The Child Jesus
Mary, who was a young woman gentle and good, lived in the town of
Nazareth. She was soon to marry a carpenter named Joseph. She was
visited one day by an angel named Gabriel who told her that she would
have a son and that she should name him Jesus. He said the Holy Spirit
would be with her and the child would be the Son of God.
Mary and Joseph were married. Then one day they had to travel to
Bethlehem to pay their taxes. It was a long journey. When they arrived
in Bethlehem, there was no place for them at the inn. They spent the
night in the stable. That night the baby was born. They named him
Jesus, just as the angel had said.
An angel appeared to shepherds who were in the nearby fields. A great
light shone down on them, and the angel told them, "Do not be afraid. A
Savior who is Christ the Lord is born tonight." The shepherds left in
search of this child. They found him in the stable.
Wise men from the east followed a star to Jerusalem in search of Jesus.
King Herod tried to trick the men, so he could find out where this
child was that they were calling "King of the Jews." (He was afraid the
child would one day take his throne from him.) The wise men found Jesus
in Bethlehem in a house. They worshiped him and gave him gifts of gold,
frankincense (incense) and myrrh.
When Jesus was twelve years old, Mary and Joseph took him with them to
Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. On the way home there was such
a crowd, they did not know Jesus wasn't with them. When they went back
they found him in the Temple talking to the teachers and the doctors of
the law. He told them, "Did you not know that I must be about my
Father's business?" He went back to Nazareth and was obedient to them.
Jesus grew in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and men.