Jesus’s Birth
Joseph and Mary had to return to Bethlehem for a census (taken for the purpose of taxation and military service) that was ordered by the Roman emperor, Augustus. The census had to be done in the town the individual was from, and since Joseph was a descendant of the King of David, he had to go to Bethlehem, the ancient home of David. He traveled with his then fiancé Mary, who was in the late stages of her pregnancy. The trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem was about ninety miles and would have taken three days – thirty miles a day!
I can only imagine how Mary must have felt at that time. With all my pregnancies, towards the end, I was so uncomfortable that walking that far would have been a challenge. While there, Mary gave birth. I’m sure she was relieved, but to add insult to injury, there was no place for them to stay, so Mary had to place her new baby (Jesus) in an animals manger – a trough for animals to eat from.
Can you imagine walking that far, at the end of a pregnancy, not because you want to take a vacation, but because someone in power ordered a census to be taken. Then, once you arrive, there is nowhere to stay and you give birth! Mary made the best of a less than ideal situation. She wrapped baby Jesus up in strips of cloth and laid him in the manger.
The Angel’s Inform the Shepherd’s
Shepherd’s were nearby working at night to prevent the sheep used for temple sacrifice’s from thieves and predators. They saw a very bright light suddenly appear in the sky. There were no streetlights at that time to dim out all the stars, so I can only imagine how scared they may be to see such a light amongst the dark sky they were accustomed to working under. An angel appeared to bring calm, which probably freaked them out even more. The angel told them something good had just happened that was predicted in the Old Testament, the law that up until that point, they had been following. They said, “Don’t be afraid. I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior – yes, the Messiah, the Lord – has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David.”
Several other angels came and surrounded the shepherds and instructed them to go see the baby and told them how to find him “you will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” The shepherds must have been shocked to hear that the Messiah they were told about, who would be a great ruler and who would save them, would be born from a couple who were not wealthy and that the baby was wrapped up in strips of cloth and lying in an animal’s manager. Imagine if you had been told that one day, you would win the lottery. You do not know when it will happen, but you have hope that it will since you have been told that you would win your whole life. When you are in your sixties, you stumble upon great deal on a home with lots of acreage and purchase it. A few years later as you are talking with a friend, they tell you how lucky you are – that you won the lottery on the purchase of the home. That wording reminds you of what you had been told your whole life about winning the lottery and you realize this is what they were referring to and not what you had envisioned. You later find out that the house was sitting on very valuable land when a developer offers a huge sum of money to purchase a small portion of your land for development.
I’m sure this does not even begin to describe how the shepherd’s felt that day. They hurried to the village and found Mary, Joseph and the baby just as the angels said. The shepherd’s told Mary and Joseph, and everyone they encountered, all that had happened and what the angel told them about Jesus. After hearing this, “Mary kept all these things in her heart.” Can you imagine how wonderful it would be to know that God loves you so much that he picked you to be the mother of his only son? Instead of telling everyone what she experienced, she kept it all in her heart and let others spread the word about Jesus based on their experiences and what they had seen. The shepherds returned to tend to their flocks, giving praise and thanking God for what they had just witnessed.
Jesus’s Dedication in the Temple
Joseph and Mary took Jesus to get circumcised eight days later and named him Jesus, the name the angel had given them before he was conceived. According to the Jewish law, if the first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to God in a purification offering. They took him to Jerusalem to present him to God, offering a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons as the required sacrifice.
Simeon’s Prophecy
Simeon was a devout Jew from Jerusalem and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel, as it is written in the Old Testament, or the Torah. The Holy Spirit revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. The Spirit led him to the temple on the day that Jesus was brought there for his purification offering. When Simon saw baby Jesus, he took him in his arms and praised God out loud saying that he (Simeon) can now die in peace since he has now seen the Messiah, the one sent as “a light to reveal God to the nations.”
Jesus’s parents were amazed at what Simeon was saying about their son. Simeon then blessed Joseph and Mary and said to Mary, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.”
Jesus was a spiritual divider in society. The Jews in Israel were waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue them. Jesus did not portray the image of who they expected to come as the Messiah. Instead of someone coming to rage war and destroy Israel, Jesus came as someone who loved others deeply, healed the sick, challenged the Jewish spiritual leaders who were out to kill him and hung out with people who the Jewish leaders deemed as undesirable, poor, and living sinful lives. In challenging both those who were out to kill him and those who needed the love and healing within him in their lives, the heart of those he interacted with were revealed. He could see through someone who was filled with pride to see that their heart was filled for love for only themselves at the expense of others. He could also see through someone who was very humble and living on streets to see that their heart was filled for love for others, despite their situation.
As much as Jesus would do during his time on earth, Mary, his mother, would suffer great pain in watching him get rejected, suffer and ultimately die at the hands of others – “A sword will pierce your very soul.”
Anna’s Prophecy
Anna was another prophet who was at the Temple when Jesus was brought for his purification offering. She was at the Temple day and night worshiping God with fasting and prayer. Anna was well over 100 years old, married for seven years and a widow for eighty four years. Just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, she began praising God, talking about the child who the Jews had been waiting for to rescue them from Israel.
When they had fulfilled all the requirements for a newborn child, Mary and David returned to their home in Nazareth.
Jesus Speaks with the Teachers
David and Mary went to Jerusalem every year to celebrate the Passover festival. When Jesus was twelve, after the festival was over, David and Mary started the trip back home with several others. Because there were many travelers with them, they assumed that Jesus was somewhere with the crowd and did not notice that he was missing. He had stayed back to talk with the teachers in the Temple. That evening, when Jesus did not show up, they started looking for him among their relatives and friends.
When they couldn’t find him, the went back to Jerusalem to search for him. It was out of character for Jesus not to obey his parents as it is written in the Old Testament that children should obey their parents. The next day they found him “in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions.” At just twelve years old, the teachers were amazed at his understanding and his answers. Mary and David were shocked, but I’m sure relieved, when they found him. His mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”
I can understand how worried they must have been. I have been in a department store purchasing clothes for my children when they were younger and saw them chasing each other around a clothes rack while I was checking out. After a few times around, I only saw one of them running around. When I asked him where his sister was, he replied, “I don’t know.” That led to pure panic as the store clerk and myself went down on our knees looking for little feet under one of the clothing racks. What I didn’t know was that my daughter was getting really good at the concept of hide and seek, and did her best to hide very well and not make any noise – even when we were all frantically calling her name.
She had climbed up on the bottom rail of the clothing rack so that her feet would not show, and stayed very still and quiet. Each minute that went by seemed like an hour. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her dart across the aisle, heading for another clothing rack. I went from being scared out of my mind to relieved that I could now see her and she was safe, and confusion as to why she decided to hide. Couldn’t she hear the worry in our voices as we called out her name?
Jesus’s responded to his Mom, “But why did you need to search? Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” They did not understand what he meant. Jesus was referring to God, his heavenly Father, whom he also had to obey. For Jesus, obeying his heavenly father trumped obeying his earthly father; however, his earthly parents could not understand it at the time.
They all returned to their home in Nazareth and Jesus was obedient to them. As with the prophets who spoke to Mary about her son Jesus, who he was and what he was here to do, “Mary stored all these things in her heart.”
There is not a lot of detail anywhere in the Bible about Jesus from the time he was a baby until he started his ministry. Jesus in the temple talking with the teachers is the only account of Jesus’s life between the time he was a small child and the beginning of his ministry. There are a few more details around his early childhood in another Gospel, Matthew. Luke says that Jesus “grew up healthy and strong,” and that “he was filled with wisdom, and God’s favor was on him.”