Mary; Her Account Of Christmas. Series

Mary mother of the Christ: a narrative of her Christmas account: Luke1:26-2:19.

(Narrator) There was undertaken an eye witness account of the things that were fulfilled at the time of Christ, these were handed down from eyewitnesses, the Apostle Luke carefully investigated everything from beginning to end. This is, in part, his account of the testimony of Mary, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus ‘called the Christ’.

(Mary) Nazareth is my home town, it is a town in Galilee and it was here that I received the news, from the angel Gabriel.

His words were these;

(Narrator) “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.”

This troubled me and not just a little, it troubled me greatly, what were these words about and what kind of greeting might this be?

I was obviously shaken for he said to me;

(Narrator) “Do not be afraid, Mary you have found favour with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name 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 the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

(Mary) I was still confused and asked Gabriel “How could this be?” For at this time I was not yet married to Joseph.

Gabriel said this;

(Narrator) “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will over shadow 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 barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”

(Mary) What could I say, what a blessing and I an unassuming girl, my reply was to declare that “I am the Lords servant and may it be as you said Gabriel” The angel then left me.

I hurried and went to visit my relative Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah. Elizabeth tells me that when I called out my greeting that her baby leaped within her.

Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and called to me;

(Narrator) “Blessed are you among woman, and blessed is the child you bear!

(Mary)Then she said;

(Narrator) “Why am I so favoured 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 leapt for joy, blessed id she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”

(Mary)Then I said:

My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour, for he has been mindful of the 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 preformed 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, even as he said to our fathers.

I stayed with Elizabeth for about three months then returned home.

(Narrator) 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 his hometown to register.

(Mary) Joseph and I joined all those who were on the move as part of this great census, we went from Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, the town of David for Joseph belongs to the line of David the great king.

We went together to register in the census as we were pledged to be married, while we were there I gave birth to my firstborn, a son. I wrapped him in clothes and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for us in the inn.

I was resting after the birth of my son, when we were visited by shepherds, they had hurried to visit us and share this news with us.

(Narrator) An angel of the Lord had appeared to us and the glory of the Lord shone around us, we were scared stiff. But the angel said “don’t be afraid” which was easy for him to say, and then he said this. “I bring you news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”