THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST

BY TORSTEN SCHWANKE

dedicated to my brothers Mark and Marco,

Christmass 2021

PROLOGUE

In the Primordial Principle was the All-Reason

And the All-Reason was with the Godhead
And the Godhead was the All-Reason.
She was in the Original Principle with the Godhead.
The All was created through Her,
Divorced from Her was not one created from the created.
In Her was life
And life was the flame of light of all men.
The flame of light shone in the darkness,
But the darkness did not receive Her.

She was the true flame of light,

Which enlightens every human being,
Who is created in the cosmos.
She was in the cosmos,
The cosmos was created through Her,
But the cosmos did not recognise Her.
She had come into Her possession,
But Her own did not take Her in.
But as many as took Her in,
Them were given freedom,
To be children of the Godhead,
To them who trust in Her name,
Who are not of the blood,
Nor of the desire of the flesh,
Nor of the desire of man,
But rather are born of the Godhead!

PART I

CANTO I

Considering that many others

Have undertaken to give accounts
Of the events which found
Their fulfilment among us,
Since these have been handed down to us
By those who from the beginning
Were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word,
Having carefully read
The whole history from the beginning,
I have decided to write
An ordered report for you, Theophilus,
So that Your Excellency may know
The soundness of the teaching
You have received.

In the days of King Herod of Judea

There lived a priest named Zechariah,
Who belonged to the Abijah
Division of the priesthood,
And he had a wife, Elizabeth by name,
Who was a descendant of Aaron.
Both were upright before God
And carried out all the Lord's commandments
And ordinances blamelessly.
But they were childless:
Elizabeth was barren,
And they were both advanced int years.

Now it came to pass

That it was his turn to minister,
And he exercised his priestly office before God,
When it came to him,
As was the priestly custom,
To enter the sanctuary of the Lord
And to burn incense there.
And at the hour of the burning of incense
All the people were outside praying.

Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him,

Standing to the right of the censer.
The sight disturbed Zacharias,
And he was filled with fear.
But the angel said to him,
Zechariah, do not be afraid,
For your prayer has been heard.
Your wife Elizabeth shall bear you a son,
And you shall name him John.
He will be your joy and delight,
And many will rejoice at his birth.
For he shall be great
In the sight of the Lord;
He shall drink no wine, no strong drink;
From his mother's womb
He shall be filled with the Holy Spirit,
And he will bring many of the Israelites back
To the Lord their God.
With the spirit and power of Elijah
He will go before them
To reconcile the fathers to their children
And the disobedient to common sense,
And to prepare for the Lord
A people suitable for him.

Zechariah said to the angel,

How can I know this?
I am an old man,
And my wife is getting on in years.
The angel answered,
I am Gabriel,
Standing in the presence of God,
And I have been sent to speak to you
And to bring you this good news.
Look! Since you have not believed my words,
Which will come to pass
At their appointed time,
You will be silenced
And have no power of speech
Until this is done.

Meanwhile, the people were waiting

For Zechariah
And were surprised that he stayed
So long in the sanctuary.
When he came out,
He could not speak to them,
And they realised
That he had seen a vision in the sanctuary.
But he could only make signs to them
And remained silent.
When his time of service came to an end,
He returned home.

Some time later his wife

Elizabeth became pregnant,
And she stayed at home for five months, saying,
The Lord has done this for me,
Now that it has pleased him
To remove the humiliation
I suffered in public.

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel

Was sent by God
To a town in Galilee called Nazareth
To the Virgin
Betrothed to the man named Joseph,
Of the house of David;
And the name of the Virgin is MARY.
He went in and said to her,
Rejoice, you who are completely filled
With God's grace!
The Lord is with you!
She was deeply troubled by these words
And wondered what this greeting could mean.
But the angel said to her,
MARY, do not be afraid;
You are God's favourite!
Look! You shall conceive in your womb
And bear a son,
And you must name him 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 ancestor David;
He will rule the house of Jacob forever,
And his reign will have no end.
MARY said to the angel,
How can this happen,
Since I will not sleep with any man?
The angel answered,
The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
And the power of the Most High
Will cover you with his shadow.
And so the child will be holy
And will be called the Son of God.
And I tell you also,
Your cousin Elizabeth also conceived
A son in her old age,
And she whom people called barren
Is now in her sixth month.
For nothing is impossible to God.
MARY said, Behold,
I am the handmaid of God;
Let it be done unto me
According to thy word. -
And the angel left her.

