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J e s u s !
Don't forget that Jesus is the reason for Christmas
Jesus is the reason for Christmas

THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST
Saint Matthew – Chapter 1:18-25

  1. This was the way that Jesus Christ was born. His mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they were married she found out that she was going to have a baby by the Holy Spirit.
  2. Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a man who always did what was right; but he did not want to disgrace Mary publicly, so he made plans to break the engagement secretly.
  3. While he was thinking about all this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said: "Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife. For it is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived.
  4. "She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus—for he will save his people from their sins."
  5. Now all this happened in order to make come true what the Lord had said through the prophet:
  6. "The virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and he will be called Emanuel" (which means, "God is with us!").
  7. So when Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do and married Mary.
  8. But he had no sexual relations with her before she gave birth to her son. And Joseph named him Jesus.

VISITORS FROM THE EAST
Saint Matthew – Chapter 2:1-23

  1. Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem, in the land of Judea, during the time when Herod was king. Soon afterwards some men who studied the stars came from the east to Jerusalem
  2. And asked: "Where is the baby born to be the kind of Jews? We saw his star when it came up in the east, and we have come to worship him."
  3. When King Herod heard about this he was very upset, and so was everybody else in Jerusalem.
  4. He called together all the chief priests and the teachers of the Law and asked them, "Where will the Messiah be born?"
  5. "In the town of Bethlehem, in Judea," they answered. "This is what the prophet wrote:
  6. ‘You, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not by any means the least among the rulers of Judah; For from you will come a leader Who will guide my people Israel.’"
  7. So Herod called the visitors from the east to a secret meeting and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.
  8. Then he sent them to Bethlehem with a careful search for the child, and when you find him let me know, so that I may go and worship him too."
  9. With this they left, and on their way they saw the star—the same one they had seen in the east—and it went ahead of them until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.
  10. How happy they were, what gladness they felt, when they saw the star!
  11. They went into the house and saw the child with his mother Mary. They knelt down and worshiped him; then they opened their bags and offered him presents: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
  12. God warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod; so they went back home by another road.

THE ESCAPE TO EGYPT

  1. After they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said: "Get up, take the child and his mother and run away to Egypt, and stay there ultil I tell you to leave. Herod will be looking for the child to kill him."
  2. So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left during the night for Egypt,
  3. Where he stayed until Herod died. This was done to make come true what the Lord had said through the prophet, "I called my Son out of Egypt."

THE KILLING OF THE CHILDREN

  1. When Herod realized that the visitors from the east had tricked him, he was furious. He gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its neighborhood who were two years old and younger—in accordance with what he had learned from the visitors about the time when the star had appeared.
  2. In this way what the prophet Jeremiah had said came true:
  3. "A sound is heard in Ramah, The sound of bitter crying and weeping. Rachel weeps for her children, She weeps and will not be comforted, Because they are all dead."

THE RETURN FROM EGYPT

  1. After Herod had died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, in Egypt,
  2. And said: "Get up, take the child and his mother, and go back to the country of Israel, because those who tried to kill the child are dead."
  3. So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went back to the country of Israel.
  4. When he heard that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as king of Judea, Joseph was afraid to settle there. He was given more instructions in a dream and so went to the province of Galilee
  5. And made his home in a town named Nazareth. He did this to make come true what the prophets had said, "He will be called a Nazarene."

Source: Good News For Modern Man
American Bible Society, NY

THE BIRTH RECORD OF JESUS CHRIST
Saint Matthew -- 1:1-17

  1. This is the birth record of Jesus Christ, who was a descendant of David, who was a descendant of Abraham.
  2. Abraham was the father of Isaac; Isaac was the father of Jacob; Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers;
  3. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar); Perez was the father of Hezron; Hezeron was the father of Ram;
  4. Ram was the father of Nahshon; Nahshon was the father of Salmon;
  5. Salmon was the father Boaz (Rahab was his mother); Boaz was the father of Obed (Ruth was his mother); Obed was the father of Jesse;
  6. Jesse was the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon (his mother had been Uriah’s wife);
  7. Solomon was the father of Rehoboam; Rehoboam was the father of Abijah; Abijah was the father of Asa;
  8. Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat; Jehoshaphat was the father of Joram; Joram was the father of Uzziah;
  9. Uzziah was the father of Joram; Joram was the father of Ahaz; Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah;
  10. Hezekiah was the father of Manasseth; Manasseh was the father of Amon; Amon was the father of Josiah;
  11. Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time when the people of Israel were carried away to Babylon.
  12. After the people were carried away to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel; Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel;
  13. Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud; Abiud was the father of Eliakim; Eliakim was the father of Azor;
  14. Azor was the father of Zadok; Zadok was the father of Achim; Achim was the father of Eliud;
  15. Eliud was the father of Eleazar; Eleazar was the father of Matthan; Matthan was the father of Jacob;
  16. Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, who was the mother of Jesus, called the Messiah.
  17. So then, there were fourteen sets of fathers and sons from Abraham to David, and fourteen from David to the time when the people were carried away to Babylon, and fourteen from then to the birth of the Messiah.

Source: Good News For Modern Man
American Bible Society, NY

Allan B. Colombo
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