Tell Me the Story of Jesus, Part 1

Tell Me the Story of Jesus, Part 1

Where does the story of Jesus begin?  In Matthew 1 and Luke 1?  How about Genesis 3:15, where after the temptation and sin of Adam and Eve, the Lord God announced the curse on the serpent with these words, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”  This reference to “her offspring” is in anticipation of the virgin birth.   Mary, told by an angel that she was going to have a baby, asked “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34).   She was betrothed to Joseph, but “before they came together she was found to be with child”. For this apparent immorality, Joseph “resolved to divorce her quietly.”  But an angel of the Lord appeared to him, saying “do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  Joseph “did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son.   And he called his name Jesus” (Matthew 1:18-25). 

The story of Jesus is The STORY OF HIS BIRTH, and adolescence.  Joseph and Mary had gone to Bethlehem to be registered; “And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.  And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn” (Luke 2:1-7).  As the news of his birth spread, some shepherds received from an angel “good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord … And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’’’ (Luke 2:8-14).   Matthew tells of wise men coming to worship him, bringing rich gifts. They had been enlisted by Herod to find Jesus and come back and tell him where he was.  They were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, so they departed to their own country by another way (Matthew 2:1-12).    Herod thought they had tricked him (Matthew 2:16).

When he was twelve years old, Jesus went with his parents to Jerusalem at the Feast of the Passover.  When his parents began their return home, they walked a day’s journey before realizing that Jesus was not with them.  They returned to Jerusalem, and – after three days – found him in the temple.  The people “who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers”.  His parents were astonished.   Having searched for the twelve-year-old for three days, “great distress” (Luke 2:48) is a restrained description, it would seem, of their state of mind.  He “went down with them … and was submissive to them” (Luke 2:51).

The experience in Jerusalem is the only recorded event of Jesus’ youth.  The conclusion of this part of the story of Jesus is in Luke 2:52, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man”.

Pat Farish