1:18-25 ....Jesus' birth 1:18-25 The birth of Jesus Christ took place as follows. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph. But before they came together she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Now Joseph her husband was a just man and did not wish to hold her up as a public example. He resolved to dismiss her secretly. But while he was thinking about this, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him through a dream saying to him. “Joseph, son of David. Do not fear to take Mary as you	wife. For what has been begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son and you will call him Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.” Now all this occurred so that the things spoken by the Lord through the prophet may be fulfilled. “Behold the virgin will conceive in her womb and bear a son and they will call him Emmanuel which is understood as meaning God is with us.” When Joseph woke up from this sleep he did as the angel had bid him. He took his wife and did not know her until she bore a son. He gave him the name of Jesus.
A point people like to argue about is whether or not Mary remained a virgin even after marriage. A C20th visionary called Catherine Emerich claimed that Joseph and Mary belonged to a group within Judaism called Essenes. These were extremely strict and formed a basis for monastic-type communities. Some of the married Essenes practised celibacy for periods of time or permanently. The visions of Catherine Emerich and her references to Essenes were dismissed for much of the C20th. But references to Essenes which matched the visions of Emerich (to some degree) turned up in the Dead Sea scrolls found in the late 1940’s. It took a long time for all the scrolls to be translated and made available to the public. Recently Pope John Paul II canonised Catherine Emerich. Consider this in terms of the time/place and law/order analysis presented in Reality Search. If the family of Jesus did indeed belong to the Essenes it would help explain the fierce hostility which some of the family felt when Jesus was moving outside this purist group and appearing to adopt views and practices held by Gentile or pagan people.
2:1-12..... Magi Now after Jesus had been born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, some Magi from the East arrived in Jerusalem. They were asking "Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the East and have come to worship him. When King Herod heard this he was troubled and all of Jerusalem with him. Having assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people he asked of them where the Christ was expected to be born. They told him it was in Bethlehem of Judea as it had been written through the prophet "And thou Bethlehem, land of Judah, you are not at all least among the areas of Judah. For out of you will come forth a governor who will shepherd my people of		Israel.After hearing this Herod secretly called the Magi and asked them in detail when the star first appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem saying "Go and find out about the child and when you do so come back and report to me so that I also may come and worship him. After hearing the king they continued on their way and the star, which they had seen in the east, went before them until it appeared over where the child was. Seeing the star they celebrated with a great joy and then coming into the house they saw the child with Mary, his mother. Falling down they worshipped him. Then opening their treasures they offered him gifts of god, frankincense and myrrh. After this, having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod they went back to their own country by another way.
2:13-15 ..... Egypt After the Magi had gone an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph said: "Rise up and take the child and his mother and flee into Egypt. Stay there until I tell you; for Herod is		about to seek the child in order to destroy him.So he rose up and took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt. They stayed there until Herod's death so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled, that is, "Out of Egypt I called my son.

2:16-18 ..... Boy children killed Then Herod, seen that the Magi had tricked him was very angry and sending soldiers he had all the boy-children in Bethlehem killed as also in all its districts, from two years and under, according to the time which he had

carefully inquired from the Magi. Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, that is, "A voice in Rama was heard, weeping and mourning greatly: It was Rachel weeping for her children. She would not be comforted because they were no more.

2:19-23 ..... Joseph to Nazareth On the death of Herod an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said "Get up and take the child and his mother and go into the land of Israel. Those seeking the life of the child have died. So he got up and took the child and his mother and went

into the land of Israel. But on hearing that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And, being warned by a dream he moved on into parts of Galilee until he came to live in a city called Nazareth. Thus what was spoken through the prophets was fulfilled, that is, he shall be called a Nazarene.

3:1-12 ......John baptising There came a time when John the Baptist arrived proclaiming in the wilderness of Judea. He was saying “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is near.” He was the one spoken of through Isaiah the prophet who said "There is a voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.” Now John had dressed himself in camel hair with a leather girdle around his waist. His food consisted of locusts and wild honey. All of Jerusalem went out to him and all of Judea and everyone around the neighbourhood of the Jordan. They were baptized by him in the Jordan river confessing their sins. Many of the Pharisees and Sadducees were coming to the baptism. On seeing them he

said to them “Offspring of vipers,who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit worthy of repentance and do not think to say amongst yourselves that we have Abraham as our father. I tell you that God is able to raise up children of Abraham from these very stones. Already the axe is at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which is not producing good fruit is to be cut down and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you in water to repentance. But the one coming after me is stronger than me. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. The fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly clean his threshing-floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn. But the chaff, he will consume with unquenchable fire."

3:13-17 ....Jesus' baptism Then Jesus from Galilee arrived at the Jordan to be baptized by John. But he (John) forbade him saying “I have need to be baptized by you and here you are coming to me?” But answering Jesus said to him. “Permit this for now. For it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.” Then he

(John) permitted him.and having been baptized Jesus immediately came up from the water. And behold the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God coming down as a dove upon him. And behold a voice came out of the heavens saying. “This is my son the beloved in whom I have been well pleased.”