Scared of Santa?

Jesus, teach me to never be scared of you! Amen.

John the Baptist was getting people ready for Jesus' coming, and they were confused. "Are you God, or a prophet?" they asked John. "No," John told them. "Then why are you baptizing people?" they asked. John answered, "I'm only baptizing you with water. Jesus is coming soon, and He's really God! He's so great, I don't even deserve to untie His shoes."

Santa scares some kids. They go to sit on his lap at the mall and tell him what they'd like for Christmas, but they get frightened!

Santa is a big guy, dressed in clothes different from what other people wear, and kids only see him once a year. It's easy to see why he can seem scary. In this week's Gospel (John 1:6-8,19-28), we get the idea that people may have felt that way about Jesus, too.

When John the Baptist was baptizing people and teaching about God, they could see that he was a little unusual. Most people didn't do what John did! But then John told them about Jesus: the Son of God, a really special person who was coming soon. John said that Jesus was so great, John wasn't even worthy to untie Jesus' shoes!

The people John taught must have thought of Jesus the way a kid thinks of Santa: He was an important guy they wanted to be close to, but that was a little scary, too.

If kids feel scared of visiting Santa at the mall, parents will usually help them see that Santa is a good guy. John the Baptist wanted everyone to know that about Jesus, too: Even though Jesus was the Son of God, He loved everybody and wanted to talk with them and teach them how to be good and go to heaven someday.

Some kids get scared of Santa, but John wanted to make sure no one felt scared of Jesus!