The Nativity Story

We went to see The Nativity Story yesterday. It basically tells the story of the events leading up to, and around, the birth of Jesus Christ. I wouldn't say that it's a great movie, but we were both moved by it. I was struck again and anew with the oppression of the Romans, the wickedness of Herod, the dedicated adoration of the wise men, the amazing character of Joseph, and, especially, the loving condescension of a God who would become an embryo, a fetus, a baby, for my sake.

People more qualified to review movies have pointed out some of its flaws and eccentricities. (See here for the Christianity Today review, which is both positive and negative.) A fellow blogger was, she says, disappointed. As the Internet Move Database points out, there was a field of New World corn shown, supposedly growing in the Old World. I was surprised that, in the movie, after Zecharias, Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds had each received messages from God, the Wise Men didn't, on one occasion when the Bible says they did. In the movie, they just decided not to go back to Herod. I was also surprised that there wasn't more than one angel appearing to the shepherds in the movie. And, especially, I was disappointed that the wise men and the shepherds were shown as arriving at the stable minutes apart, which isn't really the way it was. Still, much better a movie about Christ, told with considerable reverence, even if it doesn't dot all the i's and cross all the t's, than the usual Hollywood fare.

We have probably been messing up the details of the real nativity story since it happened, and always will. That doesn't change the fact that it really happened, and that it did change the world, and can change me and you.

Thanks for reading.