A Pastor’s Review of the Movie Journey to Bethlehem

In Matthew 1:18-24, we read, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

“But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’

“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).

“When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.”

In those 8 sentences, you heard more of the real Christmas story containing more gospel than you will hear in the hour and a half long musical entitled Journey to Bethlehem that hit theaters last month. As things do not stay in theaters as long as they used to, the musical is now available for rent on most streaming platforms. But I would not recommend this film to anyone.

Yesterday, I put forth the ten bucks to rent the movie and watch it for you, so you don’t have to lose your precious dollars for such an abysmal retelling of the birth of Christ. I did a live-post on Twi/X (Twitter is now called X), jotting down notes as I watched and posting them on social media. The following is my live-post, a little more expounded upon since I have a character limit on Twi/X. Time markers are given.

Prologue

02:10 – The movie begins with the Magi, and it’s completely goofy. They’re clearly playing this as a comedy. I wonder how they’re going to incorporate the massacre of the innocents as a funny moment. (Some historical accounts are not meant to be comedies. The birth of Christ is one of them. You could probably do something funny with the shepherds being scared by angels or something like that. But the overall tone or first impression of the story you want to give should not be comedic.)

4:00 – The intro song is like a remix of O Come All Ye Faithful and O Come O Come, Emmanuel. It’s not great, but I get the feeling this is going to be the catchiest song in the whole film. (Spoiler alert: it was.)

5:00 – Directed and co-written by Adam Anders, one of the creators behind the hit musical show Glee. I have never seen Glee, but I know it was notorious for marketing homosexual perversion through its teenage characters. I found a page dedicated to celebrating every LGBTQ+ character on Glee, and there are 25 names listed. Anders was the executive music producer for this show.

Anders has also written songs for the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, and the Backstreet Boys (thanks, Wikipedia). And it looks like he wrote a musical version of The Passion. Anders’ co-writer for this movie, Peter Barsocchini, is best known for writing the High School Musical series. These are the creators of Journey to Bethlehem.

Introducing the Main Characters

5:30 – Mary’s introduction is just the worst. She storms into the house complaining to her father about an arranged marriage to a man named Joseph, who is said to be new to Nazareth. She protests by saying, “Every girl I know helped choose her husband.” (That wouldn’t have been true.) “Why am I being forced to marry someone I’ve never met?”

Her Jewish father tells her that he’s trying to be sure that she’s going to be well taken care of. She’s going to get married and become a wife because that’s “tradition.” (If you’re familiar with Fiddler on the Roof, you might’ve half expected a chorus to begin singing Tradition here.)

6:00 – Mary says, “What about my dream of becoming a teacher?” Her father forced her to study all these Scriptures, she huffs, and now she’s not even allowed to teach them? Then she goes into her room, stares at her pictures of Joyce Meyer and Beth Moore, and screams, “Women can be pastors, too!”

Okay, that last sentence didn’t happen. But that is the intended messaging. When I explained this scene to my wife, who didn’t watch it with me (and she was thankful I didn’t ask her to), she also drew the conclusion that they were trying to make a statement about women preaching.

7:00 – Mary’s friends console her by saying, “We’re going shopping.” On their way, Mary says, “I don’t want to marry for duty. I want to marry for love.” Then Jasmine and Merida jump into frame and they sing a Disney song. Alright, kidding again. But speaking of which, a song is starting.

I will admit, the segue-way into the song is pretty creative. Sounds from the marketplace start the rhythm the girls begin singing to. The number is well choreographed, but overall, it isn’t memorable (I’m a musician, and I cannot remember the tune). The lyrics are worse.

8:00 – The song is about Mary getting married. The friends remind her that this is the greatest day of her life, and that marriage is a blessing and a holy union. Mary sings that getting married means she’s kissing all her dreams goodbye, “a life sentence of daily dependence.”

9:00 – Mary sings, “So holy matrimony is marrying the wedding not the man.” Her father taught her the Scriptures, and this is her view of marriage? Her friends say marriage is romantic; Mary says it’s traumatic. You can hate this character—it’s okay.

