Week 2: The Birth of Christ

Matthew and Luke each begin their gospels with an infancy narrative, and each provides a different set of details. Matthew shows us how prophecy is fulfilled in Christ's birth, and Luke gives us wonderful personal information that must have come from interviews with Mary. We took a close look at the psalm of praise that Mary offers, known as the Magnificat, and the literary elements that make it special.

We explored the question of the week, posed by the Spirit of the Lord in 1 Nephi 11:16: "Knowest thou the condescension of God?" Do we really appreciate the depths to which Christ descended in order to be one with his children? The imagery and language that describe the tree, the fruit and Mary combine beautifully, and when Nephi is shown the vision of Mary, holding Jesus in her arms, he suddenly understands the whole meaning of the Tree of Life, and answers, "It is the love of God."

Many sisters have asked if we can put the slides I'm using on the blog, so I'm going to give it a try. Also, several asked for the additional verse to "Once in Royal David's City," that we sang in closing. Both will appear in the "Digging Deeper" section, along with the Truman Madsen video about the birth in Bethlehem.

Next week Jesus is baptized, and we examine the question, "What does it mean to be born again?"