THE INFANCY NARRATIVES or the NATIVITY STORY.docx

It talks about the Nativity story of Jesus the Christ.

1. THE INFANCY NARRATIVES- THE BIRTH OF JESUS THE CHRIST
I. THE NATIVITY
The word Nativity is from the Latin word “Nuntiare” which means “to announce”.
The meaning of the Annunciation is easy to remember because it’s an announcement. Presumably,
nine months before Jesus is born, the angel Gabriel is sent to the Virgin Mary to announce the
conception of the Son of God through the Holy Spirit.
Although it’s not likely that Jesus was actually born on December 25, March 25, exactly nine
months before Christmas, is the most logical day to celebrate the Annunciation.
Lessons from the Annunciation
1. Be prepared to be used by God. As an unmarried young woman from Nazareth, Mary has a very
low social status, but God doesn’t care about that. Mary continues a long list of people in the Bible who
felt inadequate (Moses, Rahab, David, Jonah, Naomi to name just a few) that God uses to fulfill His
promises.
2. Put your faith in God. In great contrast to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist who doubts
Gabriel’s announcement that he’ll have a son, Mary is described by her cousin Elizabeth as “she who
has believed” (Luke 1:45).
3. Live your life as a servant of the Lord. Mary ultimately responds to Gabriel with the powerful
words, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke 1:38). Through Mary’s
willingness to be used by God, we have an incredible example of the Apostle Paul’s later request for
followers of Christ to be a “living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1).
The Greeting of Angel Gabriel to Mary
The words “Kaire, Kecharitomene” come from the angel Gabriel’s greeting to Mary at the
Annunciation (Luke 1:28).
Kaire (χαῖρε) – a Greek word meaning “Rejoice!” or “Hail!”. Unlike the usual Jewish greeting shalom
(“peace”), this word conveys joy and marks the beginning of the New Testament message of salvation.
It is the same word used in the Gospels when angels announce the “good news of great joy” (Luke
2:10).
Kecharitomene (κεχαριτωμένη) – often translated as “full of grace.” It is a perfect participle of the
Greek verb charitóō (“to fill or endow with grace”). The perfect tense indicates a completed action with
lasting effects. In other words, Mary has already been graced by God in a unique and enduring way.
Hail, full of grace the Lord is with you!
Hail means rejoice because in her will be fulfilled the reason for the rejoicing: “Rejoice greatly, O
daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation.” 

2. Full of grace means favored by God, graced by him, shown his unmerited grace and favor. And that
was true for every Israelite maiden, just as it’s true for every one of us. But for Mary it was a special
grace and favor shown to her, only to her. For Mary would have the unique privilege, the highest honor,
of bearing Israel’s Messiah. 
The Lord is with you - The angel tells Mary that the Lord’s presence is with her, and will be with her, in
a special way. Gabriel will explain that in a moment, when he says, “You will conceive in your womb,”
and then proceeds to tell her just who this son she will be bearing is. 
Hail, Mary, full of grace! The Lord is with you! Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the
fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
II.The Visitation- Mary visits Her cousin Elizabeth
Lessons from the visitation
1. Fiats Produce Fruit 
In Latin, “fiat” means “let it be done unto me.” “Thy will be done/Your will be done”.
Mary famously pronounces her fiat when the angel Gabriel appeared to her at the Annunciation.
Mary was a young girl from Nazareth, and Elizabeth was a barren woman advanced in age - both
unassuming and of modest stature. Yet, it was from their fiats and humility that great and abundant
fruit poured forth through their sons - St. John the Baptist and Jesus, the Messiah. 
2. Respond to the Lord’s Promptings 
During The Annunciation, Gabriel tells Mary about her cousin Elizabeth’s miraculous pregnancy,
and in response to this, Mary travels in haste to the hill country of Judah. Mary makes this long and
bumpy journey during her first trimester, through hills and rough terrain. Why? Because she
responded to the Lord’s promptings.
 It is in our trust in the Lord that we truly can respond to His promptings with confidence, knowing
He guides our steps. 
3. Open to Receive
Elizabeth was far along in her pregnancy, and I can only imagine the irritability, stress and
exhaustion that resulted from this. Yet Elizabeth welcomed Mary into her home and allowed her a
space to belong and find rest. Elizabeth’s openness created a shelter only she could provide, even
when the conditions were not ideal. 
It is in being open to receive others that our hearts can become shelters for their souls to unfold.
(Paraphrasing from one of my absolute favorite saints, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross - Edith
Stein)

