Christmas always feels a little more Christmasy to me when I get to watch It’s a Wonderful Life, The Santa Clause, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and the claymation Rudolph movie from the 60s. One film I’ve never included in my annual repertoire is Elf. Since it was one of the four selections for my church’s sermon series, Christmas at the Movies, I’ve had more conversations this year about Elf than I’ve ever had, and I’ve learned that I haven’t been alone in leaving it out of the annual rewatch season. In fact, more than half the people I talked to said it was their least favorite Christmas movie. Despite that, in preparation for this series, I’ve watched the film three times now, and I’ve been able to process it in a way that’s added fresh perspective to the Christmas story for me. So, hear me out!
For any readers who haven’t seen it, Elf is the story of a human boy named Buddy. One Christmas, when Buddy was a baby In an orphanage, Santa visited, and Buddy crawled his way from his crib into Santa’s bag of gifts. He ended up at the North Pole, where he was taken in and raised by elves. Buddy always sensed that he was a little different: “Seems like everyone else has the same talents except for me,” he says when he falls short of a gift-making quota. Soon enough, Buddy finds out he is a human, and that his real father lives in a “magical land called New York City.” A snowman tells him, “This might be the golden opportunity to find out who you really are,” and Buddy leaves his home in search of, well, his real home. He heads out in search of his father.
Buddy grew up in the North Pole (which we’ll take here as a metaphor for the pure, sinless world of heaven), and he makes his way to New York City (the fallen, human world). When he reaches the city, it would be an understatement to say, he stands out. Much like Ted Lasso in his eponymous series, Buddy lives out his hopeful, honest worldview, regardless of the skeptical darkness around him. Undeterred by the surrounding atmosphere, Buddy’s sincere optimism slowly transforms a city that has nearly given up on hope.
On this journey to belief, Elf–like any Christmas classic–is a great starting point for reflecting on the story of Christmas. What makes Elf a challenge to discuss, I’ll admit, is that half of its main points fit perfectly with the real Christmas story, and the other half is exactly the opposite of the Christmas story. Today, I’ll briefly consider two examples of each.
“speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:16)
Buddy is able to connect with New Yorkers by speaking the truth to them, in love. By meeting them where they are and sharing a genuine moment with them.
In a Gimbel’s department store, Buddy sees Zoey Deschanel’s character, Jovie, dressed as an elf and decorating a tree. When she catches him staring, she asks, “Are you enjoying the view?” He tells her it’s nice to see someone else with an “affinity for elf culture.” She tells him she’s “just trying to get through the holidays,” and he asks, confused, “Get through? Christmas is the greatest day in the whole wide world!” She assumes he’s just being obnoxious to try to hit on her, and she replies, “Please stop talking to me.” His response is one that you might just miss on a first-time viewing, but it’s exactly right: “Uh-oh. Sounds like someone needs to sing a Christmas carol.”
Throughout the story, we learn that’s exactly what Jovie needs. She tells Buddy, “I can sing, but I just choose not to sing. Especially in front of other people.” When she’s alone, singing in the Gimbel’s shower one morning, Buddy in the distance hears her singing “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” He goes to join her, harmonizing with her, and later he tells her, “By the way, I think you have the most beautiful singing voice in the whole wide world.” As she processes his tone and body language, it’s clear she believes him. She’s silently touched by his sincere support. In fact, it’s enough of a confidence boost that by the film’s end, when we learn that Santa’s sleigh won’t fly because it needs more Christmas cheer, Jovie stands up and leads the crowd in singing, “Santa Clause is Coming to Town.” Her singing spirit saves the day, proving Buddy was right: Someone needed to sing a Christmas carol.
Buddy really has a knack for genuinely complimenting people. He says to his father’s secretary, “Deb, you have such a pretty face. You should be on a Christmas card!” Deb replies enthusiastically, “You just made my day!” Buddy connects with a young girl named Carolyn in a doctor’s office, and he connects with his young step-brother, Michael, by joining him in a snowball fight (and surprising him by his superhuman snowball fight skills, acquired from years of North Pole training). Each person Buddy personally interacts with ends up being instrumental in the big rally to believe and get Santa’s sleigh off the ground at the end of the film. Each person is moved by Buddy “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:6), and they respond accordingly with what we’ll call Christmas cheer.
