What do Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Jesus Christ Have in Common?

We all know the beloved Christmas song about the famous reindeer Rudolph.  We celebrate the greatest Holy Day for the birth of Jesus the Christ.  What do a reindeer and the savior have in common?  Let me explain where I am coming from.

 

My husband and I spend Christmas Day with the in-laws of our son in Kentucky.  On our way home, we were listening to Christmas songs, and I tried to sing the lyrics to keep focused on the road.  We had heard “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” already several times on our road trip, when right after “O Come, All Ye Faithful”  came through the radio.  I started to reflect on the meaning of both and suddenly realized that the popular song of the famous reindeer had a very deep meaning behind. 

Its original creation came from Robert L. May, a 34-year-old copywriter who wrote the story for Montgomery Ward Department store in 1939.  A little while later, May’s brother-in-law, Johnny Marks wrote the music to the beloved Christmas song which is now the 2^nd most beloved Christmas song after White Christmas.

 

As the song goes:

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen but do you know the most famous reindeer of all?

Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
had a very shiny nose
and if you ever saw it
you would even say it glows
all of the other reindeer
used to laugh and call him names
they never let poor Rudolph
join in any reindeer games
then one foggy Christmas eve
Santa came to say:
"Rudolph with your nose so bright
won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"
then how the reindeer loved him
as they shouted out with glee (yippee)
"Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
you'll go down in history."

Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
had a very shiny nose
and if you ever saw it
you would even say it glows
all of the other reindeer
used to laugh and call him names
they never let poor Rudolph
join in any reindeer games
then one foggy Christmas eve
Santa came to say:
"Rudolph with your nose so bright
won't you guide my sleigh tonight"
then how the reindeer loved him
as they shouted out with glee (yippee)
"Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
you'll go down in history"

 

As the story goes, there were the eight reindeer which teased and persecuted Rudolph because he was different.  He was a misfit with a red nose and the others bullied him and called him names.  During all this time he became a strong reindeer, fulfilling his nature-given purpose.  He waited bravely for his glorious moment when Santa Claus himself chose him to become the leader of the reindeer sleight to light the way to deliver the gifts to all the children for Christmas.

 

Here is my take on the similarities: 

Jesus was an outcast, an eccentric and a rebel, while Rudolph was shunned by his fellow reindeer and excluded by their games.  Both were born in a stable, in humble circumstances.  Jesus developed his leadership and internal determination to save mankind by communicating with his heavenly Father who helped him to love the unloved: lepers, tax-collectors, prostitutes and sinners.  Rudolph was given the chance to lead the sleigh-team because of a snow storm on Christmas Eve.  Both led with their internal light, their shining example.  Their glorious moments came when in time of dire need where nobody else could help.

 

In a way the story of Rudolph is the story of our lives, we struggle through life with disappointments and ups and downs.  We all have a red-nose story because we are all different from the others who may tease us for being too tall, too fat, too smart, too weak.  We tend to belief in our weaknesses more than in our strength.  When Robert May made up the story he pretty much told the story of his own life, growing up being bullied because of his weak and small stature and encountered many unfortunate situations in his life.  He feared for his little daughter Barbara to have a future of poverty and poor health (his wife had just died of cancer).  He worked on the story for a long time to give to her as an original present, and then even presented it at a Christmas party at Montgomery Ward.  It became an instant success.  His behavior was like the ending of his book: Rudolph was bashful, despite of being a hero. 

 

Both Rudolph and Jesus believed in their strength despite the persecution and ridicule and they became victorious.  That’s where their similarities end because Jesus gave up his life, saying: “Yet Not as I will, but as Thou will”. (Matthew 26:39)

 

 

I like to finish this blog with an excerpt from a sermon by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon who had many personal experiences with Jesus during his life (1920-2012).  This is an excerpt from a sermon given on October 11, 1959, entitled The Situation of Jesus:

 

“Jesus was supposed to walk to the end of the path of suffering while he was on earth.  He had to walk to the end of the path, no matter how difficult it might be.  He was born in a barn.  No matter how difficult and miserable a person’s situation may be, no one was born in a barn.  The providence of salvation begins from the lowest point.  Jesus was born in this lowest of situations and did not receive love while he was growing up.  Christians should understand this clearly.  In the thirty years of Jesus’ life, there were many sorrowful events.  Although Jesus was born into Joseph’s family, to Joseph he was a stepson.  He was a stepson of no blood relation to him.

The children born between Joseph and Mary looked down upon Jesus.   Think about it.  Jesus was a stepson.  Jesus was a miserable person who was mistreated even by his younger brothers and sisters.  He did not have parents he could depend upon emotionally, and he did not have a family where he could find a place of rest.  That was not all; yet Jesus grew up under the direct instructions of Heaven.  Because Jesus possessed a heart of hope for the future, even in such circumstances, he looked at the people, the nation and the world.

Why didn’t Jesus resent the situation he was in?  It was because he understood God’s heart.  He knew that the Father he believed in and worshipped had walked a bitter path for four thousand years.  He knew that he had the mission to take responsibility for and restore through indemnity all the mistakes of his ancestors who had repeatedly wronged God.  Therefore, he could not be resentful toward those who opposed him.  Because he had the same heart as God, even when he was dying on the cross, he blessed the people who opposed him.  Christians today think that Jesus came to die.  It may seem simple because they only look at the outcome.  However, they do not understand the situation of Jesus up to his death.  They do not understand the heart of God as He looked down at the dying Jesus.”

 

The reason we love Jesus is that he understood other’s situations, lived for them and redeemed them.  That's why we call him Savior.  That’s why we celebrate Christmas and celebrate his birth.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!