The Traveler Passing Through: The Birth(s) of a Savior

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
2014

When you look at a Nativity Scene, you will see Joseph, Mary, and a baby Jesus in a stable accompanied by shepherds and kings, all of whom are typically white. You will also probably also see an angel or two over them, and over the entire scene a star. These Nativity Scenes are more for cuteness than historical accuracy. Christians have long noticed that the Nativity Scene awkwardly mixes two stories found in the Christian Bible: the birth account found in the Gospel of Matthew and the birth account found in the Gospel of Luke. Many Christians today "correct" the Nativity Scene by pointing out that the kings were not kings, but magi, and they came after Jesus's birth. Thus the typical "corrected" Christian view of the Nativity is as follows:

Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. She and Joseph were living in Nazareth, but due to an unusual census which required Joseph to return to his ancestral home, they traveled to Bethlehem. But because the inn was full, Mary and Joseph stayed in a stable. When Mary gave birth she placed her baby in a manger to rest. They were soon visited by shepherds, who were told by an angel that a savior was born in Bethlehem.
After eight days they had Jesus circumcised, and then, probably 32 days after that (or 40 days after birth), they sacrificed two birds on behalf of Jesus (their firstborn) at the Temple in Jerusalem as the law required. Then they returned to Bethlehem. Jesus's family stayed in Bethlehem for a while (many say two years), and then were visited by magi, who had seen in the stars that a "King of the Jews" was to be born. Prior to finding Jesus, however, the magi met with Herod the Great, who saw himself as King of the Jews. Craftily, he asked the magi to report the whereabouts of this new King of the Jews so that he could pay homage to him, but in reality wished to kill him. After the magi had visited Jesus, they were warned in a dream to not report back to Herod, so they took an alternative route home. Herod, furious at their actions, ordered that all the children two years and younger in Bethlehem were to be killed. Joseph, however, had also been warned in a dream of Herod's coming infanticide, and so he took Mary and Jesus to Egypt, escaping Herod's wrath. They stayed there until Herod died, at which point an angel told Joseph to return to Israel. So Joseph, Mary and Jesus packed up and attempted to return to Bethlehem. But, being warned in another dream that Herod's son was ruling over the region in which Bethlehem was located, they returned to Nazareth.

This is a pretty intense tale, filled with violence, miraculous messages from God, and a lot of traveling. For those who take the Bible completely literally, they must believe a story similar to this actually happened. This story, however, is doing the same thing the Nativity Scene does: it is smooshing together two very distinct stories of Jesus to make one narrative. Let's look at what the birth accounts of Matthew and Luke actually say, and more importantly, why they are saying it.

The gospels found in the New Testament were written to be read as single texts, not as a single compilation such as the New Testament. This means that the birth account in Matthew was not written to be a counterpart to the birth account in Luke, and vice versa. That being said, let's look at the birth account found in the Gospel of Matthew:^[1]

Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. After Jesus was born, he and Mary were visited by magi, who had seen in the stars that a "King of the Jews" was to be born. Prior to finding Jesus, however, the magi met with Herod the Great, who saw himself as the King of the Jews. Craftily, he asked the magi to report the whereabouts of this new King of the Jews so that he could pay homage to him, but in reality wished to kill him. After the magi had visited Jesus, they were warned in a dream to not report back to Herod, so they took an alternative route home. Herod, furious at their actions, ordered that all the children two years and younger in Bethlehem were to be killed. Joseph, however, had also been warned in a dream of Herod's coming infanticide, and so he took Mary and Jesus to Egypt. They stayed there until Herod had died, at which point an angel told Joseph to return to Israel. So Joseph, Mary, and Jesus packed up and attempted to return home to Bethlehem. But, being warned in another dream that Herod's son was ruling over the region in which Bethlehem was located, they traveled north to Nazareth insead.

In Matthew's narrative, it is easily spotted that there is no mention of a crowded inn, nor Jesus needing to be placed in a manger. There is also no mention of a census requiring families to return to their ancestral homes. In fact, if you read Matthew's gospel as its own account, there is no reason to suspect that Joseph and Mary had to travel to Bethlehem at all. If one just reads the narrative for what it is, it seems that Joseph and Mary simply lived in Bethlehem. They only leave Bethlehem when they are forced to by Herod's infanticide, at which point they travel to Egypt. When they return to go home, they originally try to go to Bethlehem, but are forced northward into the region of Galilee, where Herod's son doesn't rule, and where Nazareth happens to be located.

The birth account found in the Gospel of Luke paints a different picture. Luke's birth account can be summarized as follows:^[2]

Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. She and Joseph were living in Nazareth, but due to an unusual census which required Joseph to return to his ancestral home, they traveled to Bethlehem. But because the inn was full, Mary and Joseph were forced to stay in a stable. When Mary gave birth, she placed her baby in a manger to rest. They were soon visited by shepherds, who were told by an angel that a savior was born in Bethlehem. After eight days they had Jesus circumcised, and then, probably 32 days after that (or 40 days after birth), they sacrificed two birds on behalf of Jesus (their firstborn) at the Temple in Jerusalem as the law required. Then they returned home to Nazareth.

Luke's narrative lacks some important events that the Gospel of Matthew describes. For starters, there is no mention of Herod trying to kill Jesus by having all the children 2 years and younger around Bethlehem slaughtered (it may be worth mentioning that the Gospel of Matthew is the only text from this century that mentions such a horrendous act). It also never mentions Jesus and his family traveling to Egypt. Instead, it depicts Joseph and Mary living in Nazareth, coming down to Bethlehem for a census which requires them to do so (which also lacks historical sources outside of Luke's gospel supporting its occurrence), having Jesus circumcised and dedicated to God at the Temple in Jerusalem, and finally returning to their home in Nazareth.

The general traveling of Jesus's family can be represented as follows:

Matthew: Bethlehem → Egypt → Nazareth

Luke: Nazareth → Bethlehem + Jerusalem → Nazareth

Only two of the four gospels found in the New Testament contain birth accounts of Jesus. Why were these accounts included? It seems the birth of Jesus was called into question by critics at the time Matthew and Luke were written, probably between 70 and 90 CE (40-60 years after Jesus was crucified). And why was that? Around the time of Jesus, the Jews who were expecting a messiah to emerge to liberate Israel from its Roman occupation were expecting that messiah to come from the city of legendary King David, which is Bethlehem. However, it is clear from the gospels that Jesus was known for being from Nazareth, NOT Bethlehem. This would have been a problem. It is this problem that the authors of Matthew and Luke are addressing in their birth narratives.

Both of these stories were told to show how technically Jesus was born in Bethlehem like many were expecting, despite the fact that he was raised in Nazareth. These narratives were not told to compliment each other, nor likely to oppose each other. Functionally, both are doing the same thing; they are arguing that Jesus is the Messiah that many first-century Jews were expecting. What is fascinating is that these stories were eventually compiled, and the four gospels were read as if they told one coherent story. As a result, out of two distinct narratives came a single story: the Nativity.

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