Movie Review: The Nativity Story

Based the biblical events of Jesus' birth. The story is centered on Mary and Joseph, the human mother and father of Jesus, as they meet and travel to Bethlehem.

There are many subplots as well. King Herod, clearly the main antagonist in the movie, is portrayed as the paranoid ruler who fears losing his power. Though Herod does not actually come into contact with the main characters, with the exception of one brief scene, his influence as the "bad guy" is pivotal to the storyline. Also, another subplot is the wise men. The story explains their motivations in their quest to meet the King of Kings. As an observant movie buff, I would say that they come closest to being the comic relief, in an very non-comical movie.

Obviously, the biblical narrative does not describe the events leading up to Jesus' birth in as much detail as the movie. But, as far as I can tell, the movie stayed somewhat true to the bible. The only exception that was really noticeable for me was the scene in which the wise men decided amongst themselves to avoid telling Herod where baby Jesus was. In actuality, an angel came to them to warn them of Herod's plans (Matthew 2:12).

Aside from what is biblical or not biblical, the fiction was striking! I personally was enamored by the relationship between Mary and Joseph. It was interesting to visualize the problems that might have occurred when Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant. If I were him, would I have been so reserved in the seeming treachery of an adulterous woman? The movie and the biblical narrative tells of a Joseph who did not want to do harm to Mary no matter what she did (Matthew 1:19). The film, understandably, was far more generous in portraying a man who would do anything to protect and serve his wife throughout the movie.

Watching those scenes, I was encouraged to be such a man when that day comes. If the woman I marry were hungry, I would feed her even if that meant that I could not eat. If the woman I marry needed to be carried, then I would sacrifice my feet for sores in order to carry her. Men need to be men and serve their women. Too often do we see women as objects of our enjoyment and consumption.

That is why I think that we, as men, got to get our heads out of "who is compatible". God chose Joseph to be with Mary, even though her pregnancy brought shame on his family. And what happened? The Son of God was brought into this world. We are far too short-sighted to know what's best for us.

I am reminded of the Prophet Hosea; who God called to marry a whore, just to send Israel a message. She cheated on him, yet God told him to persevere in staying in the relationship. Not for Hosea's satisfaction in the marriage, but for God's purposes and in the satisfaction of glorifying God.

I encourage real men to read Hosea and reconsider their stance on marriage. Then read Ephesians 5:22-33 to understand the biblical mandate on marriage. I say this with all boldness: what is required in a marriage is in the bible; everything else, especially your preferences, comes after and cannot compromise the biblical mandate. Come out to the marriage seminar that Faith Church will host sometime in February or March.

Back to the movie, there was one last interesting thing I noticed. The movie shows how 3 converging stars represented the star that was raised over baby Jesus' stable (Matthew 2:9). I found out that the star issue is much more complicated; check out: "http://reformation21.com/Counterpoints/Counterpoints/278/vobId__4709/".