Tiny Tim: A Reflection of Christ in Scrooge’s Redemption Story
A Christmas Carol is one of the most well-known Christmastime tales in the English-speaking world. In fact, its characters and imagery are completely integrated into many of our Christmas traditions from Mrs. Cratchit’s plum pudding to Tiny Tim’s benediction, “God bless us all, everyone!”
But is it possible that this story, with its powerful themes of repentance and regeneration, has become so familiar that it’s lost its punch? Since 1908, 135 movie and television versions have been produced. Some of the finest actors in many generations have taken on the role of Ebeneezer Scrooge, while other versions include characters from popular culture including Barbie, the Smurfs, Mickey Mouse, and Bugs Bunny. There are fifteen graphic novel editions, including one set in the Marvel Universe. There is even a zombie version.
Bah! Humbug!
The actual novella reads like a gospel story of redemption, in which Ebeneezer Scrooge is visited by three ghosts and is made aware of and convicted by his sin. But it is not until the death of a sinless child that Scrooge fully repents of his sins and is fully regenerated, resolving to be a different person. Redemption comes through the death of Tiny Tim; indeed, as we will see, Tiny Tim is something of a Christ-figure in A Christmas Carol.
We first meet Scrooge as an unrepentant sinner. The narrator tells us in the very first pages that Scrooge is “a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner.” The words convey not only his stinginess and greed but also the condition of his heart. Even his physical features match the coldness of his personality and character, with his nipped, pointed chin, shriveled cheek, stiff gait, and thin, blue lips. This could be the description of a corpse, for indeed Scrooge is dead inside, as we all are before Christ intervenes in our lives (Eph. 2:1).
However, in the story we are about to see an example of a uniquely Christian principle: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). When Scrooge is home alone on Christmas Eve, he is visited by the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, who is bound by the chains of the sins he committed in life: greed, avarice, stinginess—much the same as Scrooge’s sins. Marley regrets that during his lifetime he never raised his eyes “to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode! Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!” This reference to the “blessed Star” transports the reader not just to Christmastime in Victorian London but to the very first Christmas. Dickens chooses his words very carefully when he has Marley’s ghost say, “poor abode” instead of “a stable in Bethlehem.” We will soon find out why this choice is important.
Scrooge learns he will be visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. Each of these ghosts brings Scrooge greater insight as to why he has become so cold and hardened, what effect his sin has had on others, and what the consequences of his sin will be. The Ghost of Christmas Past forces Scrooge to acknowledge a painful, lonely childhood as well as an idealistic youth that slowly transforms him into the Scrooge of his present, who cares only about money.
The Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge the effect that his selfish greed has had on others, especially the Cratchit family who have a meager Christmas celebration in their poor abode. He also shows Scrooge what he has missed out on by letting him see the warm family Christmas parties, first at the Cratchit’s, then at Fred Holywell’s house. But the most important person whom Scrooge meets in this section is Tiny Tim.
We are meant to think of Christ when we see Tiny Tim. Many children are good, but Tim hopes that “the people saw him in church, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas, who made lame beggars walk and blind men see.” He wants people to look at him and think of Jesus—and so must we. The suggestion that Tim is a shadow of Jesus is important for the conversation that follows. Scrooge is so touched observing Christmas day at the Cratchit’s, and especially Tim, that he asks the ghost if the child will live. The Ghost replies that he sees, “in the poor chimney-corner, a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die.” In response, Scrooge is “overcome with penitence and grief.”
We see here that after observing the Cratchit family, especially Tiny Tim, Scrooge’s eyes and his heart are opened. He wants Tim to live, and he is both grieved and penitent with the knowledge that Tim will die before another year passes unless someone steps in to improve the family’s circumstances.
Scrooge then finds himself with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come at the home of the Cratchits once more. Here, the family is gathered—except for Tiny Tim, who has recently died. Bob describes his son in terms that are frequently used to describe Jesus, “patient and mild” (Matt 11:29; 2 Peter 3:9). Tim was patient and mild, as Jesus is, and thinking of him will keep the family peaceful and unified for the rest of their lives.
The narrator closes out the tender scene addressing the child: “Spirit of Tiny Tim, thy childish essence was from God!” Yes, Tim was Christ-like in many ways, and his very essence was from God. The death of Tim, as we shall see, is the very thing that brings about the complete repentance and regeneration of Ebenezer Scrooge.
While guided by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, Scrooge sees something no human would want to see: the people who know him are actually glad he is dead. The stave ends in a graveyard where the spirit points to a fresh grave and Scrooge reads his own name. Here the message could not be clearer: The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). Now, we see Scrooge’s true and complete repentance. “Hear me! I am not the man I was! I will not be the man I must have been.”
Now Scrooge finds himself back in his room on Christmas morning. He has been regenerated, and he has the rest of his life to work out his salvation. The tone of the narration affirms and matches Scrooge’s change of heart. The gloomy, foggy, dour voice has been replaced with clarity and brilliance. “Golden sunlight; Heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells. Oh, glorious! Glorious!”
Scrooge is now ready to make restitution for his past. In a sense, he has become a doer of the word (James 1:22). He begins by secretly sending a prize turkey to the Cratchits. Next, he gives a generous donation to help the poor of the city. Afterward, he goes to church, and following the service, he becomes one of the many merry Londoners walking abroad and greeting one another. His regeneration becomes visible to all. This man, once little more than a breathing corpse, is full of life and love and has begun his transformation into the image of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18).
But the best part of this story’s conclusion is that Tiny Tim is alive again! It is not too late to make a difference. Scrooge raises Bob’s salary and pledges to assist Bob’s family to help Tim get well. That meek and mild child, who came to Scrooge that Christmas, was the very one who met him in a humble abode, died, and was raised (in the denouement) to bring Ebeneezer Scrooge true repentance and regeneration. The analogy here between Tiny Tim and the risen Christ is too obvious and powerful to ignore. All analogies are limited and merely hint at something greater. The parallels between Tiny Tim and Christ clearly have boundaries. But we would be missing a key part of Dicken’s work if we didn’t allow it to turn our eyes toward Christ, particularly at the Christmas season when we are focused on the innocent child whose death and resurrection bought our redemption.
Yes, A Christmas Carol may be familiar, but there are many benefits to reading it yearly apart from mere nostalgia. Through it, we can relive our own salvation story and how God sought us and redeemed us. Scrooge’s story can also give us hope as we pray for unsaved loved ones. Dickens captures in fictional form what God does invisibly in the hearts of those we pray for. By seeing the hardness and bitterness of “the old sinner,” we are reminded that no person is beyond the reach of God’s love, and that the Spirit is always working behind the scenes to bring redemption to the lost.
Diane Jones is a freelance writer, poet, and retired English teacher. She published A Dove on the Distant Oaks, a collection of poetry in 2017 that was reviewed in World Magazine. She is a member of Mount Airy PCA in Mount Airy, Maryland.