Stories are mysterious things. Some of them crop up in every culture across the centuries. Sometimes they turn up in different forms, but still with a recognizable family likeness. There seems to be something about certain stories that appeal very deeply to the human race.
I think this is probably one reason people love How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The heart of Dr Seuss’s story as it is told in the book is really very simple. The Grinch, who is green and ugly and mean, lives outside Whoville in a cave on top of Mount Crumpet. He hates Christmas for the simple reason that his heart is two sizes too small. So, he sneaks into the village on Christmas Eve and steals all the children’s toys. Then he waits to hear their wailing . . . but it never comes. Instead, he hears them singing for joy because they know that Christmas is not about presents, so they are not fazed by the loss of their presents. The Grinch realizes the error of his ways, his heart grows three sizes bigger, he gives the gifts back, and he joins in the fun.
The book and the movie
But, the Jim Carrie movie version of the story adds two more things. It develops the character of Cindy Lou Who (who just has one line in the book). She becomes the Grinch’s saviour: she believes he can change, struggles to the top of Mount Crumpet through deep snow, and invites him to come to the celebration in the village. As so often in popular stories, she’s an unlikely saviour: think Frodo and Sam in Lord of the Rings.
The other thing we discover from the movie is that the Grinch once lived in Whoville but ran away because the other children mocked him. So, at the end of the story, when he comes to Whoville, he’s coming back to the place that was once his home. The idea of a journey “there and back” also occurs in stories all over the world, from the Odyssey to Lord of the Rings.
So, there are three themes: in the book, the nasty, mean outsider; and in the movie, the unlikely saviour and the journey back home.
Why do we like stories like this? Tolkien said it’s because those stories are echoes of the Great Story, the story God is writing about our world. And because this story is so profoundly true and beautiful, its echoes touch us deeply, and so we tell and retell them in a thousand forms. And maybe God is trying to get our attention through those stories.
So, the story of the Grinch resonates with that other story. Think of it this way:
The Grinch and God’s story
Firstly: why do we like stories about outsiders? Maybe it’s because we all feel like outsiders in one situation or another. So, we feel for outsiders like the Grinch, and we identify with him. And maybe, at some deep intuitive level, we have a memory of being expelled from the Garden of Eden (however you understand that story), and of being outsiders ever since.
Secondly: Why are we drawn by stories of unlikely saviours? Tolkien would say it’s because they anticipate the saviour of the world, who is not who you would expect in a million years: born in Nazareth, a backwater of the Roman empire, a carpenter who never wrote a book, never went to university, and didn’t look like anyone’s image of the Messiah.
And, lastly, there’s this idea of the journey, where you leave home, have adventures both good and bad, and finally come home again. In a sense, isn’t that the human story? That humanity began as friends of God, but then we chose to go our own way—as Jesus explained it, like a kid who runs away from home to have a good time, at least until the money runs out . . . and then grudgingly comes home.
In other words, the Grinch is about us: choosing to be outsiders to God’s joy and home and family, then an unlikely saviour who comes to invite us to the party, and finally a journey back home. There is a place in the teaching of Jesus where he sums up these three themes. It’s not a particularly Christmassy reading but there is a connection: it’s the story of the lost sheep.
You remember that story? The story of the good shepherd (another unlikely saviour) who comes to look for the sheep that’s strayed from the fold—the outsider—and then brings it back home, so that the great party can begin?
That is really the Christmas story: of the Saviour who came as the shepherd to our world to search for the lost sheep, and to bring it home on his shoulder. The only question is . . . when he comes looking for us, are we willing to be found?
The Gospel According to the Grinch
Stories are mysterious things. Some of them crop up in every culture across the centuries. Sometimes they turn up in different forms, but still with a recognizable family likeness. There seems to be something about certain stories that appeal very deeply to the human race.
I think this is probably one reason people love How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The heart of Dr Seuss’s story as it is told in the book is really very simple. The Grinch, who is green and ugly and mean, lives outside Whoville in a cave on top of Mount Crumpet. He hates Christmas for the simple reason that his heart is two sizes too small. So, he sneaks into the village on Christmas Eve and steals all the children’s toys. Then he waits to hear their wailing . . . but it never comes. Instead, he hears them singing for joy because they know that Christmas is not about presents, so they are not fazed by the loss of their presents. The Grinch realizes the error of his ways, his heart grows three sizes bigger, he gives the gifts back, and he joins in the fun.
The book and the movie
But, the Jim Carrie movie version of the story adds two more things. It develops the character of Cindy Lou Who (who just has one line in the book). She becomes the Grinch’s saviour: she believes he can change, struggles to the top of Mount Crumpet through deep snow, and invites him to come to the celebration in the village. As so often in popular stories, she’s an unlikely saviour: think Frodo and Sam in Lord of the Rings.
The other thing we discover from the movie is that the Grinch once lived in Whoville but ran away because the other children mocked him. So, at the end of the story, when he comes to Whoville, he’s coming back to the place that was once his home. The idea of a journey “there and back” also occurs in stories all over the world, from the Odyssey to Lord of the Rings.
So, there are three themes: in the book, the nasty, mean outsider; and in the movie, the unlikely saviour and the journey back home.
Why do we like stories like this? Tolkien said it’s because those stories are echoes of the Great Story, the story God is writing about our world. And because this story is so profoundly true and beautiful, its echoes touch us deeply, and so we tell and retell them in a thousand forms. And maybe God is trying to get our attention through those stories.
So, the story of the Grinch resonates with that other story. Think of it this way:
The Grinch and God’s story
Firstly: why do we like stories about outsiders? Maybe it’s because we all feel like outsiders in one situation or another. So, we feel for outsiders like the Grinch, and we identify with him. And maybe, at some deep intuitive level, we have a memory of being expelled from the Garden of Eden (however you understand that story), and of being outsiders ever since.
Secondly: Why are we drawn by stories of unlikely saviours? Tolkien would say it’s because they anticipate the saviour of the world, who is not who you would expect in a million years: born in Nazareth, a backwater of the Roman empire, a carpenter who never wrote a book, never went to university, and didn’t look like anyone’s image of the Messiah.
And, lastly, there’s this idea of the journey, where you leave home, have adventures both good and bad, and finally come home again. In a sense, isn’t that the human story? That humanity began as friends of God, but then we chose to go our own way—as Jesus explained it, like a kid who runs away from home to have a good time, at least until the money runs out . . . and then grudgingly comes home.
In other words, the Grinch is about us: choosing to be outsiders to God’s joy and home and family, then an unlikely saviour who comes to invite us to the party, and finally a journey back home. There is a place in the teaching of Jesus where he sums up these three themes. It’s not a particularly Christmassy reading but there is a connection: it’s the story of the lost sheep.
You remember that story? The story of the good shepherd (another unlikely saviour) who comes to look for the sheep that’s strayed from the fold—the outsider—and then brings it back home, so that the great party can begin?
That is really the Christmas story: of the Saviour who came as the shepherd to our world to search for the lost sheep, and to bring it home on his shoulder. The only question is . . . when he comes looking for us, are we willing to be found?
John Bowen is Professor Emeritus of Evangelism at Wycliffe College in Toronto, where he was also the Director of the Institute of Evangelism. Before that, he worked a campus evangelist for Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. For over thirty years, John has been a popular speaker, teacher, and preacher, on university campuses, in churches and in classrooms, and at conferences, across Canada and the USA. His most recent book is The Unfolding Gospel: How the Good News Makes Sense of Discipleship, Church, Mission, and Everything Else (Fortress 2021).
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