JONMALEK.com

So the Christmas season is upon us again; I heard a little while ago on the news that there was a tremendous backlash last year about big retail stores dropping “Merry Christmas” for “Happy Holidays”. I always thought it was a stupid thing do, not because I’m inconsiderate to other people’s religions or beliefs, but because it was a stupid thing to do. I’m curious if any one did actually make complaints about using “Merry Christmas”; I never heard of any, but I’d like to know…. It was rather perplexing to me why they would do such a thing; although Christmas has certainly become a very commercialized and secular affair, it is nevertheless a Christian holiday - thus Christmas stems from Christ’s Mass. I think the best thing to do, to not offend others or make them feel out of place is to perhaps wait until December before putting up Christmas decorations and selling Christmas in the malls and big stores. Perhaps even acknowledge the other holidays that occur at this time, like Hanukkah for instance. Just a thought - although, I have many thoughts and no “big wig” has taken any of them just yet.

My post is more concerned with The Nativity, the movie about Jesus’ birth which premiered in the Vatican and apparently brought in $5.5 million in its first weekend. I thought it was a fantastic movie, for many reasons that I hope to remember to discuss below. I went on www.newadvent.com, a Catholic website, to see if anything was posted about it. Many thought it was a great movie but there was a surprising number of people who denounced it as heretical and warned parents not to bring their children to see it (because of the scene where Elizabeth gave birth). The Vatican also received some criticism for even showing the movie. I’m going to overview some of the problems people had with the movie in as neutral a manner as possible; I have a hard time not letting my own thoughts enter a discussion sometimes, but I don’t want to be seen as putting down or tarnishing other people’s vehement protests with the movie.

The whole protests centers on the Immaculate Conception, one of the core dogmas of the Catholic faith, which was in fact not ratified as doctrine until 1854, though had been traditional teaching for centuries. To me, the movie fantastic. After reading some responses to the movie, I understand and agree it is not a theological movie, and certainly did not draw on Catholic theology for insight. But it added something to Christ and his birth that I think is missing from Christianity today for the most part - his humanity. Not to sound preachy, but it is the humanity of Jesus that makes his life so extraordinary. Much theology in the middle ages surrounded the question cur deus homo? - “why the god-man?” Meaning, why did God become man? Did He actually become man, or did he just appear to be man (as the Gnostics believed)?Was it necessary for God to become man? Men such as St. Anselm dealt with this question and, to me, give a pretty logical answer. It stems from the belief that humanity had been a slave of sin, called Original Sin, which had been incurred when Adam and Eve performed the first act of disobedience. The whole point behind Jesus’ life and his Passion is that he freed us from that sin. Some belief that Jesus’ life was in essence traded for the lives of all of humanity with the devil, though to me this is so extremely debasing to God that I wouldn’t consider it - for God barters with no one. But Jesus sacrificed Himself to God to free humanity of sins; thus theology would say that no human could do this, for they are already tainted by sin. But Jesus would be completely free of sin, original and actual (sin incurred during one’s life). That leads me to my point - Jesus came completely free of sin and, being God himself (under belief in the Trinity) was in fact Perfect. Many have asked why Jesus would do this, and you have to have a certain level of humility to understand what is meant. To theologians, the human body was corrupted with sin; but Jesus became a man himself, taking on the sins of humanity (though himself remaining pure). That, to me, is the essence of his entire life, and why it is important to remember His human side. It is a very complicated, and may even seem contradictory, theology, but hopefully I’ve given the major point of it across - that Jesus, who was sinless, came into this world with a sinful body and took the sins of humanity on himself and sacrificed himself to cleanse those sins. It important, so I believe, to remember that God and Jesus are not just some aloof, omnipotent angry God that lives away from us. Indeed, so much theology claims that God is present in anything that he created - thus He is omnipresent. But even that seems a little removed for me (quite oddly, come to think of it). But “God so loved the world” (from the ever popular John 3:16) that he not only saved humanity, but became a part of humanity. Anyways, that is my point - that the movie’s merit is that it emphasizes this human aspect.

