The Birth of Jesus:
One Event - Two Perspectives
BIBLE STUDY, NEW TESTAMENT
Before we dive in – grab your Bible and have a read of Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 2:1-21. When you’re ready – you’re ready!
We have four gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – but only two gospels record the birth of Christ. Why only two?
The gospels – four biographies
The gospels fit the standard pattern of ancient Greco-Roman biographies. Those biographies would generally tell the life of a public person. They usually include where the person came from, their adult life, career, and death.
The meaning and legacy of the person’s life were of far greater importance than the events of their life.
THE EMPHASIS OF AN ANCIENT BIOGRAPHY WOULD THEREFORE BE ON THE TEACHING AND DEEDS OF A PERSON.
Mark did not consider it necessary to report Jesus’ birth in some form or shape at all. John had his own creative way of demonstrating Jesus divine origin (John 1:1-5) but did not consider it noteworthy to mention anything about Jesus’ birth on earth.
IT WAS FAR MORE IMPORTANT TO THEM TO TELL WHAT JESUS DID AND SAID THEN TO REPORT FACTS ABOUT HIS LIFE.
And that actually stresses many people out, because modern biographies are all about facts and order. The gospels, on the other hand, seem to be all over the place and even inconsistent.
Let’s take Matthew’s and Luke’s account on the birth of Christ. Matthew reports that the wise men were in search of the newborn King, whereas Mark talks about the shepherds coming to visit Jesus – the hope of the world.
As modern readers we would expect at least two accounts that would be identical in all aspects. But hey, Matthew and Luke did not address you and me…
Matthew’s account
MATTHEW WAS CONCERNED TO DEMONSTRATE A JEWISH AUDIENCE THAT JESUS IN FACT IS THE PROMISED MESSIAH.
Matthew was one of the twelve, a Jew, and well educated in Israel’s scriptures. He directly refers to the Old Testament about 50 times and uses 15 times the phrase: ‘this happened to fulfill…’(next time you read Matthew take note of this repeating phrase).
Matthew 1:22-23 (NIV)
All this too place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
A Jewish audience would notice that Matthew refers to Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
Get this – the prophet Isaiah prophesied about 700 years before Jesus’ birth about the virgin birth. And Matthew is like, hey fellas, Jesus is the guy Isaiah (and other prophets – Micah prophesied Jesus’ birthplace (Micah 5:2)) was talking about – He is the fulfillment of the prophecies.
Luke’s account
LUKE EMPHASISES IN HIS GOSPEL THAT JESUS CAME FOR GENTILES, WOMAN, SAMARITANS – THE OUTCAST.
Luke was a physician, a doctor (Colossians 4:14). He practised a profession that was held by slaves and those in low social positions at that time – I know that makes absolutely no sense to us, because in our society the opposite is the case.
Besides, the name Luke was a common name given to slaves.
Luke was most likely a freedman (i.e. a person who used to be a slave but was released under the law). He was a Greek, a Gentile, not a Jew. He was not one of the twelve disciples and may or may not have met Jesus during his time on earth.
But somehow, he came to the knowledge and faith in Christ. What we do know is that he was a close companion of Paul (Philemon 1:24 indicates that Luke was with Paul during his first imprisonment in Rome). Also, he authored the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts.
Two different people – two different perspectives
Matthew and Luke each give an account that was very close to their own hearts. The same event – but two very different people reporting it from two different perspectives.
It tells us that Jesus came for the wise and the poor, the Jew and the Gentile, you and me – He came to save all who would accept Him as Lord and Saviour.