Page:Jesus of Nazareth the story of His life simply told (1917).djvu/67

 VIII.

THE FIRST CHRISTMAS NIGHT.

At last the time came when Joseph too was to know what the Angel of the Lord had declared unto Mary. An Angel, perhaps Gabriel again, came to tell him who she was that swept and washed and cooked in his little cottage, and went about her daily work as the simplest and lowliest of the women around. He told him, too, that her Child was to be called JESUS, because He would save His people from their sins.

Think with what new veneration Joseph looked upon Mary now, and what quiet, deep talks they had together. They pondered the words of holy Scripture; they studied the types; they put prophecy by the side of prophecy. Because their hearts were so pure, they saw better than the learned doctors of the Law the meaning of these types and prophecies, and they wondered more and more that they should have been chosen to be so near to Jesus when He came. That blessed Name at which St. Paul says every knee should bow, each had first heard from an Angel's lips. How reverently they pronounced it. To the world outside, the Promised One all were expecting was "the Messiah," or "the Christ;" to Mary and Joseph alone He was "JESUS."

Mary and Joseph knew from the prophecy of Micheas that Bethlehem, six miles south of Jerusalem, was to be the birthplace of the Messiah. This was four or five days' journey from Nazareth. When were they to go? And what reason could they give to their neighbours for suddenly quitting their home? And were they to quit it for good? The answer to these questions