12:00 – At the end of the song, we meet Joseph, who’s afraid of donkeys. (Spoiler: This never comes back into the movie again. He’s just fine with donkeys for the rest of the film.) Mary and Joseph have their first encounter. They are betrothed to one another, though they don’t know this about each other. We’re not meant to know this is Joseph, but come on, this is Joseph.

Mary is rude and Joseph is awkward. Inaccuracies to the biblical narrative aside, this is horribly written. These are the main characters and the viewer has been given no reason to like either of them (Joseph is a little more likable than Mary). Was Glee written this way? How was that show so popular for so long?

13:30 – Scene change. We are in the palace so we can meet the Tony Award nominated Antonio Banderas as King Herod. Herod’s son, Antipater, is played by Joel Smallbone, member of For King and Country and younger brother of Rebecca St. James

18:00 – Herod sings a song about how it’s “so stinking good to be king.” The chorus is a riff on the traditional ending of the Lord’s prayer: “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever, amen.” Herod sings, “Mine is the kingdom and mine is the power,” et cetera. Not a memorable number. It is only slightly more memorable than the joyless song Mary just sang in the market.

A little history for you: Antipater was executed by Herod the Great near the time that the Magi would have journeyed to Jerusalem, perhaps shortly after they departed Judea to go back to their own country. Somehow I don’t think that is going to make it into the movie though. (Spoiler: It does appear that the writers may have wanted to so something with this bit of trivia in mind. It could have actually been a compelling twist, if it had been done well. I’ll come back to it later.)

The Main Characters Meet Each Other

19:40 – We’re back to Mary who’s being prepared for her betrothal ceremony. She says to her mother, “Why make any plans if everything is decided for me?” This sounds less like a gripe about getting married and more like a free-willer arguing about the providence of God.

Mary’s mother asks her, “Do you know why your father taught you the Scriptures?” Mary says it’s because he didn’t have a son. Her mother says no, “It’s because of how much faith he saw in you.” Romans 10:17 says that faith comes from hearing the word of God. According to this film, faith has nothing to do with hearing God’s word.

Mary in this movie (not the real Mary) is a reminder of how miserable feminism makes you.

23:00 – Mary and Joseph see each other, and they realize they met earlier in the market. Now Mary interprets Joseph as hitting on her when he knew he was betrothed (the movie did not convey that Joseph was being flirtatious, only that he was kind and awkward). So now Mary is mad at him and thinks of him as being a womanizer. She storms off.

25:00 – Joseph goes after her. In his defense, he says, he’s just friendly. He’s right. Awkward, but still likable. Mary continues to belittle him. No one would blame Joseph for not marrying this woman. What reason does the audience have to care about her, except that we know she’s going to be the mother of Jesus?

This has got to be the worst Mary I’ve seen on film. Other advent movies have done a much better job presenting a charming and compelling young woman, demonstrating strength and grace. This Mary is a joyless, griping brat, made in the image of a Gen Z feminist. I’m less than 30 minutes in, and I have a hard time believing the writers of this film even like the story of Christ’s birth. There is no reverence for the narrative nor the people in it.

28:00 – Mary and Joseph sing a song I’m guessing was called Can We Make this Work. Perhaps some of the producers of the film were singing the same thing at this point.

29:30 – The party is over. It’s night. Mary and her two friends are sleeping in their own room. Gabriel (no relation), played by Christian rapper Lecrae, appears in shimmering light to come and tell Mary she’s been chosen to be the mother of Jesus. First we have to watch him rehearse his message. It’s supposed to be funny, but Lecrae lacks the comedic timing, if he even had a good script to work with anyway.

When he’s about to float in and address Mary, he bumps his head on the door. So far, all of the men in this movie have been either goofy or awkward. Not a bad costume though. There’s my compliment.

(As an aside, I don’t understand why it’s so common to depict this exchange between Gabriel and Mary as happening at night. It’s true that an angel spoke to Joseph in a dream. But Gabriel may very well have come to Mary in the middle of the day and spoke with her face to face.)

32:00 – GabrieLecrae tells Mary, “God has chosen you to have a son.” Mary says she doesn’t have a husband yet, but Lecrae says, “This child will be the Son of the Almighty God.” He never explains what that means. He doesn’t say, as Gabriel said in Luke 1:35, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” In fact, the Holy Spirit is never mentioned in this movie (I don’t think the word Christ is either).