MARY set out then

And went as fast as she could
Into the hill country
To a town in Judah.
She went into Zechariah's house
And greeted Elizabeth.
Now it happened that as soon
As Elizabeth heard MARY's greeting,
The child leapt in her womb
And Elizabeth was filled
With the Holy Spirit.
She cried aloud, saying,
Of all women thou art most blessed,
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
Why should I be honoured
With a visit from the Mother of my Lord?
Look, when your greeting reached my ears,
The child in my womb leapt for joy!
Yes, blessed is she who believed
That the promise she had received
From the Lord would be fulfilled.

MARY said,
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
And my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour;
Because he has looked upon
The humility of his handmaid.
Yes, from now on
All generations will call me blessed,
For the Almighty has done great things for me.
Holy is his name,
And his faithful love extends
From age to age to those
Who honour him.
He has used the power of his arm;
He has overcome the arrogant of heart.
He has toppled princes from their thrones
And lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
Sent the rich out empty.
He has come to the aid
Of his servant Israel,
In view of his faithful love,
According to the promise
He made to our forefathers,
According to his mercy
To Abraham and his descendants forever.

MARY stayed with her for three months

And then went home.

The time came for Elizabeth

To have her child,
And she gave birth to a son;
And when her neighbours and relatives heard
That the Lord had lavished
His faithful love,
They shared their joy.
Now it came to pass,
That on the eighth day
They came to circumcise the child;
And they would have named him
Zacharias after his father,
But his mother said no.
No, said she, he shall be called John.
They said to her, No one
In your family has that name.
And she made signs to his father
To find out what he wanted him to be called.
And the father asked for a writing tablet,
And wrote, His name is John:
And they were all amazed.
At that moment his power of speech returned
And he spoke and praised God.
All their neighbours were filled with awe,
And the whole thing was talked about
Throughout the hill country of Judea.
All who heard of it
Treasured it in their hearts.
Who will this child be? they wondered.
And indeed the hand of the Lord was upon him.

His father Zechariah was filled

With the Holy Spirit
And spoke this prophecy,

Praise be to the Lord God of Israel,

For he has visited his people, h
H has delivered them,
And he has established for us
A saving power
In the house of his servant David,
As he has proclaimed
By the mouth of his holy prophets of old,
That he would save us
From our enemies and from the hands
Of all those who hate us,
And show faithful love to our forefathers,
And remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore
To our father Abraham:
That he would grant us free from fear
To be delivered
From the hands of our enemies,
To serve him in holiness and uprightness
In his presence all our days.
And you, little child,
Shall be called
A prophet of the Most High,
For you will go before the Lord
To prepare a way for him,
To give his people knowledge of salvation
Through the forgiveness of their sins,
Because of the faithful love of our God,
In which the rising sun
Has come from above to visit us,
To give light to those
Who live in darkness
And the shadow of death,
And to guide our feet
Into the way of peace.

In the meantime, the child was grown

And his spirit grew stronger.
And he lived in the wilderness
Until the day
When he appeared openly to Israel.

CANTO II

Now it happened that Caesar Augustus

Hhad at this time issued
A decree that a census should be taken
Of the whole inhabited world.
This census, the first, took place
When Quirinius was governor of Syria.
And everyone had himself registered,
Each in his own town.
So Joseph went from the town
Of Nazareth in Galilee
To Judea to David's town, called Bethlehem,
Because he was from David's house and line,
To be registered together
With MARY his bride, who had a child.
Now it happened that while they were there,
The time came for her to have her child.
And she gave birth to the only son,
The firstborn.
She wrapped him in swaddling clothes
And laid him in a manger,
Because there was no room for them
In the living room.

