The Gospel
According
to the Son
by
Norman Mailer
Chapter 5
Joseph
was proud of his ancestors; he could claim that he was descended from King
David, who was father to King Solomon. For this reason Joseph wished his wife
to bear her child in Bethlehem, since that is the city where King David was
born, and where Joseph was born.
Mary
was now heavy with me but willing to travel for three days from Nazareth to
Bethlehem; she was proud of Joseph’s ancestry. This is the truth of why we
took that journey, and it is also true that I was born in a manger by the
light of a candle. As all know by now, there was no room at the inn.
A
few shepherds were guarding their flocks in the fields surrounding us, and
they came upon the manger soon after my birth. An angel appeared to them and
pointed to the barn, and the angel said: “This day is born Christ, the
Messiah of the Lord.”
The
shepherds told so many men and women about the angel that word soon came to
Herod, the king of Israel, that there had been a holy birth in Bethlehem.
Herod saw at once that any babe who had been watched over by an angel could
yet become a king. He had no need of other kings.
Random House
New York Copyright © 1997 ISBN 0-679-45783-6