Christmas Story Reading
Notes
Transcript
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.
28 The angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you!”
29 But she was greatly troubled by his words and began to wonder about the meaning of this greeting.
30 So the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God!
31 Listen: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.
32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.
33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.”
34 Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?”
35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God.
36 “And look, your relative Elizabeth has also become pregnant with a son in her old age—although she was called barren, she is now in her sixth month!
37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”
38 So Mary said, “Yes, I am a servant of the Lord; let this happen to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
39 In those days Mary got up and went hurriedly into the hill country, to a town of Judah,
40 and entered Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth.
41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
42 She exclaimed with a loud voice, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child in your womb!
43 And who am I that the mother of my Lord should come and visit me?
44 For the instant the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
45 And blessed is she who believed that what was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
46 And Mary said, “My soul exalts the Lord,
47 and my spirit has begun to rejoice in God my Savior,
48 because he has looked upon the humble state of his servant. For from now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 because he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name;
50 from generation to generation he is merciful to those who fear him.
51 He has demonstrated power with his arm; he has scattered those whose pride wells up from the sheer arrogance of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up those of lowly position;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering his mercy,
55 as he promised to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
56 So Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then returned to her home.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
19 Because Joseph, her husband to be, was a righteous man, and because he did not want to disgrace her, he intended to divorce her privately.
20 When he had contemplated this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
21 She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled:
23 “Look! The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.”
24 When Joseph awoke from sleep he did what the angel of the Lord told him. He took his wife,
25 but did not have marital relations with her until she gave birth to a son, whom he named Jesus.
1 Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus to register all the empire for taxes.
2 This was the first registration, taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
3 Everyone went to his own town to be registered.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David.
5 He went to be registered with Mary, who was promised in marriage to him, and who was expecting a child.
6 While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child.
7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
8 Now there were shepherds nearby living out in the field, keeping guard over their flock at night.
9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were absolutely terrified.
10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! Listen carefully, for I proclaim to you good news that brings great joy to all the people:
11 Today your Savior is born in the city of David. He is Christ the Lord.
12 This will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a vast, heavenly army appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among people with whom he is pleased!”
15 When the angels left them and went back to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, that the Lord has made known to us.”
16 So they hurried off and located Mary and Joseph, and found the baby lying in a manger.
17 When they saw him, they related what they had been told about this child,
18 and all who heard it were astonished at what the shepherds said.
19 But Mary treasured up all these words, pondering in her heart what they might mean.
20 So the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; everything was just as they had been told.
21 At the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
22 Now when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, Joseph and Mary brought Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord
23 (just as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male will be set apart to the Lord”),
24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is specified in the law of the Lord, a pair of doves or two young pigeons.
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon who was righteous and devout, looking for the restoration of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
27 So Simeon, directed by the Spirit, came into the temple courts, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary according to the law,
28 Simeon took him in his arms and blessed God, saying,
29 “Now, according to your word, Sovereign Lord, permit your servant to depart in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation
31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples:
32 a light, for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”
33 So the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him.
34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “Listen carefully: This child is destined to be the cause of the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be rejected.
35 Indeed, as a result of him the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul as well!”
36 There was also a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old, having been married to her husband for seven years until his death.
37 She had lived as a widow since then for eighty-four years. She never left the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.
38 At that moment, she came up to them and began to give thanks to God and to speak about the child to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, in the time of King Herod, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem
2 saying, “Where is the one who is born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him.
4 After assembling all the chief priests and experts in the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.
5 “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they said, “for it is written this way by the prophet:
6 And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are in no way least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”
7 Then Herod privately summoned the wise men and determined from them when the star had appeared.
8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and look carefully for the child. When you find him, inform me so that I can go and worship him as well.”
9 After listening to the king they left, and once again the star they saw when it rose led them until it stopped above the place where the child was.
10 When they saw the star they shouted joyfully.
11 As they came into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, they bowed down and worshiped him. They opened their treasure boxes and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 After being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back by another route to their own country.
13 After they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to look for the child to kill him.”
14 Then he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and went to Egypt.
15 He stayed there until Herod died. In this way what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet was fulfilled: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”
16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men to kill all the children in Bethlehem and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men.
17 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud wailing, Rachel weeping for her children, and she did not want to be comforted, because they were gone.”
19 After Herod had died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt
20 saying, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.”
21 So he got up and took the child and his mother and returned to the land of Israel.
22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. After being warned in a dream, he went to the regions of Galilee.
23 He came to a town called Nazareth and lived there. Then what had been spoken by the prophets was fulfilled, that Jesus would be called a Nazarene.
40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him.
14 Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.
15 John testified about him and shouted out, “This one was the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’ ”
16 For we have all received from his fullness one gracious gift after another.
17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ.
18 No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known.