In what is becoming a holiday quasi-tradition (here and here ) The Daily Irritant once again presents Questionable Christmas Songs:
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Why does the song begin with this?
You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town
So basically you're saying that in order to keep Santa happy you must not express any emotion? Okay, I get pouting as a behavioral issue, maybe, but crying? Why is a healthy expression of sadness or frustration or pain be considered the kind of wrongdoing that would result in one being placed on Santa's naughty list? That can't be a healthy lesson to teach a child. Santa knows if you've been bad or good, so you better keep a smile plastered on your face no matter how you feel!
Which reminds me of another popular Christmas song
Away in a Manger
The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus no crying he makes.
Why? Why wouldn't Baby Jesus cry? He's a newborn infant, if he doesn't cry, something's wrong. Why do we associate a lack of crying with goodness? We all do it. When someone has a baby that doesn't cry much, we say "oh, he's such a good boy!" But we can't even assume that because the Baby Jesus is the holy, sinless son of God, that somehow means he wouldn't cry, because:
Luke 19:41
As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it
John 11:35
35Jesus wept. 36So the Jews were saying, "See how He loved him!"…
So, if we know that adult Jesus cried, why would we assume that the baby Jesus didn't?
I don't know. But there is apparently something about Christmas that makes people want to suppress any negative emotions.
Never thought of it that way, but we do know that people become more depressed over the Xmas holidays. Perhaps our expectations get raised to a higher level and we know we're supposed to be happy even when we get a fruit cake for a gift! :)
ReplyDeleteOh, "Jesus wept" brings back memories. I used to compete in Bible verse memorization contests when I was a kid. EVERYONE had "Jesus wept" in their repertoire because it was like a freebie "gimme."
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