Wise Men Still Seek Him

We spent $30 last night to go see The Nativity Story. Of course we did, because we sure would have justified dropping that to go see the new Harry Potter movie. I wanted to make sure that Hollywood gets the message - more stories with a moral, less blood and senseless killing, please. I want to be able to take my kids to see a movie and not have to cover thier eyes as someone is brutally and senselessly murdered - or when there are boobies on the screen. We paid full price to see Happy Feet, too - worth every penny.
It was beautifully done, the scenery, the humanity, and the three wise men, who provided both comic relief, and a portal into how it would feel to see the culmination of a prophecy. Joseph was likeable. I was troubled that Mary didn't seem happier, but as I was thinking about it this morning, it was a pretty big burden for her. She knew the prophecies of the Suffering servant, and the role that the Messiah was to play, and knowing the enormous responsibility of raising him rested on her shoulders - well, that was probably enough to make her a little somber. The story didn't totally jive with what I have been taught about Mary's life, but it was pretty darn close.
This was a great Christmas movie, and the directors saw fit to have rifs from traditional Christmas carols woven throughout the theme music. We enjoyed it - even Jake - who didn't want to see another movie about Jesus - said he wanted to know what happened afterwards.

As an aside, we had a conversation about how I "know" that Jesus was really God. You see, now that the kids are older, and are surrounded by people who aren't lifelong Catholics, they have questions about why we believe what we believe. It is reasonable - and frankly, I'd rather they thought about things and decided for themselves, rather than to just follow everything I say. And it occurred to me that just in case we couldn't put it together ourselves, there were signs - seen by lots of people- the star in the sky, the multitude of angels, the willingness of Herod to slaughter hundreds of babies to prevent the life of the Messiah - and then later, the tearing of the temple curtain and the earthquake at His death and resurection. I don't know if any of those outward signs accompanied any other great teachers like Buddah or the Dahli Lama, but I know most of them can be accounted for in historical documents in addition to the account in the Scriptures. The truth is, I really don't "know" at all. I have not seen, but I choose to believe, and the facts that I can research co-incide with what I believe.