Before vanishing, Lecrae tells Mary, “You are to be a mother to a savior and king. You cower before no one.” And then he vanishes. Not exactly Gabriel’s parting words in Luke 1. He told her to trust in God, not herself, saying, “Nothing will be impossible with God.”

In Luke 1:38, Mary responded to Gabriel, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” But that’s not Mary’s attitude here. She’s panicking, in doubt, running through scenarios, and calling out, “I have so many questions!” as GabrieLecrae disappears.

35:30 – Of course, Mary’s parents don’t believe her. She goes to tell Joseph and he and his parents don’t believe her either. She begs him to believe and she’s heartbroken and in tears when he doesn’t. Why? I thought she hated Joseph. The writing in this movie is just so bad.

38:00 – Mary sings a song about being a mother to a Savior and King. There’s a line where she says, “Give me eyes to see just how I can be carrying your Son when I need you to carry me.” That could have been a much better line if it was written in a better song.

39:15 – Mary sings to God, “Help me have the faith you have in me.” Ugh. Somewhere Rob Bell is nodding in approval. (Watch this short video to understand why that line is unbiblical.)

Her last line is, “Give me eyes to see just how I can be mother to a Savior, when I need saving.” Again, that could have been a great line if the rest of the song wasn’t so bad. Besides, what does she mean by “saving”? Saving from what? Her lack of self-esteem? Understanding that Jesus will save His people from their sins, as the angel told Joseph, never comes up in this movie.

The Plot Thickens

41:30 – Finishing up a scene with the Magi whom we haven’t seen since the prologue of the movie (they’re the comic relief, I guess). They’re journeying to find the Christ child who hasn’t been born yet. According to Matthew 2, Jesus is more than a year old when the magi visit Him.

43:00 – In Luke 1:42-45, Elizabeth greeted Mary saying, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.”

But that’s not how the dialogue goes between Mary and Elizabeth in this play. It’s just more of Mary brooding while Elizabeth brushes her hair. Her husband Zechariah is mute, but they never explain why. They just make jokes about what a blessing it is to have a silent husband. There’s no mention of the significance of the baby Elizabeth is carrying, who of course is John the Baptist.

Is this it? We’re not going to get the Magnificat, where Mary sings, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior”? Of course not, because that would require this Mary to actually be happy and thankful for something. Mary’s song in Luke 1:46-55 is one of the greatest songs in recorded human history, authored and sung by a woman, and this movie—what’s more, a musical—where Mary is the lead character, is not even going to attempt it. This may be the greatest missed opportunity in the history of cinema.

Have you ever noticed that these feminist writers who think they craft strong, confident women actually strip women of their greatest character and attributes and wind up presenting us with someone obnoxious and miserable?

47:00 – Joseph has a dream where he wars with himself (literally—it’s a duet with himself as half of him believes Mary and the other half does not, and wants to stone her). The voice of GabrieLecrae ends the dream and tells him to believe her.

Again in Matthew 1:20-21, the angel says that what is conceived in Mary “is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Nothing like that has been said in this film—no mention of the Holy Spirit, no mention of needing to be saved from our sins. At every opportunity to proclaim the gospel, the writers of Glee and High School Musical deliberately avoid it.

50:50 – The Magi are meeting with Herod. Before Jesus is even born?

I know, I know, I’m criticizing the lack of biblical accuracy in a musical. But listen, I made this complaint about The Chosen, too. Why change the original narrative so much? All the drama you need is already there, not to mention the proclamation of the gospel!

No one who has ever twisted Scripture so much—not the writers of The Chosen nor the writers of this film—has ever come up with a better or more compelling story than what the Bible says. They just wind up preaching a different gospel, because they’re ashamed of the true gospel.

54:20 – Well, that was an obnoxious musical number. The forced comedy lands worse than the forced drama. The Magi just gave Herod gold, frankincense, and myrrh—to Herod—for the use of his library so they can find out where this King is to be born. In Matthew 2:4-6, Herod consulted the chief priests and scribes for the answer and then told the Magi where to find Him.

58:00 – Antipater and some soldiers decide to spy out the land looking for a young woman who would be pregnant with this king the Magi were singing about. He goes to Elizabeth’s home first. What a coincidence! Joseph shows up just in time to hide Mary from them. These soldiers were in his dream, he says.

