A Seasonal Quiz

You've read the book. Maybe you've even heard the stories. So how much can you remember?

1 When was Jesus born?

(a) December 25 in the year 0
(b) In the year 4 BC
(c) We have no idea

2 How many kings visited the baby Jesus?

(a) Three
(b) More than one, but we don't know how many
(c) None

3 When did Mary say "All generations will call me blessed"?

(a) When the angel visited her
(b) When she visited her cousin Elizabeth, about three months before John the Baptist was born
(c) After Jesus was born

4 What does the name Jesus mean?

(a) God with us
(b) God is salvation
(c) Son of the Father

5 Less than six weeks after his birth, Jesus went on a journey. Where to?

(a) Egypt
(b) Nazareth
(c) Jerusalem

6 How did Herod know that the threat was in Bethlehem?

(a) The wise men told him
(b) Caesar Augustus told him
(c) The chief priests and scribes told him

7 Why was Bethlehem called "the city of David"?

(a) It wasn't. Jerusalem was the city of David.
(b) David was born there
(c) David killed Goliath there

8 When does Christmas end?

(a) At midnight on 25 December
(b) On 5 January
(c) After we have opened all our presents

Answers below

Answers

1 (c) December 25 is merely the date of the church festival to celebrate Jesus' birth. In any case, there was no year 0. And though King Herod died early in 4 BC, there is no reason why the birth should have been in that year (and Quirinius was not governor of Syria then either).

2 (c) They weren't kings, but magi, wise men - perhaps astrologers. And the three gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh, don't mean that there were only three visitors.

3 (b) After the visit from the angel, Mary "went with haste" from Galilee to Judaea to visit her aging cousin, who in spite of her age and her husband's lack of belief, was "in her sixth month" of pregnancy. Elizabeth called God's blessings on Mary and on the child to whom she would give birth, and Mary responded with the words which we now know as the Magnificat.

4 (b) Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua (Hebrews 4:8 says a little about this): God saves the people from their sins. The Hebrew for God with us is "Emmanuel" - another name. "Son of the Father" is "Barabbas". (Interestingly, but not significantly!)

5 (c) Luke 2:22 tells us that, as Leviticus 12 commanded, Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the Temple to offer the customary sacrifice forty days after his birth. Luke also tells us about Simeon and Anna, who praised God there for what had happened.

6 (c) An easy question - see Matthew 2:4. But Herod himself must have realized that Jesus was no ordinary king, but the Messiah, God's chosen one!

7 (b) Or so we assume, from Ruth 1:2 and 1 Samuel 16:4 and 17:12. Goliath was killed in the valley of Elah, near Socoh, probably some 20 kilometres to the west.

8 (b) The church season of Christmas lasts twelve days, from Christmas Day to the day before the Epiphany. If one follows the old reckoning of a day starting at sundown, it lasts from sunset on 24 December to sunset on 5 January. (But just to confuse you, Twelfth Night is the night from the 5th to the 6th, and the cake eaten on the 6th used to be called the "Twelfth Cake".)

Marks - Two or less: Have you read your Bible recently? More than two: pretty good! Eight: you can write next year's quiz!