Reflecting on Jesus’ Birth

 Directions: Answer the following questions.

1. Harod ordered the massacre of all boys two years old and younger.  Who else in Israelite history survived a similar massacre of baby boys? How did this person survive the massacre?

2. Moses led his people out of slavery in Egypt.  What plague finally resulted in the Israelites’ freedom?  What kind of “slavery” did Jesus lead us out of?  How did Jesus gain this freedom for us?

3. Moses delivered the Law to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai.  Read Matthew 5:1-12.  What new law did Jesus give to us? Where was Jesus when he proclaimed this law?

4. Describe the type of audience that would benefit from comparisons between Jesus and Moses.

5. Read Luke 1: 28, 42.  What Catholic prayer is based upon these passages?

6. Mary placed Jesus in a manger, a food trough.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus proclaims himself the “Bread of Life.” Describe how the manger scene might be a eucharistic metaphor.

7. In Luke’s Gospel Simeon tells Mary that her heart will be “pierced with a sword.”  What events in her son’s life were painful for Mary?