58:30 – Mary scolds Joseph and says, “So you’re here because of a dream?” Not because he now believes her, but because a dream told him to believe her. After this Joseph and Mary are wed, I expect to find Joseph sitting on a corner of his roof after a few days (see Proverbs 21:9 and 25:24).

60:00 – Mary proposes to Joseph and he accepts. I’m not kidding. She proposed. (I think that was in the trailer, too, now that I think about it.)

60:30 – A donkey is chewing on Joseph’s hand and he says, “Stop being such an a—” And then the donkey hee-haws to cut off his potential swear word. Get it? It’s funny because he’s a donkey! Hyuck! Seriously, I don’t think I’ve laughed one time at any of these jokes.

62:00 – Joseph and Mary are getting married and sing this, well, terrible wedding song, to put it mildly. One of the lines is, “Stuck here forever and hopefully not ending in estrangement.” The last line Mary sings, “Maybe one day I can learn to love you, too.” Did these writers grow up in miserable households?

64:00 – Antipater confronts the Magi about why they’re looking for this King child. One of the Magi says, “The meaning of life.” Another adds, “The meaning of life comes not from what others do for us, but what we do for others.” Salvation by works? Again, no gospel in this film. (For what the Bible says about the meaning of life, watch this 90-second video.)

67:30 – In the scene where we were introduced to Herod, he was given news of a census ordered by Caesar. Herod didn’t want to do it. But now he orders Caesar’s census for the purpose of finding the mother and her child. However, if the mother is not found, he tells Antipater, “Kill them all.” Antipater doesn’t want to kill anyone. It looks like things are being set up for Antipater to become a hero by the end of the film.

70:45 – Antipater sings about undoing what he’s become. It’s an interesting twist on the account of Antipater’s betrayal that would eventually lead to his execution. But this movie is not good enough to make that twist a compelling story. There’s also like 20 minutes of the movie left.

For what it’s worth, Smallbone does well with what little he’s given. He holds his own just fine against a seasoned veteran actor like Banderas. I’m pretty sure Smallbone’s role is larger.

Building to a Climax

75:00 – Joseph and Mary are forced by the census decree to journey to Bethlehem. So we get a traveling montage. For much of the journey, Mary is shown walking rather than riding the donkey. Gotta make her look strong! From here the movie really picks up speed.

76:30 – Joseph and Mary come to a check point where Antipater and his soldiers are searching the people. Mary goes into labor pains. Joseph thinks this whole plan is over. He panics and tells Mary, “I’m sorry. I’ve failed you in every possible way.” Mary snaps him out of it and says, “I’m not the only one chosen for this.” Then Joseph gets an idea.

78:00 – The Magi have been hanging out with sheep, and now they smell like sheep dung. I don’t understand the point of this. Did I miss something? Please don’t tell me the Magi are going to disguise themselves as shepherds and then they will also be the shepherds that meet Jesus.

(Spoiler: Yes, that’s what happens. There are no shepherds at the birth of Christ in Journey to Bethlehem. The Magi enter the stable dressed in shepherds clothing which they shed when they see the baby.)

78:50 – Joseph is trying to figure out a way to distract the soldiers so they can get past them and sneak into Bethlehem. But Mary, in the throes of labor pains, does it on her own by throwing a rock that the soldier goes to investigate. Oh, good grief.

81:00 – Joseph is knocking on doors looking for a place to stay. A soldier hears Mary groaning in labor and he goes to see what’s happening. He runs into their donkey who rears up and knocks him out. Joseph says he thinks he’s found a place for them. At last, he’s done something useful.

83:30 – Mary is in labor while the movie cuts to a shepherd girl singing Silent Night. Then suddenly GabrieLecrae and a small choir of angels appear in the sky singing the chorus of O Holy Night. Everyone sees it—the Magi, Mary’s family, Elizabeth, Herod, Antipater, Jerusalem, Bethlehem…

I guess this is the announcement? No “good news of great joy that will be for all the people”? No “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord”? No angels singing “Glory to God in the highest”? No shepherds? There’s more gospel in A Charlie Brown Christmas than in this version of the birth of Jesus.

