Reason for the season

he most famous Christmas story, not to mention the reason for the holiday, is live and in living color this holiday season for the entire world to witness.

“The Nativity Story,” based on accounts from the Bible, portrays the events leading up to the most famous birth in history and the burden of such a blessing.

Keisha Castle-Hughes stars as Mary, a young woman chosen by God to give birth to his son, Jesus. Although this is a tremendous honor, it is also a burden. Mary’s parents have made arrangements for her to marry a young man named Joseph, so she must remain pure for one year.

In a quest for answers, Mary leaves her hometown of Nazareth to see her cousin Elizabeth, who is pregnant although she is advanced in age. After convincing her parents to let her leave, Mary learns that Elizabeth’s baby is a miracle given by God. Their time together reinforces Mary’s faith and gives her the confidence to return home.

Upon her arrival, Mary is now well into her pregnancy. Obviously, her parents and Joseph have questions. Mary attempts to ensure them she hasn’t broken her vow to Joseph, but given the evidence, her parents are skeptical. Joseph, despite his doubts, decides to believe her and keep her as his wife.

Similar to today’s society, a young woman with a child out of wedlock is ostracized by her community and subject to ridicule, apathy and cold stares. All the negative attention begins to wear on Joseph, until one night while sleeping.

An angel of God comes to Joseph in a dream and tells him not be afraid. Joseph should keep Mary as his wife because the child in her womb is the child of God, says the angel. The next day, Joseph goes to Mary and reassures her that they will have this child together.

Meanwhile, King Herod, appointed by the Romans to oversee Israel, is searching for the Savior of whom the Israelites speak. Herod is afraid this Savior will appoint himself king of Israel and kill Herod.

While Herod is leading an exhaustive search of Israel, Caesar makes a decree that makes his search much easier. Every man must return to the town of his birth to be counted for a census.

The Jewish scriptures proclaim their Savior will hail from Bethlehem. Herod orders his men to set up at every road leading to Bethlehem to find this Savior, which he believes will be a man of royalty or great wealth.

In Nazareth, Joseph hears the news and tells Mary’s family that he is from Bethlehem and would like to take his wife and child with him, even though it is over 100 miles away. Their journey is very difficult and takes several days. They only have one donkey, little food and almost no money.

But they aren’t the only ones traveling a great distance. Three wise men, well studied in the Scriptures, have been watching the heavens and observing the movement of the planets. According to their calculations, three planets will form a bright star when they get close. Believing the star is an indication of something magnificent, they set out on a four-month journey in its direction.

What they find is far more valuable than they expected.

While “The Nativity Story” will draw comparisons to “The Passion of the Christ,” they are very different in subject and nature.

Much like “The Passion,” “The Nativity” depicts society some 2000 years ago. The actors were trained to build homes, make cheese and bread, and use the tools from the time the events took place. Theologians and scholars may debate the details, but they are missing the point.

The story nearly every Christian church puts on display for their congregation during the holiday season is now a major motion picture that the entire family can see together.