SCROOGE AND THE DEATH THAT GIVES LIFE 47 benevolence, the change in his heart displayed through good deeds: “and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas very well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.” The shadow of death has brought forth life. Life from Death When Marley first appears, Scrooge, ever the practical man, wishes to establish that the ghost is in fact real rather than a gastronomically inspired delusion. In fact, he begins the interview by flatly refusing to believe in its reality at all. Yet he must come to accept that reality if he is to undergo any moral correction, and the ghost insists that he do so. “What evidence would you have of my reality, beyond that of your senses?” Marley challenges. But the concern to establish the reality of the visitation is not the ghost’s alone: the narrator insists upon it. “There is no doubt that Marley was dead. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come from the story I am going to relate.” Not only must readers accept this as fact, we must also understand that Scrooge knows it too: “Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise?” This episode recalls the appearance of Christ to the disciples after the resurrection. They knew he was dead, yet they saw him now alive. He appeared to them not as a spirit (that is what they fear) but in body with “flesh and bones” (Luke 24:37-39)—which he demonstrated by eating in front of them. He overcame even the most stubborn of the doubters, Thomas, by appealing to his senses: “Reach your finger here and look at my hands; and reach your hand here and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing” (John 20:27). The visitation is real. Christ rose from the grave and appeared before them, not as a tormented shade, but as the master of death and the king of life. Spiritual Transformation In Dickens’s story, Scrooge reforms his life with respect to his fellow man. But the reality of the resurrection is far more powerful. Faith in Christ does not merely reform, it also transforms. His death and resurrection mean we are dead to sin but alive in Christ (Romans 6:11). We too have
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