Welcome back, dear reader, to the fourth episode: A Christmas Carol Stave II. As we turn the page to Stave II, it is a joy to walk beside you again—pausing together in the quiet glow of reflection as we watch Ebenezer Scrooge’s night unfold. If you’ve come this far in the series, I trust you’ve felt the gentle stirrings of hope and memory that Dickens so carefully weaves and perhaps glimpsed how the story’s echoes of Scripture call us to come and see.
The Ghost of Jacob Marley left, and Scrooge had fallen asleep.
The Ghost of Christmas Past
“When Scrooge awoke, it was so dark, that looking out of bed, he could scarcely distinguish the transparent window from the opaque walls of his chamber.”
Throughout Scripture the images of light and dark are used to demonstrate the difference between God and Satan, between good and evil, between life with Jesus and life in the world. Dickens uses the images in a similar fashion, especially with the Ghost of Christmas Past.
Scrooge waited for the Ghost to appear while arguing with himself whether Marley actually visited him or he imagined the entire episode. He did recall that Marley told him that the First of the three Spirits would visit him when the bell tolled ONE… which made no sense since he hadn’t gone to bed until after two, but the tolling of the clock told him that indeed, ONE o’clock was imminent.
“Light flashed up in the room upon the instant, and the curtains of his bed were drawn.”
“The curtains of his bed were drawn aside, I tell you, by a hand… The curtains of his bed were drawn aside; and Scrooge starting up into a half-recumbent attitude, found himself face to face with the unearthly visitor who drew them: as close to it as I am now to you, and I am stand in the spirit at your elbow.”
A hand. That is all Scrooge sees of his visitor. Until he sits up in bed and faces the Spirit. Our narrator breaks the third person narration to address the reader directly to give us a little chill of our own.
The Light of Truth
Dickens describes the ghost in detail including the jet of light that sprung from the crown of its head that was the only light in the room. This light could not be hidden, and when Scrooge tries to smother it, Dickens tells us he does so out of distress—showing how much he wants to shut out the truth.
“Perhaps, Scrooge could not have told anybody why, if anybody could have asked him; but he had a special desire to see the Spirit in his cap; and begged him to be covered.
‘What?’ exclaimed the Ghost, ‘would you so soon put out, with worldly hands, the light I give? Is it not enough that you are one of those whose passions made this cap and force me through whole trains of years to wear it low upon my brow!’”
Those who do not wish to remember their sinful past have “put out with worldly hands the light” that the Spirit gives.
I Thessalonians 5:19-22 – Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.
Romans 1:18-19 – The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
The Ghost explains that he is The Ghost of Scrooge’s Past, and his purpose is Scrooge’s welfare and reclamation. You could say that he is there to provide Scrooge with divine healing, and he even bids Scrooge to come by saying, “Rise and walk with me!” in a very Christ-like manner.
Scrooge’s Emotions lead to Regret
Although Marley’s visit was ominous to Scrooge, this new experience proves rather enjoyable for him. He feels excited to see his old school, and when he experiences the most powerful pull on his memory—the smells of the place—he can hardly contain himself, and a tear, which he claims is a pimple, drops to his cheek.
He is surprised by his own joy when he sees so many people he knows by name, but when he sees himself, alone and deserted, he sobs.
“Scrooge wept to see his poor forgotten self as he used to be.”
Experiencing a glimpse of his childhood brings him a rush of emotions, from excitement and joy to pain and pity. As he gazes upon his former self, feeling both love and pity, he remembers the boy at his office on Christmas Eve: “I wish… but it’s too late now… There was a boy singing a Christmas Carol at my door last night. I should like to have given him something; that’s all.” Regret and remorse are new feelings for Scrooge.
The Ghost continues to guide Scrooge through memories of his past, including a visit from his beloved sister, Fan, and a joyful Christmas Party hosted by Old Fezziwig.
Scrooge Feels Remorse
Scrooge marvels at how much he loved Fezziwig. “He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil… The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.” As he utters these words, Scrooge is struck by reflection on his own role as an employer, considering the conditions in which Bob Cratchit works. Regret becomes evident in his expression, prompting the Ghost to inquire,
“What’s the matter?” asked the Ghost.
“Nothing particular,” said Scrooge.
“Something, I think?” the Ghost insisted.
“No,” replied Scrooge. “No. I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now. That’s all.”
The Painful Truth
The Ghost then leads Scrooge to one more painful memory: a conversation with his former fiancée, Belle. This moment forces Scrooge to confront what might have been—he realizes he could have married Belle and had a family. Seeing the happiness in Belle’s life, in stark contrast to his own loneliness, ignites a deep anger and sorrow within him.
“Spirit!” cried Scrooge, “Remove me! I cannot bear it!”
When he looks at the Spirit, he notices a face “in which in some strange way there were fragments of all the faces it had shown him.”
Overwhelmed by emotion, Scrooge lunges at the Spirit, wrestling with it as Jacob wrestled with the Angel in Genesis 32. In the struggle, Scrooge grabs the Spirit’s cap and tries to thrust it down over its head, desperately attempting to extinguish the light.
“The Spirit dropped beneath it, so that the extinguisher covered its whole form; but though Scrooge pressed it down with all his force, he could not hide the light: which streamed from under it, in an unbroken flood upon the ground.”
Through these visions, Scrooge is forced to confront the past he has worked so hard to forget. The Spirit’s light exposes the wounds, regrets, and choices that have shaped him—for better or worse. The glow reminds him of the person he once was and the person he still could become. Even though the truth is painful, it is ultimately redemptive, revealing what must be faced if Scrooge is to change. Dickens uses this light to show that facing the truth is the beginning of repentance and renewal.
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:4-5
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. John 3:19-21
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them. Ephesians 5: 8-11
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. I John 1:5-7