3. 4. Share Your Joy 
It is in John’s leaping in his mother’s womb that provokes Elizabeth to proclaim the goodness of the
Lord and Mary’s blessings, and it is in Elizabeth’s proclamation that Mary utters her Magnificat that
we still pray today. Because one shared their joy, all experienced the fullness of this joy. It is in
being joyful that we can share the Good News with joy. 
III.The birth of Jesus, the Christ
5 Important People in the Birth of the Christ
Zechariah
He was one of the “just and holy,” as was his wife, Elisabeth. (Alma 13:26.) Zechariah was a
descendant of Abijah, whose name meant “remembered of Yahweh.” Elisabeth, like Zechariah, was
a descendant of priests (see Luke 1:5), and her name meant “consecrated to God.”
Promised a child destined to be the earthly forerunner of the Messiah, Zacharias received the sign
from Gabriel that he would remain “not able to speak, unto the day that these things shall be
performed,” because he did not believe the Lord’s prophetic promise. (Luke 1:20.)
Elizabeth
As a pure vessel who recognized the special nature of her own son, Elizabeth also testified and
bore witness of the divinity of Mary’s son, crying: “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is
the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
(Luke 1:42–43.)
Elizabeth concluded her witness by prophesying that “there shall be a performance of those things
which were told her from the Lord.” (Luke 1:45.) She added her testimony to those who came
before and those who followed in declaring the divine birth.
John the Baptist
As Christ was, by birth, the rightful heir to David’s kingdom, so John was born the rightful heir of the
office of Elias. He appropriately began his ministry, to “go before the face of the Lord to prepare his
ways,” by leaping for joy while yet within his mother’s womb. (Luke 1:41, 76; see also Luke 1:15.)
Mary
She is the mother of the Christ.
There could be no more perfect mortal witness of Christ’s divine sonship than his mother, Mary.
From Gabriel she received the promise that she would conceive in her womb “the Son of the
Highest.” (Luke 1:32.)
Mary was, as Gabriel told her, “Highly favored” and “blessed … among women” to have witnessed
these miracles and to have given birth to the Savior. (Luke 1:28.)

4. Joseph
We have no scriptural record of any words spoken by Joseph, yet his righteousness and reactions
to Mary’s condition bear testimony to his belief in Christ’s divine sonship. We know that he
dreamed dreams and entertained angels. Further, we know that as he was faithful in keeping the
law of Moses, so he faithfully heeded each divine direction that was given him.
He displayed unquestioning obedience in taking Mary, already carrying a child, as his wife after
“the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, fear not to take
Mary as your wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” (Matt. 1:20.) 
Lessons from the Birth of the Christ
1.Jesus had to be born because of mankind's sin.
If Adam and Eve had obeyed God, they could have bridged the gap between mortality and
immortality; they had access to the tree of life. The Savior had to be born because mankind, after
the sin of Adam and Eve, would have been eternally lost—cut off from God—had not Jesus come
to earth and allowed Himself to be sacrificed to save mankind from its sins, which began with Adam
and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
2. Jesus had to be born because God wanted to reveal His own character to humanity.
God wanted to reveal His righteous character to Adam and Eve and to all of mankind so they could
become like Him in mind and spirit. Why did God's desire to reveal His character to mankind mean
Jesus had to be born? Jesus had to be born because Adam and Eve failed to carry out God's
mandate to glorify Him in their lives. It was left for the Son of God, thousands of years later, to
ultimately fulfill the divine revelation of God's character and purpose for man.
3. Jesus had to be born to remove the sins of humankind through a perfect sacrifice.
Noah and the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—offered sacrifices to God. However, the
sacrifices were lacking. They have to be done every now and then because men continue to sin.
God instructed the Israelites in the need for sacrifice, but they had access only to physical
forerunners of the ultimate sacrifice, which would come later in the form of Christ Himself. God
instructed His people to participate in the physical rituals of animal sacrifices not because they
were sufficient to remove people's sins, but because of the lessons they taught—that sacrifices
were necessary because of mankind's sins.
Jesus had to be born because, without the true sacrifice, humanity was doomed. All would die, with
no hope beyond the grave.
4. Jesus had to be born for mankind to have a Mediator.
Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant. Under the New Covenant, God replaced the sacrifices
of the Levitical priesthood with the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Himself. But what were the terms of
the New Covenant? God explained that "this is the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel after those days, says the Lord:
I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall
be My people" (Hebrews 8:10, quoting Jeremiah 31:33). The understanding that Jesus is the

5. mediator between God and mankind makes it easier for us to comprehend that the ministry of
Christ is an administration superior to the Levitical priesthood.
5. Jesus had to be born to provide the promised Seed of Abraham.
God promised Abraham that through his (Abraham's) "seed," or descendants, all nations of the
world would be blessed (Genesis 22:18; Galatians 3:14-16). Jesus had to be born to provide the
promised spiritual fulfillment of the Seed of Israel. Jesus, quite appropriately, was a literal, physical
descendant of Abraham. He was Abraham's Seed, through whom all nations of the world would be
blessed.
6. Jesus had to be born for God to redeem mankind.
Not only did Jesus have to be born, but He had to pay the penalty for our sins through His own
death, then be resurrected to ascend to the Father as our High Priest. Only then would humanity at
large be able to be reconciled with God. Jesus' death—His ultimate sacrifice—made possible the
forgiveness of sins, which in turn enables us to look forward to living and reigning with Christ in the
Kingdom of God. Without Jesus' birth, none of this would be possible.
Through Christ, God has restored that which was lost in the Garden of Eden: access to a right
relationship with God and access to the tree of life. Through the sacrifice of Christ, God has made
possible this right relationship with mankind.