“The Path from Bethlehem,” For the Strength of Youth, Dec. 2023.
The Path from Bethlehem
Jesus Christ, the Babe of Bethlehem, brings us to the covenant path that leads to the temple and back to the presence of Heavenly Father.
Illustration by Corey Egbert
Last December my wife and I visited Bethlehem. As I looked over the town and walked its streets, I sang “O Little Town of Bethlehem” to myself (Hymns, no. 208). My mind went back more than 2,000 years, to when Mary and Joseph went there to be taxed. I thought of Mary, who made the journey while pregnant and who bore a child in a stable.
We visited the rocky Palestinian hill country nearby, including where the shepherds watched over their flocks. I thought of the angel who appeared to them and proclaimed the “good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” (Luke 2:10) and told them to look for the child in a manger. We saw cave-like stables like those where Jesus would have been born and stone mangers like those where He would have lain.
Elsewhere we saw places where Jesus walked, taught, suffered, died, and was resurrected. Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, Golgotha, and the Garden Tomb. We saw the path of Jesus’s life from prophecies about Him to His birth to His death and Resurrection.
It was wonderful to visit these places, but you don’t need to go there to understand and truly feel a connection to the Babe of Bethlehem and the Savior of Calvary. I know—and you can know—by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Savior of the world.
And with this witness, you may think about the Savior’s birth and His path through life and wonder: What’s my path? How can I follow in His footsteps?
How to Come to the Savior Today
To come to the Savior, you don’t need to walk where Jesus walked; you need to strive to walk as He walked, following His example.
Today, we do not go to Bethlehem to seek the Savior. We go to the scriptures and Church leaders. Those not of our faith go to missionaries and friends who are Church members. We go to baptismal fonts and sacrament services. We go to temples. In other words, we make and keep sacred covenants.
The Babe of Bethlehem is the reason we partake of the sacrament. He is the reason we go to temples. He is how we get on and stay on the covenant path, which leads through the temple and ultimately back to the presence of our Heavenly Father. He is the reason we seek to do the work of salvation and exaltation.
How to Celebrate This Christmas
This “Holy Child, Jesus” (Moroni 8:3) is also the reason we celebrate Christmas. His peace, which is not of this world, is why we join others throughout the world in wishing “peace on earth, good will to men” (see Luke 2:14)—to all the human family.
The depth of Christmas’s meaning for you and me as followers of Jesus in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints comes from our covenant connection to the Savior and Heavenly Father. It comes from understanding Jesus Christ’s role in our lives.
This Christmas, take time to reflect on the wonder of the scene in the stable at Bethlehem all those years ago. And listen to the Spirit witnessing to you that the Babe in the manger is the One who atoned for you, me, and all humankind. Then remember what He has invited us to do and what He has promised us. Let us remember our covenants.
Let everything you do this season increase your faith in Jesus Christ and your reliance on Him. Strive to do what He would do. Reach out to others in love. Be an example, and point people to the everlasting light that shone in the dark streets of the little town of Bethlehem.