The Nativity Story

On December 1st, 2006, one of the most underrated Christmas movies of all-time was released, and if you have never had a chance or made the time to watch "The Nativity Story" you should make this the year. I've noticed that it is playing a few times in the coming days.

The movie features a starring performance by Keisha Castle-Hughes, the young Australian actress who was just 16 years old at the time of filming. She delivers a commanding yet understated performance as Mary, the mother of Jesus, in a manner that anyone familiar with her story would find credible.

Guatemalan actor Oscar Isaac takes on the Joseph role well here, but perhaps the strongest male acting performance is turned in by Irish actor Ciaran Hinds, familiar to many from his starring role as Caesar in the HBO epic series 'Rome'. Hinds gives perhaps the finest performance of Herod to ever grace the silver screen.

Brought to life here by 'Twilight' director Catherine Hardwicke, 'The Nativity Story' is, as always, all about the story itself. As one of the film's taglines tells it, the story is about "a message foretold in the heavens...a prophecy that would threaten an empire...a miracle that would change the world."

There is nothing overly dramatic about that tagline. It is the simple truth. No matter what your view in your own life towards Christianity in particular or religion in general, there is no valid way to argue the fact that the life and death of Jesus Christ and the message that he delivered has changed and shaped the entire world over the ensuing two millenia.

This film and the whole of the Nativity story covers that period in the life of Mary and Joseph from the time of their engagement on through to the birth of their child. The story is far from comfortable. Mary is a teenage girl from the small town of Nazareth who is forced into an unwanted engagement with a much older carpenter whom she barely knows.

During the time of their engagement and while still a virgin, Mary is visited by the angel Gabriel who tells her that God has chosen her to bear His Son. Mary is also told that her cousin Elizabeth, believed far too old to bear a child, is also pregnant. Both pregnancies ending up coming to fruition.

Joseph becomes understandably angered by the fact that his young fiancee, with whom he knows he himself has not had relations, has turned up pregnant. Prepared to set her aside quietly, he is also visited by an angel who tells him of God's special purpose in their lives. In staying together despite the scandal, both are ostracized by their community.

During this same time, King Herod, who had been appointed as the Rome-backed ruler of the small Jewish nation of Judea, was fearing the realization of an ancient Jewish prophecy. This prophecy revealed that a ruler would emerge from the lineage of the ancient King David. Herod decided to command a census of all people in which they must return to their ancestral homes in the hopes that he could sort out the identity of this future challenger to his rule.

Joseph was from the town of Bethlehem, known as the City of David, and so was forced to return there for the census. He took Mary along with him, and during the trip she began to appreciate him for his good nature and their affection for one another grew. On arrival at Bethlehem they can find nowhere to stay thanks to the increased population due to the census, and they are forced to stay in what amounts to a cave-like stable.

While Herod is fretting and Mary goes into contractions, three 'Magi' or wise kings arrive from Persia at Herod's court in Jerusalem. They have been studying the prophecy and also believe that the time is at hand for the birth of this special king. Learning from them that the king is a child to be born and not a grown man, Herod orders the murder of all babies in Bethlehem.

As we all well know, Herod's plan is unsuccessful. Mary gives birth in the stable, laying her boy child in a manger and naming him Jesus. Shepherds tending their flocks nearby have been told of the miraculous birth by an angel, and they show up to greet the newborn. They are quickly followed by the Magi, who come bearing gifts for the young king and the family.

Just as Herod's troops arrive and begin their unimaginable slaughter, Joseph is again visited in a dream by an angel who warns him of the pending attack. Joseph rouses Mary from sleep, they gather the infant Son of God, and make their way out of Bethlehem just ahead of the wave of death falling across the city.

This is the story of the birth of the baby Jesus, who would grow to become the Christ, the saviour of mankind, a great king as foretold in the prophecies. A king not of this world, but of a higher kingdom ruling over all mankind based on God's laws and His own teachings of love and peace.

It is the story of Mary and Joseph saying "Yes" to God's calling, and overcoming numerous obstacles placed in front of them by family, community, and royalty to bring Jesus into the world. It is simple and yet commanding and compelling. It is 'The Nativity Story', the beginning chapter in the greatest story ever told.

Christmas Thanks to a Young Mother

We began to celebrate the Christmas season over the past week, the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Providing for humanity to be saved by God taking on a human role, however, required first a perfect vessel to deliver that physical birth to the earth.

In his gospel, Saint Luke tells us the story of how the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary saying "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee! Blessed art thou among women!" Gabriel was sent by God Himself to the teenage virgin who had been chosen as being worthy of body, mind, and spirit to bear the Lord in her womb, give birth to the infant, and be responsible for raising Him as a child.

At the point at which Mary is presented with the idea of becoming the Mother of God, she has a choice. Mary's body wasn't taken over by God, she was not forced to take on this responsibility. She was not herself bred for this sole purpose. She was a normal, young, human woman.

One thing that we know about human beings in their relationship to God is that we have been given a 'free will', the ability to make our own choices and decisions. We have the choice to accept or reject God and His plan for the world and for us as individuals. Mary was given this same choice, and she chose to say "Yes" to God.

This is not at all the same idea of 'choice' involving a pregnancy that has become a hot political and social topic in todays world. In todays arguments, the 'choice' is not between becoming pregnant or not, in having a child or not. Today the alleged 'choice' is between killing a baby that is already in a mothers womb, or of delivering that baby fully and allowing it a chance at a full life.

