Jesus' Birth, what parts of Luke 2 to read?

[trixie]

I know when reading the story of Jesus' birth, people read from Luke 2, but from what versus exactly? Cause the chapter extends to more than just his birth, so I forget just where to start and end, thanks!

[pam]

I usually read verses 1-18 when we read it on Christmas Eve.

[Hemidakota]

We read both the Bible [Luke] and Book of Mormon [3rd Neph]i in our ward sacrament last Sunday...

[pam]

That wasn't her question Hemi. lol

[Hemidakota]

In order to present why we choose something passages verus just Luke alone, it gives a better background to why the great importancy the Savior's birth. Robert Millet/Kent Jackson did most of the research concerning background that surrounded His birth in morality - "Studies in Scripture, Vol. 5: The Gospels", by Robert L. Millet, Kent P. Jackson

Hopefully, it will help and aid you in celebrating Christmas...

The Christmas Story

In what has become the traditional "Christmas Story," Luke records (2:1-20) the significant scenes surrounding the birth of Jesus. The drama begins with Joseph and his wife Mary, who was now in the advanced stage of her pregnancy, leaving their home in Nazareth. They traveled a distance of from eighty to ninety miles to Bethlehem, "to enroll their names as members of the house of David in a census which had been ordered by the Emperor Augustus. In the political condition of the Roman Empire, of which Judea then formed a part," Frederic Farrar has noted, "a single whisper of the Emperor was sufficiently powerful to secure the execution of his mandates in the remotest corners of the civilized world." Further, Farrar added, "in deference to Jewish prejudices, any infringement of which was the certain signal for violent tumults and insurrection, it was not carried out in the ordinary Roman manner, at each person's place of residence, but according to Jewish custom, at the town to which their family originally belonged." 8

When they had arrived in Bethlehem, the city of David, a city whose name means literally "house of bread" (appropriately, the place from which will go forth the true Bread of Life), they sought earnestly a comfortable setting for the birth of their baby. Because of the crowded conditions in Bethlehem and perhaps the insensitivity that too often exists in and among masses of people, "there was none to give room for them in the inns." (JST Luke 2:7.) Inns presumably refers to places of lodging that are sometimes called khans, or caravanseries. They were locations where caravans or companies of people settled down for the night. Such places may have consisted of no more than crudely constructed roofs over open courts. Farrar offered his own perspective (from the nineteenth century) of these locations. They were "perfectly public; everything that takes place in them is visible to every person in the khan. They are also totally devoid of even the most ordinary furniture." 9 In the words of Elder Bruce R. McConkie: "In the area of Bethlehem, sometimes the whole khan, sometimes only the portion where the animals were kept, was located within a large cave, of which there are many in the area. But unless or until some of the saints—and such a thing is by no means improbable or beyond the realm of expectancy—see in a dream or a vision the inn where Joseph and Mary and Jesus spent that awesome night, we can only speculate as to the details." 10 Thus here in the humblest of circumstances we become witnesses of the condescension of God the Son, the Holy One of Israel, leaving the courts of glory, coming down to earth, taking a tabernacle of clay, and becoming the most helpless of all forms of life—a human infant.

On the plains of Bethlehem, shepherds were "abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night." (Luke 2:8.) "These were not ordinary shepherds nor ordinary flocks," wrote Elder McConkie. "The sheep there being herded—nay, not herded, but watched over, cared for with love and devotion—were destined for sacrifice on the great altar in the Lord's House, in similitude of the eternal sacrifice of Him who that wondrous night lay in a stable, perhaps among sheep of lesser destiny. And the shepherds—for whom the veil was then rent: surely they were in spiritual stature like Simeon and Anna and Zacharias and Elisabeth and Joseph and the growing group of believing souls who were coming to know, by revelation, that the Lord's Christ was now on earth. As there were many widows in Israel, and only to the one in Zarephath was Elijah sent, so there were many shepherds in Palestine, but only to those who watched over the temple flocks did the herald angel come; only they heard the heavenly choir." 11

An angel appeared and spoke with authority the long-awaited "good tidings of great joy," the singular message that the Lord of Life had been born, that the age of the Anointed One had now burst upon all creation. An angel had appeared to King Benjamin in the Americas over a century earlier and said: "I am come to declare unto you the glad tidings of great joy." (Mosiah 3:3, emphasis added.) What were those glad tidings? Simply that "the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles." More specifically: "And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary." (Mosiah 3:5, 8.) Likewise Samuel the Lamanite taught that Jesus Christ "surely shall come into the world, and shall suffer many things and shall be slain for his people. And behold, an angel of the Lord hath declared it unto me, and he did bring glad tidings to my soul." (Hel. 13:6-7, emphasis added.)

