Jesus the Christ: Chapters 8 & 9

Wow! I am way behind! Good thing I didn't really commit to regular blogging, I just said I would TRY to post once a week!

Chapter 8: The Babe of Bethlehem

Who doesn't love the Christmas story? I mean seriously! I love it start to finish and that's really what this chapter is all about. I love that angels announced His birth to shepherds, they didn't go into churches, they didn't go to important politicians to make their announcement, they went to shepherds in the fields tending their sheep. Christ often spoke of sheep and shepherds throughout His earthly ministry and really, isn't it lovely imagery?

I also love the story of Simeon who was promised that he would live long enough to see Christ. Oh, and the story of Anna who knew the Christ child when she saw him for who he really was! How would it feel to be Anna? or to be Mary? Honestly, I don't even really want to imagine what it would be like to be Mary...way too much responsibility!

How about the wise men? Isn't it fun to imagine them following a star for who knows how long, weeks or months maybe, to see the promised Messiah...and that leads to King Herod....how evil do you have to be to kill thousands of babies? That's something else I don't want to know. Did you know that this is the reason Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate Christmas?

Chapter 9: The Boy of Nazareth

"And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him." Luke 2:40

There isn't much more than this written about his childhood, but Talmage points out that historically Jewish children were well educated in the law and the scriptures and that Joseph and Mary we devout and faithful in all observances of the law. So we can conclude that Jesus was well educated. The Bible tells about him at 12 going to the temple and sitting with the learned men and impressing them all with his knowledge and understanding. As a mother I see it from Mary's point of view, she suddenly discovers her child is missing (haven't we all had that moment of panic when your heart sinks into your shoes?) when she finds him he doesn't even have the decency to realize that his poor mother is worried sick! Oh the humanity! And then he reminds her of who he really is, and I can totally see how she might have forgotten that, she probably had several small children and a household to run...she was a busy woman! To her, he was just her child and she was scared to death that she'd lost him in the big city.

This book just keeps getting better and better! I better get reading, I'm falling way behind!