Most of the criticisms of the movie came from the portrayal of Mary. Indeed, she is portrayed as a normal girl who got that funny feeling in her belly when looking at boys, as what happened in the opening of the movie. One commenter was scandalized “that Mary looks to have been participating in some kind of impropriety” that merited a scornful look from her mother, Anne, who is also believed to have given a virgin birth to Mary. The same writer is also horrified that Mary and Joseph planned to have a large family. This all goes in the face, so the writer claims, of the Immaculate Conception, which essentially means that Mary conceived Jesus with the Holy Spirit miraculously, with no sexual intercourse, and that even in giving birth to Him she remained a virgin (physically).

The writer’s next major issue is when Mary returns from her cousin Elizabeth’s pregnant and Joseph is horrified. This is especially where my original argument comes in. Though Mary had already experienced the Annunciation, where the angel Gabriel came to her to tell her of the birth, Joseph had not yet been visited. This writer seems to think that Joseph and Mary lived removed from contemporary society, in which having a baby with another man was a stoneable offense. Barbaric or not today, that’s the way it was and Mary and Joseph lived in that world. In that society, Joseph’s name would have been shamed, just as that of Mary’s family. The writer was offended because Joseph should at all act like this; but once he is visited in a dream by Gabriel he accepts it wholly and with complete faith.

This leads me to my next point, that the writer claimed “There is no sign of worship or adoration by either Mary or Joseph.” This makes me wonder if they completely shut their mind off to the previous events in the movie; their entire trek to Bethlehem was full of wonder that they should be chosen to fulfill God’s promise to humanity. I am curious if the writer expected Mary, after giving birth to a child, to drop to her knees in genuflection and praise the baby. It seems that the writer believes Jesus was born in a non-traditional way - as if He just appeared out of Mary’s womb. Here is what it comes down to, for me. God and Jesus are such that there is no way we can totally comprehend them. They are not perfect, but rather Perfection; they are not great, but they are Greatness. They are beyond human description or understanding. Many theologians simply referred to the Trinity as the Perfect. And so do I believe. I personally wonder how much others believe this, if they believe that having Christ born as a normal human - which is what he came to humanity as - would tarnish Him. He is in face so pure that nothing can tarnish him, because he is Greatness, and he cannot be tarnished. And beyond this, to me, He came to humanity as a human.

However, after giving such an opinion I must also state that I don’t speak entirely from a Catholic point of view. I don’t know particularly what is taught in the Catholic Catechism, so cannot fully comment on the issues people have found with the movie. I’m not sure entirely what denomination I would fall under, but I believe the miracle is not that God was among humans, but that God became a man. I think this movie did a superb job at portraying not only this, but also the humanity of Mary and Joseph and the world in which they lived. Of course, as Robert Langdon said (oh no- quoting fictional characters; here I go!) “what matters is what you believe.” Today, there are so many versions of the Truth that it is bewildering. Obviously the Catholic Church believes it has the truth. But so does everyone else who has a firm belief; if they thought it wasn’t Truth, how could they knowingly follow it? So what is one to do? In terms of Christianity, what must one do? Is faith in Jesus enough? (and I mean honest faith, not just proclaiming you believe in Jesus and then feel you can go about doing as you wish. True belief brings about a change in one’s life, where one’s actions reflect that belief.) Or do you have to believe a catechism of the Church, or the teachings of the Protestants, or the utterings of a prophet in the 19th century? What is truth and how do I find it? Or is faith in something divine false? How are we to know? That is the essence of faith, I suppose- we can not truly know on this world. I know many people believe that they know without a doubt, and I respect that; perhaps someday I too will find a Truth that I will have no doubt about.

I’d be interested to know what other think of (a) the movie, and (b) Truth…even if it is only from my four readers.

— JGM