The divine Incarnation of Christ (the holy conception of Jesus, the Christ, in the womb of His virgin mother, Mary) and the subsequent humble birth of Christ (the Nativity of Christ), is God’s provision to heal man’s estrangement and separation from God.
The Virgin Mary was delivered of the child Jesus (the Christ) while staying in a stable in the town of Bethlehem. Christ’s stepfather Joseph was traveling with his pregnant yet virgin wife, and there was no room for them in the inn. Jesus was adored by local shepherds and by the three wise men. Jesus was circumcised on the 8th day of his life according Jewish law and tradition. On his 40th day of his life Christ was presented at the temple in Jerusalem, where Mary & Joseph also presented the thanksgiving sacrifices required to thank God for their firstborn (see the beginning of the Gospel of Luke for more details).
The 40th day is also the first day the mother is allowed by Jewish Law to venture out, as presumably her vaginal bleeding has stopped by then; hence the presentation of Christ in the temple is also referred to as the Purification of the Virgin Mary. In the Anglican tradition this day is remembered 40 days after Christmas (on February 2nd) and that remembrance is called Candlemas. It is the dual observance of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple and the Purification of Saint Mary the Virgin.
Saint Matthew the Evangelist (meaning the gospel writer) tells us that after the wise men presented their gifts to the newborn king, and they departed. Then Joseph had a dream in which he was warned to flee from the province where Herod ruled as king of the Jews (Matthew 2:13). So, that night Joseph, Mary and Jesus then fled to Egypt, where they stayed until the Romanized Jewish King Herod had died, and it was then safe for them to go home.