“test the spirits to see” (1 John 4:1)
To borrow a popular expression, Buddy has no problems calling a spade a spade. His commitment to honesty proves infectious (or contagious, or some more positive word that isn’t connected with spreading diseases). That honesty highlights the genuine goodness in the people around him, but it also finds the counterfeit quickly.
In one of the movie’s most memorable scenes, Buddy is ecstatic to find out Santa is coming to Gimbel’s. “I know him!” he shouts, and he labors overnight to decorate the store for Santa’s arrival. When the typical department-store Santa shows up, Buddy comes up close and asks, “Who the heck are you?”
“What are you talking about?” the man says. “I’m Santa Claus.”
“No you’re not.”
“Uh, why, of course I am! Ho ho ho ho ho!” Santa tries to continue his visit with a young boy named Paul, asking what he’d like for Christmas.
“Paul,” Buddy whispers from behind Santa’s back. “Don’t tell him what you want. He’s a liar.”
“Let the kid talk,” Santa insists.
“You disgust me,” Buddy counters. “How can you live with yourself?”
“Just cool it, zippy.”
“You sit on a throne of lies…You’re a fake.”
“I’m a fake?”
“Yes…You smell like beef and cheese. You don’t smell like Santa.” This is the last straw for department-store Santa, and the two get into a tussle. Buddy yells to the kids standing in line to meet Father Christmas, “He’s a fake! He’s a fake! He’s not Santa Claus!”
This is, admittedly, a cringe-comedy scene. As viewers, it feels a bit like Buddy is the one missing out on the truth: Everyone knows department-store Santas aren’t the real Santa. They just sit in a chair in a shopping mall so local kids can have a photo-op moment and voice their Christmas wishes loud enough for parents to hear and go buy a gift to make that wish come true. Buddy’s naivety is upsetting to the adults in the film-world, and that awkwardness can extend to viewers, too.
Instead of focusing on the cringe-worthy side of this scene, though, I think it’s worth noting another side of Buddy’s dedication to the truth: Not only is he quick to see the best in people and vocalize those points in support of them, he is quick to see fraudulent behavior and call it out for what it is.
On my rewatch(es), this whole scene reminded me of Scripture’s teachings on false prophets. In a way, I thought, Buddy follows the advice of John: “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1). Buddy knows the real Santa, so when he walks up to this department-store Santa to take a closer look (and smell), he knows this isn’t it.
Of course, every adult in the department store also knows “this isn’t it.” To them, that’s not the point. They accept someone dressed up as Santa readily enough, since a visit to the mall to meet Santa is simply a fun holiday tradition. Why does Buddy need to spoil the fun?
Here, I think of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. He writes of people who, analogous to a department-store Santa, “disguise themselves as servants of righteousness” (2 Cor. 11:15). Like the shoppers at Gimbels, the Corinthians didn’t really seem to care: “For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough” (2 Cor. 11:4). Instead of discerning truth from fiction, people are happy to haphazardly accept whatever views come their way. Lies can be incredibly harmful, and Paul is sure to confirm, “The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying” (2 Cor. 11:31).
The entire concept of department-store Santas goes right over Buddy’s head, and he will not “readily enough” put up with a Father Christmas who isn’t the real deal. In fact, he goes so far as to tell the young boy, Paul, not to tell this imposter anything. He wants this child to know the truth. “And why?” the Apostle Paul continues, “Because I do not love you? God knows I do!” (2 Cor. 11:11). Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is use Scripture to correct harmful misunderstandings (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Admittedly, we’re told to do this “with gentleness and respect” (1 Pet. 3:15), so Buddy’s exact tactics may not be advisable…
“Nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything” (Acts 17:25)
One of the reasons Elf has been a less approachable Christmas film for me is because its most striking points are actually the opposite of the Christmas story. Let me explain.
In the film’s climactic scene, Santa’s sleigh has crashed in Central Park. An onlooker excitedly announces, “It’s him! It’s the real Santa!” But the real Santa has a problem: “His sleigh won’t fly, ’cause nobody believes in him!” Those who’ve been impacted by Buddy’s love rally together, getting the townspeople to sing a Christmas song and spread genuine Christmas cheer to power Santa’s sleigh. When they’re successful, Santa’s sleigh takes off, and he’s back to work, and the day is saved.
