I wonder what you’ve made of this year’s flurry of Christmas adverts? Between John Lewis going all Little Shop of Horrors, M&S taking a flamethrower to family festivities, and Aldi giving us thinly-veiled euphemisms from a talking carrot, it’s been an odd bunch! For what its worth, my favourite offering for 2023 is Apple’s short film Fuzzy Feelings. But second place goes to Coca-Cola.

It’s a feel-good piece with a nice switch midway through, encouraging us to embody kindness, generosity, and goodwill.  

Sure, it’s a little on the nose at points (the depleted vending machine containing one solitary coke was unsubtle, especially since their illuminated red truck is already iconic enough to effortlessly allude to their product). But all in all, it’s nicely done. And it does provoke a few thoughts…

The Santa-Verse

The film begins with a plethora of Santa-people helping one another out – at the gym, at the laundrette, hailing a cab, or cheering on a well-executed skate move. And as the soundtrack tells us ‘anyone can be Santa.’ With the right costume, and perhaps the addition of a well-placed pillow, any of us can play the part.

Discussing this with a friend of mine, he pointed out something I’d missed; that this echoes an idea from one of this year’s top films, whose hero also wears an iconic red costume: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

This animated film, a sequel to 2018’s Into the Spider-Verse, follows Miles Morales as he adventures across a series alternative universes, encountering hundreds of Spider-People, each with a different style, look, and theme. An Irish/Mexican ninja vampire Spider-Man; a guitar-wielding, mohawk-wearing Spider-Punk; an anthropomorphic pig; a lego Spider-Man; a manga Spider-Man; a Spider-Rex, and about 240 more.

The film is a dazzling assault on the senses, in part due to the sheer number of different characters and illustrative styles. But the diverse representation is impressive, and it’s inspired many artists to create their own variants, putting their own spin on the iconic-costume, and perhaps even themselves inside.

The film’s writer and producer Christopher Miller put it like this:

“With that mask that covers an entire body and face, you can imagine yourself in that suit. The whole goal of this trilogy was to let everybody feel like it could be me, and show as many different types of people — and animals — being Spider-Man as possible.”

And what Marvel/Sony have done for Spider-Man, Coca-Cola have done for Santa. Inviting each of us to see ourselves within the iconic red suit, and embodying the message and mission of the hero. Which leads to the second observation.

Santa and the spirit of kindness

In this advert, Santa has come to epitomise the spirit of kindness, generosity, and goodwill. (Note, it’s a particularly jolly version of Santa – no lumps of coal, or naughty list in sight!) The spirit of Santa-like kindness is embodied in selfless acts such as shoving your arm into a closing train door; sacrificing a carrot to complete a snowman’s face; or visiting your family who, for whatever reason, seemed surprise that you bothered turning up at all. All of which are, of course, nice things to do.

I think we can all agree, the world needs a bit more kindness. But it strikes me as odd that it’s Santa who is considered the archetype of kindness; love incarnate; the hero this world needs. Especially since Christmas already gives us a solid contender for that role. Stealing the title from Jesus – and on his birthday of all days – seems a little… well… not really in the spirit of Santa!

Of course I get it! Coca-Cola is hardly likely to put out a Christmas ad telling us the world needs more Jesuses (Jesusi? What is the plural of Jesus?) And it’s far easier to call people to emulate a figure who represents all the characteristics of goodness, but who you don’t really have to believe in, and who doesn’t make any actual demands on your life.

But imagine for one moment the advert playing again, this time with every Santa swapped out for the Saviour. It would work, wouldn’t it? And it might actually be closer to the message of Christmas.

The Incarnation (1 John 4)

In his first letter, John celebrates the incarnation – the radical idea that

‘Jesus Christ has come in the flesh’

(1 John 4.2)

He writes,

‘This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him’ (v9)

And what does this new life look like? Well, it looks like living in love – us in God, and Him in us (v12, 16). But God’s love, John says, is not just something we can know. It becomes a source of strength we can rely on, making a tangible difference to the way we live (v16). The result of which is that,

‘In this world we are like Jesus’ (v17).

A passage that begins with Jesus taking on flesh ends with us taking on the mantle of Christ. We are called to embody Jesus in this world – representing him through our lives and actions, empowered by his Spirit within us.

As C.S. Lewis wrote,

“Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.”

(Mere Christianity)

And as Coca-Cola might have said: The world needs more Jesuses. Anyone can be Jesus.

Anyone can be Jesus?

Except that, in one sense nobody can be Jesus, which was the very reason he had to come! To make up for our sinful inadequacy. So when John writes about God showing His love through Christ, it wasn’t just through some random acts of kindness – such as, shoving his arm in the closing door of a train – but by laying down his life for us.

‘This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins’ (v10)

Jesus, unlike Santa or Spider-Man, is not just someone we can copy. Before we can put on the suit we need to put off our old self. We need to recognise our deep need for him as our substitute, and respond accordingly with repentance and faith. Jesus demands more than our last coke from the vending machine. He demands our lives, in response to his great sacrifice.

‘We love, because he first loved us’ (v19)

But when we do respond to the gospel – the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection on our behalf – we are then clothed in Christ through baptism (Galatians 3.26–27), and indeed encouraged continually to clothe ourselves in him so that we might live differently in this world (Romans 13.14).

Colossians 3 says that we have put off the old self, and put on the new one, which is being renewed in the image of its Creator (v9–10). And so Paul instructs us,

‘Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.’ (v12–14)

Those are the characteristics this world needs more of. That’s the suit we should seek to wear this Christmas. And what better way to celebrate the incarnation, than continuing to make Jesus present through our words and actions?     

As Teresa of Ávila put it,

‘Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours.’

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Photo by Srikanta H. U on Unsplash