Getting to Know Mary

Look up the following Scripture passages in your Bible. Summarize what is happening in each passage
and how it involves Mary.

Luke 1:26–38 The Birth of Jesus Foretold

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to
Nazareth, to a virgin named Mary. The angel went to her and greeted her,
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting
this might be. But the angel said, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found
favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call
him Jesus..." Mary asked the angel "How will this be, since I am a virgin?"
the angel answered "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the
Most High will overshadow you. So, the holy one to be born will be called
the Son of God..." "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May your
word to me be fulfilled." Then the angel left her.

Luke 1:39–56 Mary Visits Elizabeth

At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of
Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When
Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed:
“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But
why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As
soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb
leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his
promises to her!” Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and
then returned home.

Luke 2:1–7 The Birth of Jesus

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken
of the entire Roman world. And everyone went to their own town to
register. So, Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to
Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David. He went there to register with
Mary, who was pledge to be married to him and was expecting a child.
While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave
birth to her firstborn, a son.

Luke 2:15–20 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to
one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened,
which the Lord has told us about.” So, they hurried off and found Mary and
Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen
 him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this
child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The
shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had
heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Luke 2:21–38 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named
Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

Jesus Presented in the Temple

When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses,
Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, and to
offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of
doves or two young pigeons.” Now there was a man in Jerusalem called
Simeon, who was righteous and devout. Moved by the spirit, he went into
the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him
what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and
praised God. The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about
him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is
destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign
that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be
revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

 
Luke 2:39–40 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of
the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.  And
the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the
grace of God was on him.

Luke 2:41–52 The Boy Jesus at the Temple

Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover.
When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the
custom. After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home,
the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem but they were unaware of it. They
began looking for him, when they did not find him, they went back to
Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple
courts, sitting among the teachers, listening and asking them questions.
When his parents saw him, they were astonished. Then he went down to
Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all
these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in
favor with God and man.

Matthew 1:16–24 Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son

 Before Mary and Joseph came together, Mary was found to be pregnant
through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law,
and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to
divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel
of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

Matthew 2:1–12 The Magi Visit the Messiah

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod,
Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked "Where is the one who has
been born king of the Jews?..." When he had called together all the people’s
chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was
to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied. Herod called the Magi
secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He
sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As
soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
They went on their way, when they saw the star they were overjoyed. On
coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they
bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and
presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Matthew 2:13–23 The Escape to Egypt

An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said to him "take
the child and his mother to escape to Egypt..." So, he got up, took the child
and his mother during the night and left for Egypt. When Herod realized that
he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to
kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and
under

The Return to Nazareth

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in

Egypt and said "Get up take the child and his mother and go to the land of
Israel..." So, he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of
Israel. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of
Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled
what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.