Little Girl Steals Baby Jesus. Then This Happened.

WHITE PINE, TN — We can’t watch this video circulating on Facebook enough. It starts out as many church programs do, with adorable children playing the parts in a live Nativity scene as other children raise their sweet voices in the classic Christmas carol, “Away in a Manger.”

It was a perfect children’s Christmas pageant at the First Baptist Church of White Pine. Tana Benson, whose daughter played a sheep, had the video rolling on her camera to capture the memory. What she ended up with was so much more. The video had been viewed more than 5.7 million times on Facebook by mid-morning Thursday.

The little girl, dressed in black and white, gets up from her station and grabs the baby Jesus doll. She rocks Jesus, swaying with the music. The congregants can’t contain their laughter, and the little girl seems to be enjoying the attention.

End of story? Not at all. The little girl who plays Mary decides to take action, snatching the Jesus doll from the little girl’s arms and placing it back in the cradle. Undeterred, the little girl takes it back.

Mary wasn’t having any of it. As she takes the girl playing the sheep down, an adult walks on stage to separate them.

Patch has reached out to Benson, who posted the video on her Facebook page, with this message:

"My little sheep took the baby Jesus, breaking all the rules leaving poor little Mary no choice but to take action! Momma to the rescue tried her best to protect her baby at all costs. Definitely a program I will remember. LOVE these kiddos and my church family! Laughed so hard I cried!"

We’ll let you know if we hear back from Benson.

In the meantime, enjoy the video:

Photo via Shutterstock