Halloween is a special time for a lot of people. In some ways it is the friendliest holiday. What other holiday encourages you to meet complete strangers in their homes? And it has grown quite a bit since I was a kid. Back then I only remember children doing anything special for the day. My brother and I would go to the store and get some pretty badly made costumes with plastic masks that always would break. But that and a pillowcase were all we needed to plunder the neighborhood’s candy at night. Now it is a different story, More and more people are doing something for Halloween. People start decorating their homes at the beginning of October. There are Halloween parties. And television channels have Halloween themed stories and movies. I counted 14 Halloween specials on regular TV in one day in the month.
Do you know what started the television Halloween special? If you guessed Charlie Brown you got it right. “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” first aired on October 27, 1966. It was the second Charlie Brown special (The Christmas show was first). It was so popular that some reports say about half the country watched it. This was the granddaddy of them all. Before then no one thought to do anything special for Halloween on television. But that show certainly opened the floodgates. Now it seems almost every mainstream television show has a special episode dedicated to the holiday.
The idea of the Great Pumpkin didn’t start with the television special. The Charlie Brown comic strip mentions it long before 1966. The plot is always the same though. Linus waits patiently all night at a nearby pumpkin patch, hoping to see a glimpse of the Great Pumpkin. According to Linus the Great Pumpkin chooses one pumpkin patch (the one that is the most sincere) each year to make an appearance. Linus always thinks he has found the best place and spends all night waiting, only to be disappointed when no one shows up.
No one believes in the Great Pumpkin except for Linus. Early in the script Charlie Brown asks Linus when he will stop believing in something that isn’t true.
Isn’t this faith?
Linus has a profound belief in something he cannot prove exists and never sees any evidence of. Other children make fun of him for spending his night in the pumpkin patch instead of getting candy. But his belief never wavers. At the end of the night Linus always remains resolute. He vows that next year, the Great Pumpkin will finally arrive.
is this story a satire on Christianity? There are some that think so. What is the story really telling us? Does the fact that the Great Pumpkin never shows up somehow make Linus’ belief wrong?
A lot of people have had faith in something happening, only to have it not occur (at least not in their lifetime). The bible has a lot of people who never really saw the fruits of their religious labor.
Hebrews 11:1-16
11 1-2 The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.
3 By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see.
4 By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. It was what he believed, not what he brought, that made the difference. That’s what God noticed and approved as righteous. After all these centuries, that belief continues to catch our notice.
5-6 By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. “They looked all over and couldn’t find him because God had taken him.” We know on the basis of reliable testimony that before he was taken “he pleased God.” It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.
7 By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn’t see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved. His act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world. As a result, Noah became intimate with God.
8-10 By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.
11-12 By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said. That’s how it happened that from one man’s dead and shriveled loins there are now people numbering into the millions.
13-16 Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that—heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them.
Recall some of the people mentioned in that passage. Poor Abel. All he did was give the correct offering and he died for it. Noah was never really happy after the flood and likely never saw the world in the same way again. Abraham and Sarah never got to see the great nation that was promised. Moses never made it to the promised land. And what about the Israelite slaves in Egypt? Many lived and died in slavery and never saw their people form their own nation.
Is Linus any different?
The truth about this holiday special is that it is most likely a satire about Santa Claus. Here is a copy of a conversation between the Charlie Brown creator, Charles Schulz, and Lee Mendelson (producer) and Bill Melendez (animator):
Schulz: You know, I’ve always been kind of ambivalent about Santa Claus.
Mendelson and Melendez: Santa Claus?
Schulz: That’s right. First of all, we forget that there are hundreds of thousands of poor kids in this world who are lucky if they get even one or two presents at Christmas time. And here they’ve heard so much about Santa Claus and all the gifts he delivers. It must be very hard on a lot of families…a lot of kids. And, secondly, when a kid finally finds out that there is no Santa Claus, he must wonder how many other things he has been told that are not true.
Now I may be way off on all this Santa Claus business, and it’s not a big deal I guess. But the Great Pumpkin is really a kind of satire on Santa Claus, because Linus of course writes for gifts and expects to get them. And when the Great Pumpkin doesn’t come, Linus is crushed. It shows that you can’t always get what you hoped for but you can still survive…and you can still keep trying. Linus never gives up, just like Charlie Brown.
I want to have faith like Linus. I want to have a faith that isn’t dependent on worldly results. The end of the episode would have been quite different if Linus had decided to give up. If he had agreed not to go the pumpkin patch next year I wonder how many people would still watch the show. My guess is not many. We come back to the story because Linus is steadfast. It is inspirational, and a little funny at the same time. Linus has more faith than almost anyone I know.
That’s why I keep watching.
God Bless