The announcement
An angel comes to a young woman in Nazareth and tells her she will have a son, that she is to call him Jesus, and that he will be great (Luke 1:31–32). She asks how, since she is a virgin, and is told the power of the Most High will overshadow her (Luke 1:34–35).
The Recitation tells the same visit from her side of the room. She withdraws from her family to a place toward the east, and takes a screen, and an angel appears to her as a well-proportioned man. She seeks refuge from him, and he answers.
He said, "I am only the messenger of your Lord to give you a pure boy."
She said, "How can I have a boy while no man has touched me and I have not been unchaste?"
He tells her it is easy for her Lord (The Recitation 19:21). And the announcement names him with his title: the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary (The Recitation 3:45).
Born, and first words
The account in Luke says she gave birth to her firstborn son, wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no room in the inn (Luke 2:7). Shepherds come. Later, wise men from the east (Matthew 2:1–11).
The Recitation records her carrying him back to her people, who accuse her, and her pointing at the child instead of answering. He speaks from the cradle.
Said, "Indeed, I am the servant of The God. He has given me the Scripture and made me a prophet.
And He has made me blessed wherever I am and has enjoined upon me prayer and the purifying alms as long as I remain alive
The first recorded words of his life are "I am the servant of The God".
The Jordan, and the work
He comes from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptised by John (Matthew 3:13). Then he begins, and the message is short: the time is fulfilled, the Kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe (Mark 1:15).
He says at once what he is not doing.
"Don't think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn't come to destroy, but to fulfill.
Then the sermon on the mountain: the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers who shall be called children of God (Matthew 5:3–9). Do not store treasure where moths get at it (Matthew 6:19–20). Pray in a closed room, and pray like this (Matthew 6:6–13).
He heals. Mark's account moves from one to the next almost without pausing: a fever, a leper, a paralysed man let down through a roof, a storm, a girl, a blind man (Mark 1–10). At the tomb of his friend he calls out loud, and the man comes out still wrapped in the cloths (John 11:43–44).
The Recitation lists the same works, and adds five words to each of them.
… "and when you designed from clay like the form of a bird with My permission, then you breathed into it, and it became a bird with My permission; and you healed the blind and the leper with My permission; and when you brought forth the dead with My permission
With My permission. Four times in one sign.
What he told them about himself
He asks his companions who they say he is, and Peter answers, "You are the Christ" (Mark 8:29). He tells them to say it to no one (Matthew 16:20).
In his long prayer on the last evening he says that eternal life is to know "the only true God", and him whom He sent (John 17:3). Asked why someone called him good, he answers, "No one is good except one—God" (Mark 10:18).
And the Recitation gives him a sentence he says in two separate chapters: The God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him, this is a straight path (The Recitation 3:51, 43:64).
What he promised would come
On that same evening he tells them he is leaving them someone. He calls him another Counsellor, the Spirit of truth, who will be with them forever (John 14:16–17). He says the Counsellor will teach them everything and remind them of what he said (John 14:26), will testify about him (John 15:26), and will not come unless he goes (John 16:7).
However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak.
The garden
They go out to a garden. He prays with his face on the ground: not what I desire, but what you desire (Matthew 26:39). His companions cannot stay awake. A crowd comes with swords and clubs, and one of his own greets him, and they lay hands on him and take him (Matthew 26:47–50).
That is where the Gospel's account ends for us, and where the Recitation's begins.
And their saying, "Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of The God." And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but was made to resemble him to them.
Rather, The God raised him to Himself. And ever is The God Exalted in Might and Wise.
Chapter 3 records the Lord God telling him directly: I will take you and raise you to Myself (The Recitation 3:55). He was raised to the Lord God. He is with Him. Perhaps he may return, and perhaps we will see it, if the Lord God Almighty is willing.
The vision of Abraham, again
Abraham was shown in a dream that he was to offer his son, and he went as far as laying the boy down, and the call came: you have fulfilled the vision (The Recitation 37:104–105). The son was not killed. The same shape is here. The cup was prayed over, the garden was walked into, and the Lord God took him up.
What the Lord God said of him
He gave Mary good tidings of a word from Him, distinguished in this world and the Hereafter, and among those brought near (The Recitation 3:45). He supported him with the Pure Spirit, and taught him writing and wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel (The Recitation 5:110).
He called him a servant upon whom favour was bestowed, and an example for the Children of Israel (The Recitation 43:59). And He said, "I will take you and raise you to Myself" (The Recitation 3:55).
The Messiah's own word for himself, more than any other, was the son of Man, which in his language means the son of Adam. And his last message to his companions was that he was ascending "to my God and your God" (John 20:17).
A prayer
Lord God Almighty, You gave Mary a word from You, and he was Your servant from the cradle. Teach us what You taught him to say: that You are his Lord and our Lord, and that we should worship You. Keep us on the straight path. Let us do what he said and not only repeat it. And bring us to know You, for that is the life that lasts.
Questions people might ask
What were his first words?
The Lord God revealed to us in the Recitation that he spoke from the cradle: I am the servant of The God; He has given me the Scripture and made me a prophet (The Recitation 19:30).
What did he tell people about himself?
That he came to do the will of the one who sent him (John 6:38), that the “Father” is greater than he (John 14:28), and that they should worship the Lord God, his Lord and their Lord (The Recitation 5:117).
What happened at the end?
He prayed in the garden that the cup might pass (Matthew 26:39). The Lord God revealed to us in the Recitation that he was not killed and not crucified, but raised up to the Lord God (The Recitation 4:157-158), and that he will be a sign of the Hour (The Recitation 43:61).