"And this is the way you shall find the babe," the angel continued to the attentive shepherds: "He is wrapped in swaddling clothes, and is lying in a manger." (JST Luke 2:12.) After the preceding directions were given regarding our Lord's place of birth, the heavens resounded with anthems of praise: "Glory to God in the highest heaven! Peace upon earth among men of good will!" (Phillips Translation, Luke 2:14.) Or, as translated in a slightly different manner: "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace to men who enjoy his favor." (Jerusalem Bible.) Having found the humble dwellings of the holy family, and then no doubt having visited at length with Joseph and Mary and sensed the sacredness of the occasion, the shepherds were among the first mortals to bear Messianic witness, to testify of those "things which they had heard and seen, as they were manifested unto them." (JST Luke 2:20.) Many heard the inspired words of the shepherds and marveled at the implications of what had come to pass. "But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19), "awaiting the day when she too will bear witness of all that she feels and believes and knows concerning the Son of David, who was born in the city of David, and who came to reign on the throne of David forever." 12

Notes:

8. Frederic Farrar, The Life of Christ (Portland, Ore.: Fountain Publications, 1964), pp. 35-36.

9. Ibid., p. 33.

10. The Mortal Messiah 1:344.

11. Ibid., 1:347.

12. Ibid., 1:349.

Edited December 22, 2009 by Hemidakota

[Hemidakota]

The Visit of the Magi

Some time after the presentation of Jesus in the temple (a period that may have been as much as two years—see Matt. 2:7, 16), certain "wise men from the east" were led by a new star to Jerusalem. (Matt. 2:1). 14 Christian tradition is replete with suggestions as to their native countries, their names, and their numbers. Were the eastern visitors from Babylon, Persia, or Arabia? Were they two in number, or perhaps three, as millions have supposed? We simply do not know, for our primary source, the Gospel of Matthew, is silent beyond the twelve verses contained in the second chapter.

About five years before the birth of Christ, Samuel the Lamanite prophesied of "a new star" that would serve as one of the signs of the Savior's birth. (Hel. 14:5.) Elder McConkie wrote: "As to the star, there is nothing mysterious about it. The Magi, if so they are to be designated, were not reading portents in the skies nor divining the destinies of men by the movement of celestial bodies in the sidereal heavens. The new star was simply a new star of the sort we are familiar with. No doubt it exhibited an unusual brilliance, so as to attract special attention and so as to give guidance to those who walked in its light, but it was, nonetheless, a star." 15

There seems to have been in Jewish prophecy or legend the knowledge that the Messiah's coming would be heralded by a special appearance of a star. Alfred Edersheim wrote: "There is . . . testimony which seems to us not only reliable, but embodies most ancient Jewish tradition. It is contained in one of the smaller Midrashim. . . . The so-called Messiah-Haggadah (Aggadoth Mashiach) opens as follows: 'A star shall come out of Jacob. There is a Boraita in the name of the Rabbis: The heptad in which the Son of David cometh—in the first year, there will not be sufficient nourishment; in the second year the arrows of famine are launched; in the third, a great famine; in the fourth, neither famine nor plenty; in the fifth, great abundance and the Star shall shine forth from the East, and this is the Star of the Messiah.'" 16

It is generally supposed that the wise men were Gentiles from foreign soil who had come to behold the babe in Bethlehem. This supposition seems at variance with the fact that these are men guided in personal religious quests for the Anointed One of Israel: "Where is the child that is born, the Messiah of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and have come to worship him." (JST Matt. 3:2, emphasis added.) 17 Elder McConkie concluded: "As to the men themselves, one thing is clear. They had prophetic insight. It was with them as it had been with saintly Simeon. . . . The probability is they were themselves Jews who lived, as millions of Jews then did, in one of the nations to the East." 18

Word of the inquiries by the wise men and the subsequent stir among the people reached Herod the Great. Herod "gathered all the chief priests, and scribes of the people together, [and] demanded of them, saying, Where is the place that is written of by the prophets, in which Christ [i.e., the Messiah] should be born? For he greatly feared, yet he believed not the prophets. And they said unto him, It is written by the prophets, that he should be born in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus have they said, The word of the Lord came unto us, saying, And thou Bethlehem, which lieth in the land of Judea, in thee shall be born a prince, which art not the least among all the princes of Judea; for out of thee shall come the Messiah, who shall save my people Israel." (JST Matt. 3:4-6.)

