Posted by Chester Morton / Wednesday, 29 March 2017 / No comments
The Lukan account of the birth of Jesus
Six months after Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah had become
pregnant, an angel of the Lord, called Gabriel, visited a virgin, called Mary,
who had been betrothed to a man from the line of David, called Joseph.
Angel Gabriel said to Mary, “O favoured one, the Lord is with
you.” This greeting troubled Mary and she wondered what kind of greeting it
might be. The angel calmed her down by saying she should not be afraid because
she had found favour in the sight of the Lord. He said, Mary would conceive and
bear a child to be called Jesus.
Knowing that she had not been with any man and was still a
virgin, Mary asked the angel how that was going to be possible, but the angel
said the Holy Spirit would come upon her and she would become pregnant and the
child to be born shall be called Holy. Then the angel hinted that even her
kinswoman, Elizabeth was also with a child and the pregnancy was about six
months old and therefore, with God nothing is impossible. Mary said to the
angel “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your
word.” Then angel Gabriel left.
Getting close to the time Mary was due to have her child, a
decree was passed by Caesar Augustus for a census to be carried out. Everyone
was expected to go to his or her village to be enumerated. So Joseph also went
to his village, Bethlehem, together with Mary who was by this time, heavily
pregnant.
While in Bethlehem, Mary’s final moments to deliver came and she
was successfully delivered of a baby boy. The child was wrapped in a swaddling
cloth and laid in a manger because there was no room in the available hotels
for them to lodge in.
That same night, there were some shepherds out in the field,
looking after their flock. An angel appeared to them and the glory of God shone
around them which frightened them. The angel told them not to be afraid because
he had brought them good news. The good news was that, in the city of David,
Bethlehem, a savior, Christ the Lord, had been born. They shall find the child
wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger. Immediately, many other angels joined
the angel and they sung praises to God.
After the angels had left, the shepherds decided to go to Bethlehem
and see things for themselves. They hurried to Bethlehem and found Mary and
Joseph with the baby lying in a manger. Then the shepherds told the people what
had been told them on the field about the child and everybody was wondering
about what the shepherds had said but Mary kept the sayings in her heart
pondering over them. The shepherds returned, praising God for the things they
had heard and seen.
After eight days, baby Jesus was circumcised according to the
laws of the Lord which He covenanted with Abraham. He was named Jesus, which was
the name that the angel mentioned before he was even conceived in his mother’s
womb.
The custom in Israel was that every male child that opens the
womb of a woman shall be called Holy to the Lord. As part of the custom, a pair
of turtle doves or two young pigeons shall be sacrificed. When the time came
for this custom to be performed, because Jesus was the first male to open his mother’s
womb, Jesus was sent to Jerusalem for the purification ceremony according the
laws of Moses.
LESSONS TO BE LEARNED
FROM THE ACCOUNT
1. One of the lessons to be learned from the story is that it
does not matter the humble circumstances surrounding one’s birth, one can still
achieve great success in life.
2. Another lesson is that there are no impossibilities when
God is concerned. Naturally speaking, Mary could not have gotten pregnant if
she had not had sex but with God, everything is possible.
3. The next lesson is that civic responsibilities should not
be treated with disrespect. Taking part in a population census exercise is an
important element of one’s civic responsibility.
4. God can use anybody to achieve his purpose for humanity,
regardless of the person’s humble beginning.
REASONS FOR THE RITUALS
OF CIRCUMCISION AND PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE
1. The ritual of circumcision was a requirement of the law.
Every Jew is mandated to be circumcised on the eighth day after birth.
2. Another reason for the circumcision was that it was part
of the covenant that God had with Abraham many years earlier that every male
born in a Jewish home shall be circumcised on the eighth day.
3. The ritual of presentation of the child in the Temple was
also a requirement of the tradition of the people of Israel. The custom
demanded that where a woman’s first child is a male, or a male child opens her
womb, the child becomes a Holy child of God and must be presented to God in the
Temple.
4. The sacrifice of two turtle doves or two pigeons was to
lessen the burden of the ritual for poor parents so that they can fulfill the
requirement, which in reality is to be the usual goat or sheep. This indicates
that Jesus’ parents could not afford the sheep of goat.
WAYS IN WHICH LUKE’S
ACCOUNT DIFFERS FROM MATTHEW’S ACCOUNT
1. One of the ways in which Luke’s account differs from that
of Matthew is that there was no mention of an angel visiting Mary in Matthew;
it was Joseph who encountered the angel in a dream. Also the name of the angel
was not mentioned.
2. Another way in which the two accounts differ is that Luke
did not record that Joseph tried to secretly divorce Mary when he discovered
that she was pregnant, only Matthew recorded this.
3. Another difference between the two accounts was that
Matthew did not say anything about Elizabeth as was done in the book of Luke.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
1. a. Describe the Lukan account of the annunciation of
Jesus.
b. In what two ways is this account different from the
Matthew account?
2. a. Highlight the main features in the account of the
birth, the circumcision and the presentation of Jesus in the Temple.
b. Give two
reasons for the two rituals of circumcision and the Temple presentation.
3. a. Outline the Lukan account of the birth of Jesus.
b. What two lessons
can be learned from the circumstances of Jesus’ birth?
