From the New Testament
Book of Luke: Chapters 1 and 2; Book of Matthew: Chapter 1
Merry Christmas! That’s what many people exclaim each year towards the end of December, even though the secular “Happy Holidays” is more PC.
Christmas is a time for great celebration for Christians and Messianic Jews. It marks the birth of a Savior. The title savior is applied to God in the Old Testament of the Bible, but more specifically to Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Jesus is God, born as a human. Heavy stuff, no doubt, but hang in there.
Honey, I’m pregnant
The birth of Jesus is a story unique in all the world. Gabriel, an angel, appears to Mary, a virgin, and tells her she is to give birth to a son and that she is to name him Jesus. She didn’t quite understand how this was possible for a virgin, so the angel further explained that this pregnancy would come about, not by human means, but by the power of God. Mary, being a godly woman, went along with the plan.
Mary was at the time, engaged to Joseph, a man whose ancestry dates back to David, the great king of Israel. To be engaged in ancient Israel, was for all intents and purposes to be married, save for the actual marriage ceremony and the partying afterwards, such as it was at the time. So when Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant, he decided to quietly divorce her, so to speak. He could not marry a woman who, he was convinced, had fooled around with someone else and being a decent fellow, he wished to save her from public disgrace. Back then, people actually frowned upon adultery. Keeping things hush-hush might also save her from being stoned to death. The laws were pretty tough back then.
But an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to keep his wits about him and to go ahead with the marriage. The angel told Joseph that this was God’s doing and also told him to name the boy Jesus, because “he will save his people from their sins.” Joseph, being a godly man, went along with the plan. By the way, ‘Jesus’ means “the Lord saves”.
No vacancy
At the time, Caesar Augustus was emperor of Rome and the Roman Empire included the land of Judea, located in what is now Israel. Every fourteen years a census was taken for the purpose of taxation. To register and pay their fair share, Mary and Joseph had to travel to Joseph’s ancestral birthplace, Bethlehem, the city where King David once called home.
Being with child has its joys, but traveling in the ninth month of pregnancy can be a real chore. Given that the best transportation Joseph could muster was a second-hand donkey, this was no vacation.
They arrived in Bethlehem late one night only to discover that there were a lot of taxpayers to be counted. The streets were mobbed. Not having the foresight to call ahead for reservations, they found themselves in the distressing position of having to spend the night in the hotel’s parking garage. In those days, this meant the stable.
Hark! The herald angels sing
Meanwhile, out in the suburbs, the lowliest of all the citizens of Judea, a group of shepherds, was settling down for what should have been another uneventful night, save for an occasional wolf or robber. As they tended to their sheep, Mary’s water broke. Subsequent to this, all Heaven was about to break loose.
Up there, all was abuzz as God prepared to pass out “It’s a Boy!” cigars. The angels were fine tuning their musical instruments and practicing their chorus for the very last time. When the blessed event finally did happen, the angels made their historic announcement to the shepherds.