Herod learned from the wise men when they had first encountered the new star, and he asked them to bring word back to him once they had found the Christ, so that, in his own lying and deceitful words, "I may come and worship him also." (Matt. 2:8.) Having found the house to which the holy family had relocated, the wise men worshiped the Lord and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. That these souls were spiritually sensitive is attested by the fact that they were warned in an inspired dream not to return to Jerusalem to discuss the matter with Herod further. Consequently, "they departed into their own country another way." (Matt. 2:12.)

Notes:

14. The Greek word used by Matthew (translated as "wise men" in the KJV) is magoi, rendered in English as magi. What does Matthew mean by magoi? A typical scholarly opinion is as follows: "Long before, Herodotus (Histories 1) had intrigued his Greek readers with a description of a priestly caste of magi among the sixth-century Medes, a caste that has special power to interpret dreams. The magi survived both the transfer of power from the Medes to the Persians (ca. 550 B.C.) and the emerging religious dominance of Zoroastrianism, so that by Herodotus' time (ca. 450) the magi were Zoroastrian priests. In the subsequent centuries there was a diversification in the functions of magi as the title was loosely applied to men adept in various forms of secret lore and magic. . . . Thus, the term 'magi' refers to those engaged in occult arts and covers a wide range of astronomers, fortune tellers, priestly augurers, and magicians of varying plausibility." (Brown, The Birth of the Messiah, p. 167.) This approach to the identity of the magi has been popularly received over the centuries, since it points to the role of Jesus Christ as Savior and King to all the world. Though this has some attraction, I agree with Elder McConkie's assessment (hereafter) that the magi were Jews of the dispersion.

15. The Mortal Messiah 1:359.

16. Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1971), 1:211-12, emphasis added

17. The reader should note the differences in the numbering of chapters and verses in early Matthew in the KJV and the JST. Joseph Smith began chapter 2 in his inspired version after the genealogy of Jesus (after KJV, 1:17). By Matthew 4 the KJV and the JST chapters are the same again.

18. The Mortal

[stormwitch]

We also read from 1 to 20... and I like especially these last two verses... "But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart." Maybe this is what we are asked to do, too: Ponder the things that happened, why they happened and what the consequences were.

"And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the tings that they had heard and seen."... If we really understand Christmas, then we will glorify and praise God as well.

I wish you all a wonderful and blessed Christmas!

[rameumptom]

I wasn't sure if Trixie was serious or not. In the time it took her to write her question, and then get the responses, she easily could have looked this up.

[trixie]

I was serious, I don't see why I else I would ask if I wasn't. Look, I don't know the scriptures that well and I did look through the chapter. But since the whole chapter continues for more than just his birth, as I already stated, I wondered if I read it to someone, precisely which verses I would read. Thanks to those who answered.

Edited December 23, 2009 by trixie

[Vort]

I was serious, I don't see why I else I would ask if I wasn't. Look, I don't know the scriptures that well and I did look through the chapter. But since the whole chapter continues for more than just his birth, as I already stated, I wondered if I read it to someone, precisely which verses I would read. Thanks to those who answered.

I appreciate Trixie's candor (and her name:

But I digress.) I think that we sometimes lose sight of where different people are at in their progression along the gospel knowledge continuum. To one person, it's obvious that you just look at the chapter of scripture, skim through it, and figure out how far you want to read before you get where you want to go. To another, the scriptures are a mysterious unknown, foreign territory where angels fear to tread, or at least s/he does.

The problem is that our life here is so short, that just when we finally start getting things figured out, we get old and die. I guess that it therefore behooves us to be patient with our fellow travelers, as we hope for patience from others.

PS Hey! There's my new avatar!

[Hemidakota]

"...we finally start getting things figured out, we get old and die."

How true Vort.