Paper 122 Overview: Birth and Infancy of Jesus

Jesus was born to Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem on August 21, 7 B.C. Gabriel, a heavenly being, had appeared earlier to Mary and announced she would have a special son. The family stayed in Bethlehem for over a year before fleeing to Egypt to escape King Herod who wanted to kill the child.

When Jesus was about two years old, after Herod died, the family returned to their hometown of Nazareth in Galilee. There Joseph worked as a carpenter and builder while Mary cared for Jesus. They raised Jesus as a normal Jewish child, even though they knew he was special.

Many reasons led to Palestine being chosen as the place for Jesus to be born on earth. After careful study, Michael (Jesus' heavenly identity) chose earth for his final bestowal. Gabriel studied human groups around the world and decided that the Hebrew people had the best qualities for this mission.

Gabriel selected Joseph and Mary from three possible couples to be Jesus' parents. When Mary was told she would become the mother of a special child, she was both thrilled and worried about what this meant. Gabriel assured her that this was part of God's plan.

Joseph was a Hebrew carpenter whose family included many ordinary but sometimes remarkable people. He was not directly descended from King David, though his family was considered part of David's house. Joseph was a builder, carpenter, and respected common man.

Mary came from a line of remarkable women and had a mixed heritage that included Syrian, Hittite, Phoenician, Greek, and Egyptian ancestry. Together, Joseph and Mary had the perfect mix of backgrounds for raising Jesus. Their ordinary status was ideal since Jesus was meant to be understood by common people.

Jesus' cousin John was born before him. Gabriel appeared to John's mother Elizabeth in June, 8 B.C., and told her she would have a son who would prepare the way for a divine teacher. Elizabeth kept this news secret at first, even from her husband Zacharias.

When Elizabeth finally told Zacharias, he doubted the story until it became clear she was pregnant. Later, Mary visited Elizabeth for three weeks to talk about their special children. John was born on March 25, 7 B.C., and his parents raised him knowing he would become a religious leader.

One evening, Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her she would have a son named Joshua (Jesus). He said this child would "inaugurate the kingdom of heaven on earth." Gabriel told her to share this news only with Joseph and Elizabeth.

Mary thought about this message for weeks until she was certain she was pregnant. When she told Joseph, he was troubled and doubtful at first. Eventually, both Mary and Joseph came to believe they would be parents of the Messiah, though their understanding of what this meant was based on Jewish ideas of the time.

Joseph did not fully accept Mary's story until he had a special dream. In the dream, a bright heavenly messenger told him that Mary's child would be "a great light in the world" and would reveal that people are children of God.

The messenger did not say anything about the house of David or Jesus becoming a Jewish political leader. Jesus was meant to be a world deliverer for all people, not just for Jews. Many prophecies were only connected to Jesus long after he had lived his life on earth.

Joseph was a quiet, thoughtful man who was faithful to Jewish religious practices. He was sometimes sad about the troubles of the Jewish people. Mary was usually cheerful and liked to express her feelings openly. She was rarely sad until after Joseph's unexpected death.

Jesus got his gentleness and understanding from his father and his teaching ability and strong sense of right from his mother. Both parents were well educated for their time. When Joseph died, Mary sometimes doubted Jesus' mission, but she was steadied by her memory of Gabriel's visit.

The family lived in a small home on the outskirts of Nazareth, near a hill that Jesus often climbed. From there, he could see the countryside and watch travelers on the roads. Their house was a simple one-room stone building with a flat roof.

The main room had a stone table, dishes, a loom, a lamp, and sleeping mats on the floor. There was a shelter in the back yard that covered an oven and grain mill. Later, as the family grew, Joseph built an addition that served as his workshop during the day and a bedroom at night.

In March, 8 B.C., Emperor Augustus ordered a census of the Roman Empire. In Palestine, the census was not conducted until 7 B.C. Although Joseph could have registered the family without Mary, she insisted on traveling with him to Bethlehem, partly to visit her relative Elizabeth.

The journey took several days. On August 20, 7 B.C., they arrived in Bethlehem and found the inn was full. They were given space in a converted stable below the inn. There, Mary went into labor, and at noon on August 21, Jesus was born.

Mary gave birth to Jesus with the help of other women travelers. The baby was wrapped in clothes Mary had brought along and placed in a manger. Eight days later, following Jewish custom, he was circumcised and named Joshua (Jesus).

The family stayed in Bethlehem for over a year because Zacharias and Elizabeth convinced Joseph that Jesus should grow up in the city of David. Some priests from Ur visited the baby after being told by a religious teacher about a special child. The famous story of the star of Bethlehem was created later based on an unusual alignment of planets.

Following Jewish law, Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the Jerusalem temple when he was forty days old. They presented him to the priests and paid five shekels to "redeem" him as their firstborn son. Mary also completed the required purification ritual after childbirth.

At the temple, they met an elderly couple, Simeon and Anna, who were friends of Zacharias. When Simeon saw Jesus, he sang a special song about the child being a "light for the unveiling of the gentiles." This troubled Joseph, who did not agree with the idea that Jesus would be a Messiah for all peoples.

King Herod learned about Jesus from the priests who had visited from Ur. When the priests did not return to tell Herod where to find the child, he became angry. Zacharias warned Joseph, who kept the family in hiding.

After more than a year of searching, Herod ordered all boys under two years old in Bethlehem to be killed. Just before this happened, Joseph and Mary escaped with Jesus to Alexandria, Egypt. They lived there for two years until after Herod died, supported by funds from Zacharias and staying with Joseph's relatives.