God's Cast Selection for the Christmas Pageant

As a child, Christmas Pageant and Programs were a part of my church. It was exciting time for many of the cast members, while many others needed a bit more encouragement to pull it off. Thinking about those memories, lets look at the Story and Cast that God chose for the original Christmas Nativity.

First cast member selected for this event by God was Mary. A virgin teenage girl (13-15) from Nazareth, engaged to be married. Really. Even one of Jesus disciples later said, can anything good come from that town? Yes it can, God chose Mary to be the mother of the Messiah to the World.

Second cast selection was Joseph. A good man. A man who is engaged to Mary that is now expecting a child that he never fathered and soon to be the least experienced midwife in Bethlehem.

Third cast members selected were shepherds. Simply attending the sheep. One thing they had in common with the first two cast selections, were the visitation of angels telling them they had a role to play in the birth of the promised Messiah.

Fourth and fifth cast members were Simeon and Anna. Simeon, a righteous man “moved by the Spirit, went into the temple court,” and Mary and Joseph put baby Jesus in his arms to fulfill the custom of the Law. Immediately following that, Anna enters the scene, and as Simeon had already realized they were both in the presence of the Messiah. Two old people that kept praying and waiting for the promise, saw the faithful God fulfill that promise to them.

Next cast members were the wisemen. Men that came from the East, simply following a star, no maps, no GPS, yet ventured for many miles providing gifts that would help the new family escape the next cast member.

Last cast member is Herod the Great, King of Judea. He of all the cast members is most well-known then, but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. Little did he know, this baby Jesus he wished to kill, God had a different plan that was driven by love instead of hate. This plan is John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into to the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

In the natural, this cast may not have looked fit for the roles they were to play, but God chose them. Guess what will happen when we follow the role that God has chosen for us? We also can have our part in changing our world too.

November 13 Pastor Ruth Kaunley