Advent Week 1 | Hope

Marley was dead: to begin with...

The Annuciation, Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937), 1898, oil on canvas, Philadephia Museum of Art

Reflective reading: several passages in Isaiah: 9:1-2, 40:1-5, 27-31, 42:5-9; John 1:1-18

“Marley was dead: to begin with.”

Charles Dickens is known for his first lines. Here in A Christmas Carol, he delivers once again.

What is Dickens establishing here in the beginning of his ghost story-fairy tale?

In a word: deadness.

Marely was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge’s name was good upon ‘Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was dead as a door-nail.

Notice, it is a particular type of deadness: “dead as a door-nail,” our narrator tells us. He goes on to riff on the deadness of door-nails, saying that he thinks the deadness of a coffin-nail would be a more fitting analogy: “But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country’s done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.”

Dickens is taking a jab here, poking at Tory politicians who loved to use the phrase “wisdom of our ancestors” as justification for not adopting certain reform measures. (If you listen to Rhea and my upcoming podcast episode on A Christmas Carol—going live Dec. 3rd—you’ll hear some of the backstory on Dickens’s motivation for writing A Christmas Carol). But something else is happening here. There is deadness. But it isn’t “coffin nail” deadness. It’s “door” deadness. There may be deadness, but there is also hope.

There is a curious presence of “doors” and door parts in the opening pages to A Christmas Carol. We have the door-nail reference. Then there is a young boy who sings the Christmas carol “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” through the keyhole of Scrooge’s counting house (more on that in a moment). There is the doorknocker to Scrooge’s front door that turns into the face of his dead-as-a-door-nail partner, Jacob Marley. And there is the shut, locked door that Marley’s ghost walks through later that night. These are some of the more significant references, but hardly the sum-total.

What is Dickens doing with all these doors?

Jesus was known to use the “door” motif in his teachings:

• “Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened,” (Matthew 7:7-8) Jesus tells his disciples in his famous Sermon on the Mount.

• There is also the parable Jesus tells about the neighbor who goes to his friend at midnight asking for bread to feed visitors, and because the neighbor is impudent in his asking, though the door is shut for the night, the neighbor rises and gives him what he needs. (Luke 11:5-8; Luke connects this parable to Jesus’ same command as recorded in Matthew)

• In John’s Revelation vision, Jesus says: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20)

• Most significant of all Jesus’ references to doors, is when he calls himself a door: “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:7-10)

The door may be shut. We may even be the ones who’ve shut it and locked it tight against what we don’t want in, as Scrooge had clearly done in his own life. But, a shut door is no match for the One who knew us before we existed (Jeremiah 1:5), and came for us before we ever opened the door to Him (Romans 5:8). He alone calls us out of darkness and into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9) and is relentless in His pursuit.

Which brings me to another one prominent motif throughout Dickens’s tale, but especially prominent in “Stave One” of the story. It is that of darkness and light.

Everything in the beginning of the story is shrouded in darkness:

• The clock strikes three but it is quite dark already.

• The fog is heavy and grows with every passing hour, until it has made the shops on either side of the street nearly invisible.

• Scrooge’s home is dark: his hallway is dark, his rooms are dark. Scrooge himself is the epitome of walking darkness, even as he is also portrayed as practically dead, too (the cold doesn’t bother him; he is unmoved by the Christmas spirit around him, etc.).

And yet, glimmers of light continuously break through. The candle lights still glow through dirty, fogged up windows. The young boy’s carol still sings through the keyhole (most certainly of a dull golden brass color) of the closed door. Marley’s ghostly face in the door-knocker had a “dismal light about it.”

Within these glimmers of light, Dickens is declaring for Scrooge—and us!—there is Hope. Like the hope declared to God’s people, Scrooge’s Hope echoes out to him from his past in poetic, prophetic ways.

Take the caroler and his song:

"God bless you merry gentleman!
Let nothing you dismay!"

These are not the original words to the carol. The original lines go:

"God rest ye merry gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay."

From rest to bless. From the plural gentleman, to the singular, gentleman. Hope is calling out to Scrooge, promising His presence, calling him to courage: “Tonight is the night of your blessing, dear Scrooge! I am coming to make you into a gentle man. Be not afraid!”

And then there is the ultimate—albeit most terrifying—declaration of Hope: the visitation of Marley’s ghost.

