A Patriarchal Nativity Story: Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7
A Judicial Nativity Story: Judges 13:1-24
A Priestly
Nativity Story: 1 Samuel 1:1–2:11,
18-21, 26
A Prophetic
Nativity Story: Isaiah 7:1-17; 8:1-4
Another
Priestly Nativity Story: Luke 1:5-25, 57-80
The Nativity
of Jesus: Luke 1:26-56; 2:1-21, 41, 52
An
Apocalyptic Nativity Story: Revelation 12:1-17
A Patriarchal Nativity Story
The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the
entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three
men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of
his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
He
said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought,
and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to
eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have
come to your servant.”
“Very
well,” they answered, “do as you say.”
So
Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs of the finest flour and knead
it and bake some bread.”
Then he
ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who
hurried to prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been
prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near
them under a tree.
“Where
is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.
“There,
in the tent,” he said.
Then
one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and
Sarah your wife will have a son.”
Now
Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham
and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of
childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this
pleasure?”
Then
the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah
laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
Sarah
was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”
But he
said, “Yes, you did laugh.”
[…]
Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had
promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had
promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight
days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to
him.
Sarah
said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about
this will laugh with me.” And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would
nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7
A Judicial Nativity Story
Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands
of the Philistines for forty years.
A
certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are barren and
childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. Now see to it that you drink no
wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. You will become pregnant and
have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to
be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the
hands of the Philistines.”
Then
the woman went to her husband and told him, “A man of God came to me. He looked like an
angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his
name. But he said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and have a son. Now
then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything
unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day
of his death.’”
Then
Manoah prayed to the Lord:
“Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to
teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.”
God
heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in
the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. The woman hurried to tell her
husband, “He’s here! The man who appeared to me the other day!”
Manoah
got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, “Are you the
man who talked to my wife?”
“I am,”
he said.
So
Manoah asked him, “When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule that
governs the boy’s life and work?”
The
angel of the Lord answered, “Your wife must do
all that I have told her. She must not eat anything that comes from the
grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have
commanded her.”
Manoah
said to the angel of the Lord, “We
would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you.”
The
angel of the Lord replied, “Even though you
detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt
offering, offer it to the Lord.”
(Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the Lord.)
Then
Manoah inquired of the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when
your word comes true?”
He
replied, “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.” Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering,
and sacrificed it on a rock to the Lord. And
the Lord did an amazing thing while
Manoah and his wife watched: As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. Seeing
this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. When the angel of the Lord did not show himself again to
Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord.
“We are
doomed to die!” he said to his wife. “We have seen God!”
But his
wife answered, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would
not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown
us all these things or now told us this.”
The
woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh
Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Judges 13:1-24
A Priestly Nativity Story
There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from
the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham,
the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had
two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had
children, but Hannah had none.
Year after year this man went up from his town to
worship and sacrifice to theLord Almighty
at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were
priests of the Lord. Whenever
the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat
to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he
gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. Because
the Lord had closed
Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This
went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she
wept and would not eat. Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why
are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more
to you than ten sons?”
Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah
stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of
the Lord’s house. In her deep
anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord,
weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only
look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant
but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no
razor will ever be used on his head.”
As she kept on praying to the Lord,
Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were
moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to
her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”
“Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply
troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my
soul to the Lord. Do not take
your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great
anguish and grief.”
Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant
you what you have asked of him.”
She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she
went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.
Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their
home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. So
in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She
named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”
When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the
annual sacrifice to the Lord and
to fulfill his vow, Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the
boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always.”
“Do what seems best to you,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Stay
here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his word.” So the woman stayed
at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.
After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was,
along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of
wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at
Shiloh. When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to
Eli, and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am
the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I
prayed for this child, and the Lord has
granted me what I asked of him. So now I
give him to the Lord. For his
whole life he will be given over to the Lord.”
And he worshiped the Lord there.
Then Hannah prayed and said:
“My heart rejoices in the Lord;
in the Lord my horn is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.
“There is no one holy like the Lord;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.
“Do not keep talking so proudly
or let your mouth speak such
arrogance,
for the Lord is a God who knows,
and by him deeds are weighed.
“The bows of the warriors are
broken,
but those who stumbled are armed
with strength.
Those who were full hire themselves out for food,
but those who were hungry are hungry no more.
She who was barren has borne seven children,
but she who has had many sons pines
away.
