Nov. 30, 2025 - The Redemption of Scrooge - Bah Humbug

There's something about Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol that refuses to let go of our collective imagination. The story has been retold countless times—through Muppets, animated ducks, Broadway musicals, and serious dramatic interpretations. We all know Scrooge, even if we've never read the original novella. His name has become synonymous with miserliness, with a heart closed off to joy and generosity.

But what if Scrooge's story isn't just about a grumpy old man learning to be nice? What if it's actually a profound meditation on grace, spiritual blindness, and the radical inclusivity of God's kingdom?

The Man Who Couldn't See Christmas
Ebenezer Scrooge walks through a world celebrating Christmas—carolers singing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," people exchanging cheerful greetings, the spirit of generosity filling the cold December air—and he sees none of it. Or rather, he sees it and dismisses it with his famous retort: "Bah, humbug!"

Scrooge's problem isn't that he's simply mean or stingy. His deeper issue is that he has made an idol of wealth, and this idol has blinded him to everything else. Money has become his god, and like all false gods, it demands total devotion while offering nothing in return but isolation and emptiness.

He cannot see the kingdom of heaven breaking into his world because he's looking in entirely the wrong direction.

The Parable of the Generous Vineyard Owner
Jesus told a parable that sounds almost as frustrating as Scrooge's attitude, but from a different angle. In Matthew 20, he describes a vineyard owner who hires workers at different times throughout the day—some at dawn, some at midday, some in the late afternoon, and some with only an hour of daylight left.

When evening comes and it's time to pay wages, the owner does something shocking: he pays everyone the same amount, starting with those who worked only one hour.

The workers who labored all day in the heat are furious. "These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!" they protest.

The owner's response cuts to the heart of grace: "Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?"

Two Sides of the Same Coin
At first glance, Scrooge and the disgruntled vineyard workers seem like opposites. Scrooge is the employer who refuses to be generous; the workers are laborers demanding fair compensation. But look deeper, and you'll see they share the same spiritual blindness.

Both have decided what the world "should" be like based on their own calculations and judgments. Both have created a mental ledger of what's fair, what's deserved, what's right. Both are blind to grace because they're so focused on accounts, on what they've earned, on the transactional nature of existence.

The vineyard workers have been in the field all day. They've put in their time. They've done the work. Surely they deserve more than those Johnny-come-latelies who showed up at the eleventh hour.

Scrooge has worked hard all his life. He's been disciplined, focused, committed to his business. Surely Christmas—with its frivolity and waste—is an affront to the serious business of life.

Both are missing the point entirely.

The Kingdom That Breaks All Our Rules
"The kingdom of heaven is like..." Jesus begins, and we should lean in close, because what follows will probably upend our assumptions.

The kingdom of heaven operates on an entirely different economy than the kingdoms of this world. It's not based on merit, on hours logged, on credentials earned, or on wealth accumulated. It's based on the outrageous, scandalous, nearly offensive generosity of God.

God wants everyone in the vineyard. Not just the early risers, not just the disciplined and dedicated, not just those who've been faithful their whole lives. God wants the latecomers, the last-minute arrivals, the people who've wasted most of the day and show up with barely any time left.

God wants Scrooge.

And here's where the story gets beautiful: God goes to extraordinary lengths to reach him. Marley's ghost appears, dragging chains forged in life through selfishness and greed, to warn his old partner. Then come three more spirits, each one showing Scrooge something he needs to see but doesn't want to face.

It's an intervention of grace.

The Ghosts We Need
Most of us probably don't need quite the dramatic spiritual awakening that Scrooge requires—chains rattling, ghosts appearing, visions of our own lonely death. But we all have our moments of blindness, our own idols that distract us from seeing where God is at work.

Sometimes we're so focused on our own plans that we miss God's invitation. Sometimes we're so concerned with fairness and what we deserve that we can't celebrate when grace shows up for someone else. Sometimes we're so busy building our own kingdoms—of success, of reputation, of security—that we don't notice the kingdom of heaven breaking in all around us.

God knows this about us. God made us, after all, with all our quirks and flaws and tendencies toward self-absorption. And God doesn't give up on us.

Like the vineyard owner who keeps going out throughout the day to hire more workers, God keeps calling. God keeps reaching. God keeps showing up in our lives through unexpected moments of clarity, through the words of friends, through circumstances that force us to see things differently.

God wants us in the vineyard, no matter what time we arrive.

The Grace That Changes Everything
By the end of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is transformed. He becomes generous, joyful, connected to his community. He sees the world with new eyes—eyes that can finally perceive what was there all along: the grace and goodness breaking into ordinary life.

This is what happens when we truly grasp the kingdom of heaven. It's not just about getting into heaven someday. It's about recognizing that God's generous, gracious, abundant love is available right now, in this moment, regardless of how we got here or what we've done.

The workers who labored all day received exactly what they were promised. The workers who came late received far more than they deserved. Both received the generosity of the owner.

Scrooge received mercy he hadn't earned and grace he didn't deserve. And it changed everything.

What Are We Missing?
As we move through this season of anticipation, waiting for the celebration of the Word made flesh dwelling among us, perhaps the question we need to ask is: What are we missing?

Where have we made idols of our own priorities, our own sense of fairness, our own calculations of worth? Where have we decided how God should act, how grace should be distributed, who deserves what?

The kingdom of heaven is all around us, breaking in at unexpected moments, showing up in surprising ways, offering grace that defies our ledgers and calculations.

The owner of the vineyard is still calling workers, still offering generous wages, still inviting everyone to come and labor in the harvest.

The question is: Can we see it? Or are we too busy keeping score, building our own kingdoms, protecting our own interests?

May we have eyes to see, hearts to receive, and the humility to accept grace—both for ourselves and for those latecomers who show up at the eleventh hour.

After all, most of us have been both the early workers and the late arrivals at different points in our journey.

And the beautiful, scandalous truth is this: God's grace is sufficient for all of us.

Bah humbug to anything less.