"Who could believe what we have heard?"

Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary in the little town of Bethlehem. When Herod heard the news that a baby boy had been born to be a new king, he sent out a decree to have all the boy babies, born at that time and in that area, killed. Mary and Joseph should have known that this was not only a dangerous threat but a serious omen concerning the future of their newborn son.

Being warned in a dream, Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt out of Herod’s territory and out of his reach. When word came that Herod had died, they decided that it was finally safe to return to Nazareth, which was their home.

There Jesus grew up "like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground with no form or comeliness" to distinguish him from other boys "that we should look at H…