In the country nearby,

There were shepherds in the fields
Tending their sheep
During the night watch.
An angel of the Lord was standing over them,
And the glory of the Lord
Shone around them.
They were afraid.
But the angel said,
Do not be afraid!
Look, I bring you news of great joy,
A joy that all the people will share.
Today in the city of David
The Saviour has been born to you;
He is Christ the Lord.
And here is a sign for you:
You will find a baby
Wrapped in swaddling clothes
And lying in a manger.
And with the angel there
Was suddenly a great multitude
Of the hosts of heaven,
Praising God with the words,
Glory to God in the highest Heaven,
And peace on earth to his favourites!

Now it came to pass,

When the angels were departed
From them into heaven,
The shepherds said,
Let us go to Bethlehem,
And see this thing
Which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And they ran away
And found MARY
And Joseph
And the baby in the manger.
When they saw the child,
They repeated what had been told them about him.
And all who heard were amazed
At what the shepherds told them.
As for MARY,
She greatly appreciated all these things
And meditated on them in her heart.
And the shepherds went back,
Glorifying and praising God
For all that they had heard and seen,
Just as they had been told.

When the eighth day came

And the child was to be circumcised,
They gave him the name JESUS,
The name the angel had given him
Before he was conceived.

And when the day came for them

To be cleansed according to the law of Moses,
They brought him to Jerusalem
To present him to the Lord.
They observed what was written
In the law of the Lord:
Every firstborn male
Must be consecrated to the Lord.
And they also wished to offer
The sacrifice as prescribed
In the law of the Lord,
A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem

Named Simeon.
He was a sincere and devout man;
He looked forward
To the restoration of Israel,
And the Holy Spirit rested on him.
It had been revealed to him
By the Holy Spirit
That he would not see death
Until he had seen the Lord's Messiah.
Prompted by the Spirit,
He came to the temple;
And when the parents brought in
The baby JESUS
To do for him what the law required,
He took the baby in his arms
And blessed God; and he said,
Now, Master, let your servant go in peace,
As you promised,
For mine eyes have seen the salvation
Which thou hast prepared before all nations;
A light of revelation to the nations
And a glory to your people Israel.
When the child's father and mother
Were amazed at what was said about him,
Simeon blessed them
And said to his Mother MARY,
Look, he is destined
For the fall and for the rise of many in Israel,
And is destined to be a sign
That will be contradicted.
And a sword will pierce your soul,
So that the secret thoughts of many
Will be exposed!

There was also a prophetess,

Anna the daughter of Phanuel,
Of the tribe of Asher.
She was old in years.
In her maiden years
She was married seven years,
Before she became a widow.
She was now eighty-four years old
And never left the temple
To serve God day and night
With fasting and prayer.
She came in just at that moment
And began to praise God;
And she spoke to all about the child,
Looking forward
To the redemption of Jerusalem.

When they had done all

That the law of the Lord required,
They returned to Galilee,
To their own town of Nazareth.
And when the child grew up,
He was filled with Sophia;
And God's Charis was with him.

Every year his parents

Went to Jerusalem for the Passover.
When he was twelve years old,
They went to the feast as usual.
When the feast days were over
Aand they were on their way home,
The young JESUS
Stayed behind in Jerusalem
Without his parents knowing.
They assumed he was somewhere in the group,
And it was only after a day's journey
Tat they looked for him
Among their relatives and acquaintances.
When they could not find him,
They went back to Jerusalem
To look for him everywhere.
It happened that three days later
They found him in the temple,
Sitting among the masters,
Listening to them
And asking them questions;
And all who heard him
Were amazed at his intelligence
And wise answers.
They were overwhelmed when they saw him,
And his Mother said to him,
My child, why have you done this to us?
See how much I and your father
Have sought you with pain!
He answered, Why do you seek me?
Did you not know
That I must be in my Father's house?
But they did not understand what he meant.
Then he went down with them
And came to Nazareth
And lived under their authority.
His Mother kept all these words
And events in her heart.
And JESUS grew in Sophia,
Increased in stature
And grew in the Charis
Of God and men.

