Narratives of the Nativity of Jesus of Nazareth: Book One

By Del Mueller

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be part of the Nativity experience: to have observed the events as they happened? Imagine witnessing Mary's visit by Gabriel, being part of the group that traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem; kneeling with the shepherds as they worshipped the Christ child; joining Simeon as he rejoiced to see his Messiah; escaping to Egypt and returning to Nazareth . . . and, finally, to be someone who watched Jesus grow up and begin to show himself as Messiah . . . the God/man chosen before time to be the salvation of all human kind.

Dr. Mueller takes readers into the thoughts and hearts of the key witnesses to Christ's Nativity. He writes a first-person account that provides readers with a unique historical perspective on the story as it really could have happended. Narratives of the Nativity of Jesus of Nazaeth will personalize the events that transformed the world and show readers the humaness of those who were changed because of Jesus.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9781468577044

Del Mueller

Author Delbert “Del” Mueller is a retired university professor, Concordia University Chicago, who previously served as a Lutheran school teacher and principal. Prior to writing this five book Narrative series, Dr. Mueller authored four college level textbooks. Del remains active in his local church, serving as a lay minister. He and his wife Dorleen currently reside in Maywood, Illinois. They are world travelers who have led numerous overseas tours including trips to Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy, all regions associated with the early Christian Church. Frequent visits with their children and grandchildren are a special joy. Dr. Del’s narrative series: Narratives of the Nativity of Jesus of Nazareth Narratives of the Earthly Ministry of Jesus of Nazareth Narratives of the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus of Nazareth Narratives of the Beginning of the Early Christian Church Narratives of Paul’s Missionary Journeys and Rome

Book preview

Dr. Del’s Narrative Series:

Narratives of the Nativity of Jesus of Nazareth

Narratives of the Earthly Ministry of Jesus of Nazareth

Narratives of the Passion, Resurrection, 

and Ascension of Jesus of Nazareth

Narratives of the Beginning of the Christian Church

Narratives of St. Paul’s Missionary Journeys and Rome

NARRATIVES 

OF THE NATIVITY 

OF 

JESUS OF NAZARETH

TOLD AS FIRST PERSON ACCOUNTS BY THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO WITNESSED THEM

Del Mueller

Revised and Enlarged March 2012 

with discussion questions 

Narrator illistrations by Allison Korenchan

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© 2012 Del Mueller. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 7/2/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4685-7703-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4685-7704-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012906416

Cover picture photograph by Robert Dorn

Beit Sahour, Palestine: Church of the Shepherd’s Fields

Shepherds paying homage

Used with permission

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Zechariah       Gabriel appears to Zechariah

Jacob             Joseph and Mary are Betrothed

Mary             Gabriel Appears to Mary

Elizabeth      Mary Visits Zechariah and Elizabeth

Zechariah     John the Baptist is Born

Joseph           Mary Returns to Nazareth

Caesar           Census Ordered

Joseph           Journey to Bethlehem

Mary             Birth of Jesus

Joseph           Circumcision, Redemption, Purification

Gaspar          Star Appears, Astrologers React

Herod            Astrologers Reach Jerusalem

Mary             Astrologers Pay Homage to Jesus

Melchior       Astrologers Return Home

Joseph           Flight to Egypt/Return to Nazareth

Mary             Jesus, Age Twelve

Appendix A Genealogy Of Jesus

Appendix B Genealogy of Jesus and John

Appendix C Map of Israel during earthly ministry of Jesus

Appendix D Map of Jerusalem during the earthly ministry of Jesus

Appendix E Herod’s Temple Mount

Appendix F Herod’s Temple

Discussion Questions

Dedication

To my wife 

Dorleen, 

my children, 

Christine, Paul, Lois, Susan, 

their spouses, 

and my grandchildren 

Emily, Brandon, Rachel, Michael, 

Luke, Mitchell, Megan, 

Jacob, William

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Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Dr. Paul Maier, Professor emeritus, Western Michigan University, whose editing and supportive comments encouraged me to have the original manuscript published; to Dr. R. Allan Zimmer and Dr. Kenneth Heinitz, Professors emeriti, Concordia University Chicago, for their careful editing of the manuscript; and to Laura Latzke, retired Lutheran School Principal and friend, for her support. Finally, thanks and gratitude to my wife Dorleen for her careful examination and correction of the manuscript.