85:00 – Mere minutes after Jesus is born, the Magi and the shepherd girl follow a lamb to the place where Mary has laid Jesus in a manger—they don’t follow the star to the very house Jesus was in, as said Matthew 2:9 says they did. The Magi enter singing Herod’s song, but they sing, “Thine is the kingdom, thine is the power, thine is the glory, forevermore.”

By the way, the movie has played the star of Bethlehem as being a planetary alignment. I explain in this video why that can’t be what it was. It wasn’t a natural occurrence but something supernatural.

85:30 – It’s snowing in Bethlehem.

86:30 – Joseph and Mary wake up to see Antipater standing in the stable. Mary remembers the extra-biblical words of Gabriel, “You cower before no one,” and stands up to him.

87:00 – Mary tells Antipater that Jesus has “come to save the lost.” Antipater says, “Am I lost?” Mary says, “Like sheep we have all gone astray. And God has put on him…” Antipater cuts her off and says, “The punishment for all the evil we have done. I know your Scriptures.”

That’s the closest this movie gets to sharing the gospel, a butchered version of Isaiah 53:6.

88:00 – “So you believe this is the chosen one?” Antipater says. Mary replies, “I believe you know exactly who he is.” Antipater says, “I envy your faith.” Mary says, “Faith is trusting what you know in your heart to be true.” Uh, no.

As I recently critiqued in The Chosen, these Bible twisters are always trying to throw in a worldly “follow your heart” message. Jesus said in Matthew 15:19 out of the heart comes evil. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick. Who can understand it?”

89:00 – “You have your faith, but I have my orders,” Antipater says. “You still have a choice,” Mary responds. “You are not your father.” Hey, Antipater is about to have a change of heart! After a moment, he turns and orders his men that this family is to be given safe passage out of Judea.

90:30 – Antipater asks the child’s name. Mary says, “Jesus.” Antipater nods and exits.

As I said, it’s an interesting twist on the history of Antipater. The writers could have had their moment dabbling in a bit of revisionist history, since we don’t really know the details of Antipater’s betrayal anyway. The movie could have presented an original and dramatic character arc, using a person otherwise unfamiliar to the many who know the story of Christ’s birth, and they could have done so without compromising Scripture or the message of the gospel.

But that would require better writers, who know how to tell a good story, how to write better dialogue, and have respect for the source material and the history surrounding this narrative. This slight twist occupies mere minutes of an otherwise terrible movie full of lazy storytelling. Anders might be great at entertaining the world, but he did a rotten job writing a Christmas musical.

Resolution and Closing Thoughts

91:30 – Oh yeah, as an after-thought, the Magi have gifts. Not sure how, since they previously gave their gifts to Herod. Before departing back to their country, they present their gifts to Joseph and Mary. The Magi never fell to the ground and presented their gifts to Jesus, as Matthew 2:11 says they did.

92:30 – Mary grabs Joseph and kisses him, then says, “You’re welcome.” Uh… what?

93:00 – There’s a final scene with Joseph and Mary having told this story to a young Jesus who’s about 4 or 5. Mary tells him, “Time for your Scripture lesson.” Joseph says, “Then it’s off to bed.” He opens up a scroll which says, “The end.”

93:15 – Just before credits roll, there’s a screen that reads, “While taking some creative license, the filmmakers strived to remain true to the message of the greatest story ever told.”

No, they did not. There was no respect for the Scriptures whatsoever. It is perhaps the worst telling of the first advent I have ever seen. If the producers’ goal was to make Mary truly unlikable, they excelled. But if their goal was to remain true to the message of the greatest story ever told, they epically failed.

If there’s one thing I am thankful for, it is that none of these songs were remotely catchy. I cannot remember any of them. Tunes very easily get stuck in my head, and then I’m singing the same song for days. But I cannot remember a single hook from Journey to Bethlehem. And for that, I am grateful.

As it turns out, this coming Saturday is the 25th anniversary of the release of the film Prince of Egypt, a musical retelling of the story of Moses. I plan on watching that again and doing a review. In the meantime, thanks for reading! Check out the following video as I debunk some common Christmas myths, while remaining true to the gospel story of Christ’s birth, which I know and love.