The Christmas story

The story of the birth of Jesus, often thought of as the Christmas story is only covered in 2 of the 4 gospels.  Some scholars look at these accounts and the differences between them and try to claim that this is proof that the story of Jesus is just a bunch of stories made up by men and are not really the truth.  In this lesson, we will look at these accounts and talk about how they are different, how they are the same and try to get a better understanding of what we think of as the Christmas story.

Luke1:1 - 2:20

Chapter 1

1 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3 Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

Verses 5 through 25 are the account of Elizabeth becoming pregnant with John the Baptist.

26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
34 "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative (the king James version says cousin) is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God."
38 "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.
39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"
46 And Mary said:
"My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me —
holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers."
56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

When Mary came to Elizabeth she was 6 months pregnant so it would appear she stayed until John was born.  The rest of chapter 1 is concerned with the birth of John the Baptist.

Chapter 2

1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 "Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

What was the point of the shepherds?  What did they really do? There is an instering symbology with the shepherds, it is a theme that keeps repeating throughout the bible.  Much of Jesus’ teaching is about shepherds and sheep. Jesus is thought of as the Good Shepherd. David, one of the great kings in the lineage of Jesus was a shepherd before he became king.  The angels showed up to them and told them of Jesus’ birth so they went to see him. They told everyone that God had spoken to them telling them of Jesus and they worshiped him. “All who heard were amazed”, this is one of the ways that the Truth of Jesus was spread.  Mary, a young woman in a tenuous social position, who was full of emotional strain and hormones from having just given birth, was likely in a fragile state wondering if she was really in the center of the will of God heard God speaking through these common people and she “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart”.  I think this was one of the ways God comforted Mary.

Key points in the account according to Luke. The angle Gabrial spoke to Mary telling her of Gods plan.  There was a census and Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem where Jesus was born. Because of the census there was no room for them to stay in any inns so they stayed in a stable and baby Jesus was laid in a manger.  Shephards in the area were told of the birth of Jesus by angles and came to worship him.

Matthew 1:1 - 2:23

Chapter 1

Verses 1 to 18 are the records of Geneology beginning Abraham working through Jesus.  Remembering from the last few weeks of lessons we talked about this genealogy and how Rehab was in this like along with people like Boaz and Kind David. To Matthew, this is an important part of the story in order to establish how God has been working towards His plan from the beginning.

18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" —which means, "God with us."
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Chapter 2

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

Magi, also known as Wise Men, also known as Kings;  While I have not done an in-depth study on them I can tell you that they were from the Orient region (thus the song “we three kings of orient are).  They were likely rulers and or leaders of some type but were definitely scholars who spent time studying all manner of wisdom including astrology and the scriptures. Prophecies from the old testament are likely the source of their knowledge of Jesus and the star that led them there.

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5 "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
6 "'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

It would appear that from what they told Harod that they did not arrive to worship Jesus until well after his birth. Thus the decree from Harrod to kill all boys below the age of 2.  And as such, it talks about visiting Mary, Joseph, and Jesus in their house rather than the stable and manger.

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 "A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more."
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."

In the account according to Matthew.  The Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him of God’s plan.  Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The wise men (Magi) came to Worship Jesus and give him gifts.  Harod sought to kill Jesus and God spoke to both Joseph and the wise men in dreams to run away from Harod.

Keeping in mind that these accounts were written by 2 very different men and were written to very different audiences, I have very little issue with the differences in the story.  Luke tends to have a narrow focus on the people involved, specifically the women, immediate events and circumstances that affected them. Knowing that Luke was a doctor it is not surprising he was focused on the people and things directly around them.  Matthew was a former tax collector and as such his focus was much more political. Matthew was looking at the larger picture of events happening in the political scene. One interesting difference is that in Luke the angel spoke to Mary, but in Matthew, the angel spoke to Joseph and did so through a dream.  This may seem like an incongruity, but there is nothing that says God did not send an angel to both Mary and Joseph.

Let's see how the story looks when we combine the two stories.  The angel Gabrial appeared to Mary, who was a virgin and engaged to be married, and told her that she was pregnant and the child growing inside her was the Son of God.  Mary then went to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was also pregnant at the time, but 6 months further along. Mary stayed with Elizabeth for 3 months until Elizabeth gave birth.  Upon returning home Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant. Joseph was in a difficult position because he did not want to ruin Mary’s reputation so he decided to quietly end the engagement.  However, when he made that decision an angel of the Lord spoke to him in a dream and told him that the child growing within Mary was His son and would be the savior of the world, and he needed to go ahead an marry her.  Joseph was a man of God and did as he had been instructed. There was a census being taken so Joseph was required to take his family from their hometown of Nazareth to Bethlehem in order to be counted. In Bethlehem, there were no rooms left to stay in in the inns, so they were required to sleep in stables where the animals normally were kept.  While they were there Mary gave birth to Jesus. An angel appeared to a group of shepherds near where Mary and Joseph were staying in Bethlehem and told them of Jesus’ birth and they came to worship him and told everyone they encountered about what the angel had told them. After the census, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus returned home to Nazareth. Some time later, (possibly as much as 2 years) three scholars from the east came to worship Jesus having interpreted the prophecies in the Bible and discovering the star foretold in these prophecies that led them to where Mary, Joseph, and Jesus lived.  These Scholars brought gifts to Jesus of Gold, Frankincense, and Mhyr. The ruler of the region where they lived had heard about Jesus birth from the scholars and fearing a political rival sought to kill Jesus. An angel again appeared to Joseph in a dream and warned him and told him to flee to another nation. Once that ruler had died God sent the angel again to bring Jesus and his family back to Nazareth. All of these things took place just as was foretold in prophecies in the Bible.