Nativity
About two thousand years ago, in the town
of Nazareth there lived a young woman called Mary. She was engaged to marry
Joseph, a carpenter. One day an angel named Gabriel appeared before her. He
told her that she had been chosen by God to have a very special baby. “You will
bring a son to this world. His name will be Jesus. He will be God’s son and a
Savior to people,” said Gabriel, telling Mary God’s will. Soon after Gabriel’s
visit Joseph and Mary were married.
Those days the Romans ruled Judea and Galilee – the
Israeli lands, which were just their Imperial provinces. The Romans taxed the
population – they collected money from the people. That is why they registered
the people of Israel. Such registration was called a census.
Mary
was about to have her baby when Caesar Augustus, the Roman ruler announced a
census. Every man had to take his family to the place of his birth to be
registered. As Joseph was born in the city of Bethlehem, both he and Mary had
to go there. For several days Mary had to ride a donkey over the hills of
Galilee.
At
last they arrived in Bethlehem. There were a lot of people who also came to
register in the census. The city was crowded. Mary was very tired and they had
to find a place to stay. But all the guest-houses and hotels were full. There
were no room for Mary and Joseph to stay. Finally, a kind man invited them to
stay in his stable where he kept his animals. At least they did not have to
spend a night outdoors. They agreed and thanked him.
It happened that a few hours later, Mary gave birth to
her son in that stable. She wrapped Jesus in some cloth and laid Him in a
manger full of hay.
At the same time, in the hills and fields near
Bethlehem, some shepherds were looking after their sheep. Suddenly, a bright
light appeared in the sky. They were very afraid and wanted to run away but
they could not. Then they saw that the light was coming from angels sent by
God. Those God’s messengers told the shepherds not to be afraid, because they
had some good news for them. The news was that the Son of God had been just
born and the shepherds would find Him in Bethlehem.
They wanted to see the
Savior and went to the stable. When they saw Jesus lying in the manger they
were filled with joy, knelt down and worshiped Him.
Far away in the East, Wise Men (also known as Magi)
saw a new star shining brightly high in the sky. The Magi studied the stars and
they knew that this was a very special star. They read their scrolls and books,
and learned that it meant that a great ruler had been born.
The
Magi decided to find this new ruler to worship Him. They went to Jerusalem to
see King Herod, who ruled the Jews under the Roman Caesar. They thought that
such a special baby would be in the King’s palace. The Magi asked to see the
child that would be King of the Jews. King Herod was greatly troubled. He was
afraid of the newly born Jesus because he thought the new king might
They gave Him gifts of gold,
frankincense (fragrant resin) and myrrh (fragrant oil). That night they had the
same dream. An angel came to each of them, and warned them about King Herod’s
evil plan to kill Baby Jesus. The Magi were very wise and understood Herod’s
intentions very well. They decided not to return to Jerusalem or tell Herod
where exactly Baby Jesus was. So they went back to their land at once. 
Soon after that Joseph had a dream in which an angel
told him to take Mary and Baby Jesus to Egypt as King Herod had ordered to kill
Jesus. They left for Egypt immediately.
When
the Magi did not return to Jerusalem, King Herod understood that his evil plan
had not worked and ordered to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem. His soldiers
went there and did as he ordered. But they did not find Baby Jesus, as He was
safe far away from King Herod at that time.
Based on Gospels according to Matthew 1 – 2 & Luke
1 – 2
Compiled by O.Zabolotny, 2014
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