“The Lord brings death and makes alive;
he brings down to the grave and
raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth;
he humbles and he exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes
and has them inherit a throne of
honor.
“For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s;
on them he has set the world.
He will guard the feet of his faithful
servants,
but the wicked will be silenced in
the place of darkness.
“It is not by strength that one prevails;
those who oppose the Lord will be broken.
The Most High will thunder from heaven;
the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
“He will give strength to his king
and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy ministered before the Lord
under Eli the priest.
[…]
But
Samuel was ministering before the Lord—a boy
wearing a linen ephod. Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it
to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. Eli would bless Elkanah and his
wife, saying, “May the Lord give you children by this woman
to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to the Lord.” Then they would go home. And the Lord was gracious to Hannah; she gave birth to three sons
and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.
[…]
And the
boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord
and with people.
1
Samuel 1:1–2:11, 18-21, 26
A Prophetic Nativity Story
When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezinof
Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they
could not overpower it.
Now the
house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with Ephraim”; so the
hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are
shaken by the wind.
Then
the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out, you
and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper
Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field. Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep
calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering
stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the
son of Remaliah. Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your ruin, saying, “Let us invade Judah; let us
tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king
over it.” Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘It will not take place,
it will not happen,
for the head of Aram is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is only
Rezin.
Within sixty-five years
Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.
The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is only
Remaliah’s son.
If you do not stand firm in your faith,
you will not stand at all.’”
Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths
or in the highest heights.”
But
Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.”
Then
Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans?
Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to
a son, and will call him Immanuel. He will
be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and
choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. The Lord will bring on you and on your
people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke
away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.”
[…]
The Lord said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.” So I called in Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah as reliable
witnesses for me. Then I made love to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. For before the boy knows how to say ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of
Assyria.”
Isaiah 7:1-17; 8:1-4
Another Priestly Nativity Story
In the
time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly
division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in
the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because
Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.
Once
when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the
priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the
burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
Then an
angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the
altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do
not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will
bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to
you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the
sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the
Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the
people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the
Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the
parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a
people prepared for the Lord.”
Zechariah
asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is
well along in years.”
The
angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God,
and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and
not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words,
which will come true at their appointed time.”
Meanwhile,
the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in
the temple. When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had
seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to
speak.
When
his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth
became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has
shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
[…]
When it
was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her
neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they
shared her joy.
On the
eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going
to name him after his father Zechariah, but his
mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”
They
said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”
Then
they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He
asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name
is John.” Immediately his mouth was opened and his
tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. All the
neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all
these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it,
asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.
His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
“Praise be
to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come to his people
and redeemed them.
He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David
(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate
us—
to show mercy to our ancestors
and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath he swore to our father
Abraham:
to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
And you, my
child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord
to prepare the way for him,
to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their
sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to
guide our feet into the path of peace.”
And the child grew and became strong in
spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to
Israel.
Luke 1:5-25, 57-80
The Nativity of Jesus
In the
sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be
married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said,
“Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Mary
was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might
be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with
God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him
Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The
Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s
descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How
will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The
angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the
holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is
going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is
in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”
“I am
the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.”
Then
the angel left her.
At that
time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s
home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed:
“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that
the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in
my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would
fulfill his promises to her!”
And
Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my
Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great
things for
me—
holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are
proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then
returned home.
[…]
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census
should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that
took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own
town to register.
So
Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he
belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with
Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time
came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in
cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available
for them.
And
there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their
flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone
around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do
not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the
people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the
Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby
wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly
a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and
saying,
“Glory to God in the highest
heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds
said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has
happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
So they
hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the
manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had
been told them about this child, and all who heard it were
amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these
things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as
they had been told.
On the
eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name
the angel had given him before he was conceived.
[…]
Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival
of the Passover.
[…]
And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God
and man.
Luke 1:26-56;
2:1-21, 41, 52
An Apocalyptic Nativity Story
A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out
in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in
heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and
flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give
birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. She gave birth to a son, a male
child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”
And her
child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the
wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of
for 1,260 days.
Then
war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against
the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough,
and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled
down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
Then I
heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day
and night,
has been hurled down.
They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to
you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is
short.”
When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who
had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two
wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the
wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to
overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped
the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had
spewed out of his mouth. Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her
offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony
about Jesus.
Revelation
12:1-17