Special thanks to Jeffery W. Hamilton, pastor of La Vista Church of Christ, La Vista, Nebraska, for his invaluable help securing many of the intext graphics used in this series.

Permission granted by the La Vista Church of Christ, La Vista, Nebraska for inclusion of the following graphics:

Mary visited by Gabriel

Angels appear to shepherds

Jesus is seen by Simeon

Joseph and Mary flee to Egypt

Note to the Reader

The two authorities on which this story is based are St. Matthew and St. Luke, writers of the first and third Gospels. Since Matthew was one of Jesus’ disciples, he had face-to-face contact with the Lord. However, since it is generally agreed that Luke never met Jesus during the thirty plus years Christ was on earth, it can be assumed that Luke learned the details of Jesus’ life from those who had personally witnessed them.

Luke’s Gospel is a letter written to an acquaintance of high rank by the name of Theophilus. It was Luke’s spoken intent to write a report of the things that took place related to Jesus Christ, whom Luke regarded as the Messiah – Christ – Anointed One, and Joshua – Jesus – Savior.

Luke was aware that many people had written of the things that had taken place among them as related to Jesus. He posits, They wrote what we have been told by those who saw these things from the beginning and who proclaimed the message. It appears that following this model, Luke gathered his data through interview. He very probably spent time with Jesus’ mother Mary; with Peter and John, and possibly with Matthew, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary Salome, Lazarus, Mary and Martha, Mark’s mother Mary; and certainly with Mark himself as they and Paul were together in Rome.

In Luke’s introductory remarks he states, Your Excellency, because I have carefully studied all these matters from their beginning, I thought it would be good to write an orderly account for you. I do this so that you will know the full truth about everything which you have been taught.

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The story you are about to read may be considered an historical novel. I have written about the events of the Nativity as I imagine the various characters who lived the Biblical story may have described them. This is, therefore, a first-person account of the events related to Christ’s birth, told by the persons who experienced them.

I have attempted to posture the reader as the one who is listening to the teller; the person who lived the event. Therefore, I entitled each narrative as: Then The Teller Said, and provided a graphic and a brief biography for that person.

Building from the approach used by Luke, I tried to tell the Biblical story accurately, attempting to assure that nothing in the narrative conflicted directly with what is recorded in the Scriptures. However, to make the story flow it became necessary to provide anecdotal information where no detail was offered by Matthew or Luke. Where this happened, I invented fictional actions and dialogue that, to me, seemed a reasonable possibility. Examples of such actions and dialogue are: events associated with Zechariah burning of incense in the Temple, Mary visiting Elizabeth, Mary returning to Nazareth with her pregnancy showing, the Magi visiting the holy family, and the flight to Egypt, to name a few. I gave the names, Joachim and Anne, to Mary’s parents since these are the traditional names assigned to them over time. I detailed the interior of Herod’s Temple as best I could determine based on literature I was able to research. Following tradition, I placed Mary’s birth in Jerusalem. While there is no reference to Bar Mitzvah in Scripture, I assumed a similar rite of passage that I named, Day of Dedication, was practiced by Jews.

In the last narrative of the book, Mary tells about Jesus as he grew to age twelve and of their frightening experience after the Jerusalem Passover; that Jesus was not with the group as it returned to Nazareth.

There is no Scripture to confirm those parts of the narrative where Mary describes Jesus’ upbringing prior to the Festival. The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus grew in stature and wisdom and in favor with God and man. No one knows with certainty how this was fostered, yet parental and synagogue participation must have been involved. Growing in favor with God implies a spiritual growth [i.e., education, learning]. How, exactly that occurred with Jesus may be speculative, but that it happened is not.

I have tried to build a reasonable suggestion of selected events leading to an understanding of why the twelve year old boy might remain behind and why he would respond as he did to Mary’s question, Why have you done this to us?

This last narrative builds on the knowledge that Jesus, while True God and True Man from the time of his conception, chose while on earth, to not use the divine knowledge, power, and majesty which he possessed; except at such times as he selected to demonstrate his exalted