I recommend you read the original version of Luke chapter 2 for yourself (linked above).
Just a quick summary today:
So, the Romans are doing a census, and Mary and her husband-to-be Joseph go the 6miles up the road to Bethlehem to register. Everyone else in the house of David is in Bethlehem to register, too, so there’s no room at the inn, and they stay in a manger. They probably weren’t the only ones. Mary gives birth to Jesus.
An angel of the Lord appeared to some shepherds in a nearby field and told them a Saviour, Christ the Lord, had been born. The angel told them where and how to find the Saviour. The heavenly host appeared briefly to sing of God’s glory. The shepherds went to see the baby Saviour and spread the word of what they had seen. Mary was unphased by the shepherds appearance, or what they said.
On the eighth day they went to circumsize Jesus, and they ran into Simeon. Simeon, you see, had been shown by the Holy Spirit that he would see the “Lord’s Christ” before he died, and was basically waiting around in the temple to see him so he could die. Simeon was “Moved by the Spirit” when he saw Jesus, sang a song praising God that he could finally die having seen the Saviour, then prophesized about Jesus’ life to come.
That same day another prophet, Anna, who had been widowed after 7 years marriage and who then spent the rest of her days fasting and praying in the Temple until she was 84 years old, came up to Mary and Joseph and Jesus and gave thanks to God and talked to everyone around who was hoping that God would send redemption to Jerusalem.
Finally, Mary and Joseph returned from Jerusalem, where the circumsicion et al had taken place, to their home in Nazareth. Jesus grew up a bit.
When He was 12 and the whole family went to the Feast of the Passover in Jerusalem, Jesus stayed behind when His family began the trip home. After a day’s travelling, Mary and Joseph noticed He wasn’t with them, and they turned back to try to find Him. Another day’s journey back, and a third day searching and they found Him studying at the Temple with the rabbis and biblical scholars. They asked Him why He’d treated them that way, and He asked them why they didn’t look for Him in His “Father’s house”. Then he was obedient again and went home with them and all was well and he grew up some more.
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Yep. That’s Luke chapter 2. Quickly, anyway.
