The Christmas Story

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Mary. She lived in the village called Nazareth in Galilee. She was engaged to Joseph. But Mary had a cousin whose name was Elisabeth. Elisabeth was much older than Mary. She was perhaps 60, while Mary was probably in her twenties.

The Bible says in Luke 1:7 that Elisabeth “had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.”

Now Elisabeth had a husband, Zachariah, who was a priest. Let’s see what the Bible says about this, for one day, Zachariah, was in the temple, when the strangest thing happened:

And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in

the order of his course, according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was

to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole

multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. And there

appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of

incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.

But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy

wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou

shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be

great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and

he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many

of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go

before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the

children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people

prepared for the Lord. And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know

this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. And the angel

answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and

am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. And, behold,

thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall

be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in

their season. Luke 1:8-20.

Wow! Zachariah must have been surprised. And he really WAS DUMB until the baby was born! I’m sure Elisabeth was also surprised. Now watch what happens next. It’s very interesting. Hold on. What does “dumb” mean? Well, it means you can’t talk. So, Zachariah could not speak until the baby was born!

About 6 months later, Mary was in her house, when all of a sudden this happened:

And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the

Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she

was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this

should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found

favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth

a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the

Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father

David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom

there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I

know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost

shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee:

therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son

of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her

old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with

God nothing shall be impossible.And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the

Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

Luke 1:28-35.

The difference, the difference in the reactions! Mary accepted the news, while Zachariah doubted the message.

Anyhow, Mary was so shocked that she ran all the way to Elisabeth’s house. Elisabeth was also surprised at Mary’s sudden arrival and news. Here is what happened:

And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe

leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:and she spake

out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is

the fruit of thy womb.And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord

should come to me? For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in

mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she that

believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her

from the Lord. Luke 1:41-45.

Mary stayed about three months with Elisabeth. By that time Elisabeth's baby had been born. Remember how Zachariah could not speak?

Well, when everyone asked what the baby's name would be, Zachariah said with great force, "His name is John." Later, "John" would become the famous "John the Baptist" who you can read about in a previous article linked here.

Mary went back to Nazareth afterwards. Joseph was surprised and, well, probably upset. He decided to quietly end the engagement to Mary. But during the night an angel appeared to him in a dream.

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

So Joseph knew that he was supposed to marry Mary, and not break off his engagement to be married to her. About 6 months later, they heard some bad news.

“And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.” Luke 2:1

Now you might be wondering, what does “taxed” mean? “Taxed” is paying part of your money to the government. So if all the descendants of King David returned to Bethlehem to pay taxes, could you imagine how full the inns would be? Now, if you’re wondering what an inn is, it’s basically like a hotel.

One night in Bethlehem, a tired donkey climbed up the last hill, and then the woman on the donkey’s back, and the man who was leading the donkey, saw Bethlehem!! So they quickly went into Bethlehem, and they went to the inn, and Joseph knocked at the door.

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

“Travelers,” Joseph said.

“I’m sorry, we’re out of room,” said the inn keeper!

Now how would you like it if you went to a hotel, you were tired, you wanted to go to bed at the hotel, and the innkeeper said, “Sorry, you can’t come in!”

Oh, wouldn’t you just be so mad?!

“Well, go stay in the stable,” the innkeeper said.

Joseph turned and left. Mary and Joseph went into the stable.

That night, Baby Jesus was born. Mary wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in the manger.

Something else happened that night. The angels appear to the shepherds. They are told that the king is born! How exciting! They are to go find Him! The angels come and sing their beautiful songs, and tell them how to get to where the king is staying - in a stable. A stable, in case you were wondering, is a nice word for a barn. That’s right, the shepherds were told to go find the king in a smelly, noisy, barn.

When they got there, they saw Jesus, the king, lying in a manger, which is a nice way to say animal feeding box. He was wrapped in a cloth, probably not even as nice as the pictures that we look at portray. Probably thin, torn, and rugged, it was just a covering. The hay was probably what actually kept Him decently warm.

No, they were not led to a palace, with gold walls and hundreds of guards. No, they did not see a beautiful crib for Him to lay in, or a warm, comfortable blanket to keep Him warm. They saw the humble abode of animals.

Shepherds aren’t the richest people on earth, and so they probably were accustomed to the poverty in the stable. Also, they were used to the smelly animals; they took care of sheep. If a worldly king were to be born, most likely, shepherds would not be the first to meet him. But God wanted people to know that money, riches, and honor - those don’t matter. It doesn’t matter if you're poor, or live in a barn. He wanted the world to know that you do not have to be born in the spotlight to be a king.

Then, somewhere else that night, there were some wisemen. The Bible doesn't say how many, but most people agree there were three. If there were three, some say that their names may have been Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. Anyway, they were outside looking at stars when they saw an unusually bright star, "shining in the east." They were intrigued so much that they decided to follow the star, after reading some prophecies. They got to Jerusalem and made inquiries about the king which they had read about in the prophecies. King Herod heard and demanded to see the wisemen. He wanted to know how they had heard about this "King" and where He was and all that. The wisemen told Herod all they knew and then asked Herod where the King was. Herod did not know, but he found out soon enough as well as the wisemen.

The scribes and priests read that the king was "in Bethlehem of Judea." Herod told the wisemen to come back and tell him exactly where this "King" was, "That I may Worship him." The wisemen left, following that star to Bethlehem, and Herod chuckled to himself. "Worship Him? No. Kill him!" These were Herod's real intentions.

When the wisemen got to Bethlehem, they went to see Jesus, and gave him gold, franckinsense and myrhh, and worshipped him. When they left for Jerusalem, they had dreams in which God told them NOT to go back to Jerusalem to see Herod. Herod found out and made a decree that all the babies under two years of age would be killed. Joseph had a dream in which God told him to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt because of Herod's decree.

They stayed in Egypt for three years and then went home to Nazareth.

This is the Christmas story. This is why we have Christmas every year on December 25. Jesus is the reason for the season; not Santa. For more about Christmas, check out the sources. Merry Christmas!!!

Treasure Uncovered

Sources:

The Holy Bible, Luke 1, Matthew 1, Matthew 2

Treasure Uncovered, Humble Barn by Alice