PBA 2023 Day 2

The Cradle: Christmas

What is the first thing that pops in your head when you hear Christmas? (allow responses: gifts, trees, Santa, reindeer, time off from school...)

What is your favorite thing to do during the Christmas season?

Does it always seem like it takes forever for Christmas morning to get here?

Christmas is very hard to wait for, isn’t it? Waiting to open all those presents – it’s so difficult! I mean, the best part about Christmas is presents, right? Because, you see, Christmas is all about a present – a Gift! The GREATEST, most MAGNIFICENT, IMPORTANT Gift there has EVER been! We are going to learn about the birth of Jesus, God’s Son! We count down the days...We can’t wait! But do you know how long God’s people in the Bible days had to wait for Christmas? How long they had to wait for the Gift God promised them? Weeks?.....no Months?....nope Years?...no, even longer than that!

They had to wait centuries and centuries....hundreds and hundreds of years! Can you imagine how excited they were when Christmas finally arrived? But was it the gift they expected? Have you ever received a gift you didn’t like? What was it?

For centuries, God’s people had been promised a Messiah, a Savior. They were expecting a mighty king, a warrior. Instead, they got a baby born to a poor family. They got the son of a carpenter, not a prince. They got a miracle-working preacher, not a brave warrior. But even though Jesus was not what the people expected, He was exactly what they needed. He was approachable, not someone high and mighty on a throne.

Why do you think God sent the Savior of the world as a tiny baby?

Let’s imagine that each of you created a colony of ants in your backyard. You love your creation. You feed them, you protect them, you help them. You want to tell them just how much you love them, but you are so much bigger than them, that everything you try doesn’t work. Your voice is loud to those tiny ants and you appear to them as a giant!

So how could you tell them how much you love them?

The only way would be for you to become an ant yourself! Put aside your size, your strength, your power and become a tiny ant in the dirt.

That’s what Jesus did! He left his heavenly home and became a baby human! He was still God, but He made himself humble and approachable!

Now let’s read about Mary from the Christmas story, straight from our Bibles. Read or have children take turns reading Luke 1:26-38. Who brought Mary a message?

What did the angel tell Mary?

What was her reaction?

If you could meet Mary face-to-face today, what would you ask her?

Here is what we know and don’t know about Mary. We don’t know for sure how old Mary was, but she was probably around 12-14 years old. We know she had a sister (John 19:25), but we don’t know if she had more siblings. We don’t know if her parents were still alive. We know she was brave and wasn’t afraid of what people would say about her. (The virgin birth can be a difficult subject to talk to kids about, but it is one of the things that makes Jesus different from every other human.) We do know she was engaged to Joseph.

How would you have reacted to the angel’s message? Would you have been scared?

Let’s read about Joseph. Matthew 1:18-24

How was the angel’s visit with Joseph different from Mary’s?

Here is what we know and don’t know about Joseph. We don’t know much except that he was from Nazareth, he was a carpenter, and he was engaged to Mary. When he found out that Mary was pregnant, he could have divorced her. Even though they weren’t married yet, to get out of an engagement required divorce.

Let’s see what happens next! Read Luke 2:1-7

Joseph and Mary had to travel to Bethlehem to be counted in a census. If you had to go back to the town you were born, where would you have to go? How long would it take you if you had to walk or ride a donkey? For Mary and Joseph, traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem wouldn’t have been easy, especially when she was about to have a baby. The easiest route would have been the longest route: 90 miles, traveling about 5 days through the Jordan River valley. The direct route – about 60 miles – ran south through the rugged hills of central Israel. (See map)

There were so many people in Bethlehem to be counted that no one had a room for them. Have you ever gone on vacation and couldn’t find a place to stay? How do you think they felt?

How many of you raise animals for 4-H? Are the animal troughs for food clean enough for a baby? We aren’t sure if they were in a stable, or a cave, just that Mary “laid Him in a box where animals are fed.” Just imagine how smelly this place was!

Let’s see what happens next: Read Luke 2:8-20

What did the angel tell the shepherds? How would they recognize Jesus?

Being a shepherd at the time of Jesus’ birth was a terrible job. Shepherds had to sleep outside, were in contact with dirty, smelly sheep, their manure, probably bloody from cuts and scrapes, and buzzing insects. In big families, the youngest sons were given the job of shepherd and the older kids got promoted to better jobs. Shepherds were considered unclean and couldn’t worship with God’s people. They were treated as outsiders. Shepherds weren’t even allowed to testify in court!

So why do you think the Shepherds were the first to hear the Good News that the Savior had been born? (they represent the outcasts and sinners and that is who Jesus came for!)

Now let’s read Matthew 2:1-12

How did the wise men know where to go? (they followed the star)

Why do you think king Herod was disturbed or troubled by the news of a new King? (he wanted all the worship!)

How did the teachers and priests know where the Christ would be born? (It was foretold by prophets centuries before! Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah. A ruler will come from you. He will be like a shepherd for my people, the Israelites.”)

Was Jesus still a baby when the wise men found him? (No, scripture says he was a child in a house.) Were there 3 wise men? (Scripture doesn’t say, just mentions three gifts.)

What did they do when they saw Jesus? (They bowed down and worshiped Him)

What did they bring to Jesus? (Gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.)

What would you have given to Jesus?

What can you give Him now?

Jesus fulfilled over 350 prophecies from the Old Testament. Here are just some concerning His birth: (see chart)