their leaves all year because Jesus christ overcame death. "Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him," to quote Romans chapter 6 (and the Pascha Nostrum). In Christ, we can be like evergreen trees. The star points to Bethlehem, to the Magi, and Hebrew prophecy - A star shall come forth form Jacob.
 
It is also a story of conversion. Every redemption story is a conversion story. The Grinch "comes to steal, kill, and destroy" (John 10) but because the Whos are celebrating Christmas, not food, family, and stuff, they sing in spite of discovering empty pantries. There is no way they didn't notice someone had done Saint Nicholas' thing in reverse. Still they sang, like Moravians in a hurricane. In theirs midst, "light rises in darkness," which Scripture tells God brings forth for the godly. It reminded me of the Ascension, in fact. Seeing that joy for what it was cracked the Grinch's shell. He had a change of heart - a metanoia - about what Christmas means. He hated their joy until he understood it wasn't material in the first place. Then, he repented. "His heart grew three sizes that day" according to the story and his eyes changed color - from yellow and red to clear and blue.
 
Thanks be to God for the grace of conversion.

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