By Cara Beth Lewis
Today is December 20th… we are officially in the week of Christmas, amid the last-minute gift-buying, wrapping, purchasing ingredients for Christmas dinners, and perfecting decor in preparation for guests. I’m sure Santa and his elves are hard at work up at the North Pole, hustling to make sure the children of the world receive items from their wishlist. But let’s not forget the reason why we do all of this.
Let’s go back… way back. A young woman named Mary, soon to be wed, had an angel of the Lord appear to her. The angel Gabriel said to Mary, “Peace be with you! God has blessed you and is pleased with you. Don’t be afraid; God has been very kind to you. You will become pregnant by the Holy Spirit and give birth to a baby boy, and you will call him Jesus. He will be God’s own Son, and his kingdom will never end.” Of course, Mary was afraid, but she trusted God.
Mary was to marry Joseph. When she shared the news of her pregnancy with him, he was worried, and he thought maybe he should call the wedding off completely. Then an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Don’t be afraid to have Mary as your wife.” The angel explained that Mary had been chosen by God to be the mother of his Son and told Joseph that the baby would be named Jesus, which means ‘Saviour’ because he would save people. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel had told him to do and took Mary as his wife.”
At the time, Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth, which was part of the Roman Empire. The Emperor, Augustus, ordered everyone to report to the town where their family originally came from for a census to make sure that everyone paid their taxes. Because of this, Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem, where Joseph’s family was from. Mary was expecting to give birth soon, so it was a slow and hard 70-mile journey.
When they finally arrived in Bethlehem, they faced a new struggle – finding somewhere to stay. Because so many people were in town for the census, every house was full. Desperate for a place to sleep, they ended up having to stay with the animals. So in the place where the animals slept, Mary gave birth to the Savior, Jesus.
In those days, it was the custom to wrap newborn babies tightly in a long cloth called swaddling clothes. Jesus’ bed was the manger from which the animals ate their hay. Meanwhile, just outside of Bethlehem, an angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds who were tending their sheep. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I have good news for you and everyone. Today in Bethlehem, a Savior has been born for you. You will find the baby lying in a manger.”
More angels appeared, lighting up the sky. The shepherds heard them praising God, singing: “Glory to God in highest, and peace to everyone on earth.” The shepherds decided to go to Bethlehem and see for themselves.
When they arrived in Bethlehem, they saw baby Jesus in a manger, just as the angels had told them. The shepherds shared the story of the angels, and everyone was amazed.
According to whychristmas.com, When Jesus was born, a brand new bright star appeared in the sky. Some Wise Men in faraway countries saw the star and guessed what it meant. They were very intelligent men that studied the stars and had read in very old writings that a new star would appear when a great king was born. They set out to find the new king and bring him gifts.
King Herod had told the Wise Men to find out where the newborn king was, but he did not share his bad intentions with them. They had planned to report back to the king as he had instructed but were warned by God in a dream that King Herod had an evil plan. The Wise Men listened to God’s warning and did not report back to King Herod.
The Wisemen followed the star and their writings and finally arrived in Bethlehem. They presented their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the newborn king. When the Wise Men had gone, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” the angel said, “take Jesus and Mary and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for Jesus to kill him.” So Joseph got up, took Jesus and Mary during the night, and they left for Egypt, where they stayed until Herod died.
After Herod had died, Joseph had another dream in which an angel appeared to him. The angel said, “Get up, take Jesus and Mary and go back to Israel, for those who were trying to kill Jesus are dead.” So, Joseph got up and took Jesus and Mary back to Israel. But when he heard that Herod’s Son was now king of Judea, he was afraid to go there. Instead, they went to Galilee and lived in their old town of Nazareth.
With God’s guidance, Mary and Joseph were able to keep the newborn king safe. Jesus was the Savior of the world, just as the angels told Mary and Joseph he would be.
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