But what a brief look at the difference between Mary's very real choice and that of women today in the abortion debate does highlight is the idea of consequence. If a woman today chooses to continue her pregnancy, she is allowing the natural process to go forward, and allowing another human being an opportunity at a full life. If she chooses to kill the baby, the baby is dead and has no chance at life.

What would the consequences have been for humanity had Mary said "No" to God? Could anyone have blamed her? She was, after all, just a teenager, already engaged to be married to an older man. How would she explain the pregancy to her fiancee', to her family, to her community? Would anyone, even the most ardent of believers in the idea that God would one day send a Savior, believe her story?

At the point that she made her choice, Mary did not know that God would send his angel to Joseph in order to ease his own mind. In fact, she had no idea exactly what God's ultimate plan would be for the baby as He grew into adulthood and beyond. Would God have moved on to another young woman? Would God have delayed his plan for mankind's salvation for years, decades, generations?

All of that is pure speculation, of course. But considering the idea that Mary had a choice, and that Mary said that "Yes" to God, provides us with an example. During this Christmas season more than any other, God is calling us all to say "Yes" to Him and to His Son, Jesus Christ. Every one of us now has the same choice as given to Mary.

Over the next few weeks most of us will be pretty active in preparing for the Christmas holiday. We will be shopping for toys, games, and gifts for family members and friends. We will be decorating our homes. We will be buying food and cleaning our houses in preparation for parties, guests, family gatherings. We will be taking pictures and wrapping presents and attending parties at which we will drink too much.

How much time will you take over these next few weeks to consider the reason that all of this is happening? How much time will you be taking to think about the birth of Mary's baby, your Savior, Jesus Christ? Will you give him an hour every Sunday? Will you give him an hour or so on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? Are you willing to give Him even that little bit? Is that even enough?

Maybe all of those gift, decoration, and party considerations should really be secondary considerations for us. Perhaps we should be thinking about Mary's initial decision to choose to accept Jesus into her life, and about Jesus' ultimate gift to all of us in his death for our sins.

I hope and pray that during this Christmas season while doing all of the fun things in today's commercial world, we truly keep with us at all times that 'reason for the season', the welcoming in to the world of the infant baby Jesus, and give thanks to a young mother who made the right choice two thousand years ago.

What Did She Know?

Driving in to work this morning, my wife and I heard the Christmas song "Mary Did You Know?" playing on the radio. In the version that we heard, Kenny Rogers is asking if she knew that the child she was carrying would do many wondrous things. He asks if she knows that he will 'one day walk on water', 'save our sons and daughters', 'give sight to a blind man', 'calm a storm with his hand', and 'one day rule the nations' among other miraculous actions. It is a legitimate question to consider: what did Mary know about her child, and when did she know it? We know from Matthew's Gospel that Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel and given certain information. First, she was told that her child would be a boy, and that she should name him 'Jesus'. She is told by Gabriel that the child will be 'great' and will be 'called Son of the most High'. But then Gabriel goes further, saying 'the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end.' What Gabriel is telling Mary is that her child shall be the long awaited Messiah. Mary doesn't understand how this can happen, since she is engaged to Joseph but not yet married, and she has never been with, nor does she intend to be with, a man in any physical way that would result in the birth of a child. In other words, Mary is a virgin, and she is staying that way until marriage. Gabriel then drops the final bomb on her: 'The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee...the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.' Mary is told that God Himself shall be the father of her child through supernatural means. Now you try to tell me that this wouldn't be a little overwhelming for your basic average teenage girl. But Mary was not average, she had been chosen by God in his plan for this purpose long before her own Immaculate Conception. So she knew before she had even conceived Jesus that she would be the mother of the Son of God, the Redeemer, the Messiah promised for ages. Later her fiancee, Joseph, was also visited, told of the supernatural conception, that the child would be a boy, and that they should name him Jesus. Joseph was told that this name would be given because the child would go on to 'save his people from their sins.' So both Joseph and Mary had this information during the pregnancy. While newly pregnant, Mary finds out that her cousin Elizabeth is also pregnant, now six months along. What Mary apparently does not know is that Elizabeth's child will grow to be 'John the Baptist', who will begin to lay the groundwork for her own child's ministry. When they visit, Elizabeth tells Mary that she, Mary, is 'blessed among women' and is 'the mother of my Lord.' Finally, just after Jesus' birth, Mary's family is visited by shepherds who related their experiences of being told by angels that 'this day, is born to you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger.' These were the exact circumstances that Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were in, and the shepherds were thus driven to their location. So Mary gets even more confirmation to her earlier messages, as if she needed it by this point. So we find that Mary knew before she was even pregnant that her child would be the Christ, the Saviour, the Son of God, and she received a number of confirmations to these facts during and after her pregnancy. As a Jewish woman whose father was a priest, Mary knew well the prophecies involving the Messiah, so she had to know that ultimately her child would die so that his people could live. In the end we are left with no other way to see things than that Mary knew pretty much everything that was going to happen right from that first visit from Gabriel. We are man, and Mary was blessed, but she was also mortal. In other words, she could have seen and been overwhelmed by all of this and simply said "No." Instead, because Mary saw, knew, and accepted, and said "Yes", our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was born, lived, taught, and died for our sins. Mary quite obviously, along with the help of her husband Joseph, raised Jesus to be a loving, strong, wise, good man. Of course, as God among us, this was inevitable, but the love that Jesus had for his mother showed that she quite obviously did a good job raising and loving him. In these last couple of days before Christmas it is nice to know that 2,000 years ago, Mary knew exactly what she was getting into with the child to whom she was about to give birth. And it is nice to know that she said that "Yes" to the pregnancy, to His birth.