PART II

CANTO I

Thus JESUS Christ was born.

His Mother MARY was betrothed to Joseph;
But before they lived together,
She became pregnant
By the Holy Spirit.
Her husband Joseph,
A righteous man
Who wanted to spare her the shame,
Decided to separate from her informally.
He had decided to do this
When suddenly the angel of the Lord
Appeared to him in a dream and said,
JOSEPH SON OF DAVID,
DO NOT FEAR
TO RECEIVE MARY
AS YOUR WIFE
INTO YOUR HOUSE,
For she has conceived
By the Holy Spirit
What is within her.
She will give birth to a son,
And you must name him JESUS,
For he is the One
Who is to save his people from their sins.
But all this happened to fulfil
What the Lord had spoken
Through the prophet,
Look! The VIRGIN is with child
And will give birth to a Son
Whom they will call Immanuel,
A name that means: God is with us.
When Joseph woke up,
He did what the angel of the LORD
Had told him to do;
He brought his wife MARY
Into his house;
He had not had sexual intercourse with her
When she gave birth to a son;
And he named him JESUS.

CANTO II

After JESUS had been born

In Bethlehem in Judea
During the reign of King Herod,
Suddenly some wise men from the east
Came to Jerusalem.
And asked, Where is the young King of the Jews?
We saw his star when it rose,
And have come to pay him homage.
When King Herod heard this,
He was alarmed,
As was all Jerusalem.
He called together all the chief priests
And scribes of the people
And inquired of them
Where the Messiah was to be born.
They said to him,
In Bethlehem of Judea,
For this is what the prophet wrote,
And you, Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
You are by no means the least
Among the leaders of Judah,
For out of you will come a leader
Who will shepherd my people Israel.
Then Herod called the wise men
T see him privately.
He asked them the exact date
When the star appeared,
And sent them to Bethlehem, saying,
Go and find out all about the child,
And when you have found him,
Let me know, so that I too
My go and pay him homage.
After they had listened
To what the king had to say,
They set out.
And suddenly the star they had seen
Went forward and stopped
Over the place where the child was.
The sight of the star filled them with joy.

And they went into the house

And saw the child with his Mother MARY,
And they fell on their knees in his honour.
Then they opened their treasures
And offered him gifts
Of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
But they received a warning
In a dream
Not to return to Herod,
And they returned to their own country
By another route.

After they had gone,

Suddenly the angel of the Lord
Appeared to Joseph
In a dream and said,
Get up, take the child and his mother with you
And flee to Egypt and stay there
Until I tell you,
For Herod wants to search for the child
And do away with him.
So Joseph got up
And took the child and his mother with him
And went to Egypt that night,
Where he remained
Until Herod was dead.
This was to fulfil
What the Lord had spoken
Through the prophet,
I called my son out of Egypt.

Herod was furious

When he realised
That he had been deceived
By the wise men,
And in Bethlehem and its environs
He had all the male children killed
Who were two years old or younger,
Reckoning by the date
He had asked the wise men for.
Then the words spoken through Jeremiah
The prophet were fulfilled,
A voice is heard in Ramah,
Wailing and weeping bitterly;
Rachel weeps for her children
And refuses to be comforted
Because they are no longer there.

After the death of Herod,

The angel of the Lord suddenly appeared
In a dream to Joseph in Egypt.
And said, Arise,
Take the child and his mother,
And go back to the land of Israel,
For those who would kill the child are dead.
So Joseph got up
And took the child and his mother with him
And went back to the land of Israel.
But when he learned
That Archelaus had replaced his father Herod
As ruler over Judea,
He was afraid to go there,
And when he was warned in a dream,
He withdrew to the region of Galilee.
There he settled in a town called Nazareth.
In this way the words
Spoken through the prophets
Were to be fulfilled:
He will be called the Nazarene.