See The Nativity Story

In the middle of these nostalgic glimpses of “Christmas past,” I want to take a moment to recommend The Nativity Story. It opened this weekend to mixed reviews, but what else would we expect from movie critics? I am sometimes a casual movie critic myself, but I’m going to suspend criticism on minor points [and other ironic post-production controversy] and boil my observation down to one comment that all evangelical Christians will understand: This movie is not cheesy. You will not be embarrassed to recommend it to a friend. (You know what I mean by cheesy Christian attempts at major motion pictures—I won’t name titles, but we’ve seen them through the years.)

Mel Gibson's The Passion raised the bar, and while this film is being criticized for being less “riveting” than Gibson’s drama, I would suggest that it comes close in many artistic elements. This will be a seasonal treat for believers—not a blockbuster, but I commend its understated portrayal of a time and place that is bleak, barbaric, and beautiful and for telling the story of a miraculous event that, by any standards, requires some delicacy. [Click here for a fair review.]

This film also did something not yet achieved in my 40+ years of contemplating the story of Christ’s birth… it introduced me to Joseph. I could relate to this man. I liked his strength and child-like faith, and for the first time in my life I saw that he was not an “extra” in the cast. While their roles are clearly delineated in Scripture, Joseph was as much a part of the divine selection for the Holy family as Mary. The human part of Mary’s post-conception motherhood could not have happened without God’s appointed man to be the caring husband of Mary and the earthly boyhood father of the Messiah. This film fleshes out that reality without imposing fiction on the untold years of young Jesus’ life.

After hearing case after case of the ACLU demanding the removal of nativity scenes from public land, and after fifty years of “feel good” holiday movies that miss the point (including many of those I’ve mentioned fondly from my childhood), this movie a wonderful Christmas card to those who wish to watch in awe the scene Linus told us about as children in 1965 when he quieted that frolicking stageful of kids and said the following....