The cellar-door flew open with a booming sound, and then he heard the noise much louder, on the floors below; then coming up the stairs; then coming straight towards his door.

“It’s humbug still!” said Scrooge. “I won’t believe it.”

His colour changed though, when, without a pause, it came on through the heavy door, and passed into the room before his eyes. Upon its coming in, the dying flame leaped up, as though it cried “I know him! Marley’s Ghost!” and fell again.

Though everything about the scene is shrouded in darkness and foreboding, Dickens has sprinkled through it so many small, yet significant pointers of Hope. Like Jesus who appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, though the door was shut tight against intruders. Or the wind rushing into the room on Pentecost, dividing into leaping tongues of fire. Marley comes to Scrooge in much the same way.

Because Hope for Dickens is embodied in the person of Jesus Christ as revealed in the pages of the Bible, the hope expressed through Marley’s ghost and message isn’t an airy, light-hearted kind of hope. It doesn’t come on the wings of cherubs. It isn’t found through wishes on rainbows. It’s actually rather terrifying. One must strain to see it and trust it’s there though no “feelings” of hopefulness accompany it.

Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. —Romans 8:24

What I love the most about Marley’s uninvited visit to Scrooge is just that—it was uninvited. Scrooge wasn’t praying for transformation. He wasn’t going about his days wishing he could be different than he was. And yet, the Hound of Heaven came after him. God loved Scrooge so much He sent his Son for him (John 3:16).

But he didn’t force Himself upon Scrooge. He didn’t zap Scrooge into right loving and living. Instead, he stood at the door knocking. And while He did, He sent his messengers ahead of him preparing the Way into Scrooge’s heart.

Beginning with Marley—with his message of severe, destabilizing, yet ultimately life-giving hope.

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Please believe me when I say this: I know what it is to feel hopeless over a thing—a relationship, a life circumstance, my own future. I also know what it’s like to not be looking for the hope of restoration to come. To not even want it.

Yes. You read that right.

And yet, God in His mercy and loving-kindness, does not let me stay in the darkness of my hopelessness. He pursues me, like He did Scrooge, insistent to bring me his blessing. Insistent on my full restoration into His light.

The Advent season is an invitation into Hope. Even if hope feels beyond your grasp; even if—like Scrooge—you’re not grasping for it at all. Especially then.

Be not dismayed! For this is the season of your blessing.

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Suggestions and questions for further reflection through this Advent week of Hope:

1. Use a study Bible (or an online Bible resource) to find other references in both the Old Testament and New Testament to hope. Make a list. Copy these in a journal. Spend time in reflection and prayer: in praise, request, or honest lament in relation to your own life that is with, or without, hope in this season.

2. Read or re-read “Stave One” of A Christmas Carol. Circle all the references to light, darkness, and doors. Make notes in the margins, or journal about the ways you see Dickens offering a message of hope through these metaphors and motifs.

3. From Rest to Bless—and back again: Consider the changed words to the carol, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Ultimately, Scrooge’s blessing of visitation by the ghosts was meant for his rest: that is, a life of God’s permanent in-dwelling rest within him. What is the connection between Sabbath rest and hope? Begin with the creation narrative. Connect this to Jesus’ own words. Study what the writer of Hebrews says. How might the Lord be calling you into His Sabbath rest, even in this time of Advent Hope?

4. Practice Visio Divina. Look at The Annunciation by Henry Ossawa Tanner at the beginning of the page. With your imagination, examine the painting using all your senses—even putting yourself inside the painting from various perspectives. How is true, living, Hope being expressed? What might the Lord be inviting you to consider about His hope through the work for this season of your life?

5. Read The Hound of Heaven by Francis Thompson. It’s a longer poem; please don’t be discouraged by this. If you have access to a printer, try to print it for a better reading experience (also, for note-taking ;-) ). Read the poem through. Then break it up into sections—consider a section a day. Where do you see hope springing forth in Thompson’s poem? What overlapping ideas do you recognize between Thompson’s poem and Dickens’s Carol? Use this entry in Wikipedia to help springboard your study.

6. Listen to this performance of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by the family roots band, The Petersens. Look for other renditions of this favorite carol. Share one in the comments section below! :D

May the Lord bless you and keep you in this week of waiting in Hope.