This message falls a bit flat because this is exactly not how God works. God doesn’t need anything from us. This has been a popular misunderstanding for as long as man-made religion has been around. The ancient Greeks, for example, had this idea backwards, too. Paul tells them so in his address at the Areopagus in Athens, as recorded in Acts 17:
“Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”
Acts 17:22-25
God doesn’t need anything from people. To suggest otherwise is so backwards, it’s almost humorous. Scripture teaches clearly that God is infinitely, eternally, unchangeably self-sufficient. Further, the three persons of the Godhead–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit–have eternally enjoyed perfect, loving community. Everything that God created, He did so out of free grace and love, not out of loneliness, boredom, or some other necessity.
People often leave food offerings at temples, thinking that if they provide sustenance to the gods, the gods will be healthier, happier, and more likely to help people out. Psalm 50 corrects this logic:
“I am God, your God…I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
Psalm 50:7-15
God corrects our backwards logic: Far from Him needing anything from us, He is the one who provides everything to all creation. As James puts it, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down” not from us, but “from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17). Our job is to acknowledge that and say, “Thank you.”
At Christmas, we celebrate and say “thank you” for the most wonderful gift God ever gave: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). Though people willfully chose to separate themselves from God, pridefully seeking self-rule instead of accepting God’s rule, God didn’t leave us on that hopeless track to endless disaster. He didn’t owe anyone a second chance and would have been perfectly just to let us fail, but He still sent Jesus to us. In the words of Paul, “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (Eph. 2:4-5). This is “the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8), and it is the gift of Christmas.
Santa Claus in the world of Elf depends on people to believe in him. As we watch, we can appreciate that the God of the universe is so much better than that. He will continue to be exactly who He is regardless of us. Thank God!
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18)
On a related note, there is one other major theme in Elf that gets the Christmas story exactly backwards. When Buddy learns that his “real father lives in a magical place far away,” he has a newfound longing to find where he’s really from, and to connect with his real father.
So, Buddy walks all the way to New York City, to meet his dad who works in the Empire State Building. His father, who is on the naughty list, is less than excited to meet his son. Buddy is persistent, and slowly his father’s heart softens, until he finally joins in the Christmas carol to help Santa’s sleigh fly. In the story of Elf, the son searches for and saves the father.
This is exactly the opposite of the Christmas story. We, the “sons,” are incapable of going in search of God and finding Him all by ourselves. All the way back in Genesis, “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5). The language here is clear: every intention is only evil. Whatever good is in us, that, too, is a gift that comes down from the Father (James 1:17). Naturally, we are not mortally sick in our trespasses; we are dead in our trespasses (Eph. 2:5). We’re dependent on our Father to come after us. And He does. “I will not leave you as orphans,” God says, “I will come to you” (John 14:18). Our God is Immanuel–God with us. Merry Christmas!
Conclusion
Elf is not a theologically perfect film, but it’s still a fun film and a gift of common grace we can freely enjoy. It’s a good conversation starter for anyone looking to consume Christmas content more intentionally and thoughtfully.
Up next: It’s a Wonderful Life
Sources:
- Ward Church. “Christmas at the Movies | Part 2 | Elf with Dr. Scott McKee.” 10 December 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rivdcU8z_NI
Discussion Questions:
- Pastor Scott recounts the scene when Buddy is so excited to see Santa in the department store because he knows Santa. How has your knowledge of God grown over time? How does knowing God better relate to our joy?
- Read Deuteronomy 6:5-7. In the sermon, Pastor Scott asks us to consider what it would look like to influence your family toward God, no matter what place you have in the family. How would you respond to this challenge in this Christmas season of family gatherings? What are some obstacles you could encounter?
- Pastor Scott speaks of having an “orphan heart.” In the movie, Buddy goes on a quest to find his real father and his real home. Similarly, “Everyone here was born with an intuitive sense that this is not our real home. Everyone here was born with an intuitive desire to know our Father in heaven, and we long for the Father’s affirmation and love.” How have you personally experienced this?
- Do you know anyone who is restlessly searching for meaning, peace, contentment, and/or love? What are some practical ways you can meet them where they are and guide them to the only true source of all those things: our Father God?
- To close the sermon, Pastor Scott suggested possible next steps: “Maybe your next step is to acknowledge that God has been lovingly pursuing you your whole life. Maybe your next step is to tell God you want to come home. Maybe your next step is simply to come back next week to reflect on the message of advent. Whatever you do, take a step toward the Father.” What is your next step?
- What is one moment from the movie or the message that helped you think about the Christmas story in a fresh way?
Detroit, Reformed. 
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