Two (Vastly Different!) Christmas Stories

Yes, it's been awhile since I last blogged, but I have tons of excuses. One, it's the Christmas season, and we all know how that is. Two, Corey and I have been to Florida and back since I last posted, and three, we've been busy with shopping, church stuff, and honestly, relaxing a little!

Earlier this week, my senior pastor and I co-taught a class called "Behind the Scenes in Bethlehem" where we each took a birth narrative, I was Matthew, he was Luke, and talked about the huge differences in each of the birth stories of Jesus mentioned in the Gospels. It is so funny and ironic how our culture over time has merged the two stories, taking the elements that are "nice" such as the star, wise men, shepherds, etc. and made them into one story, but the reality is that we have lost sight of how different the stories are. Let's take a look:

Matthew: The birth announcement to Joseph (not Mary!), the star, the wise men (we don't know how many there were, and they were probably foreign pagan priests and astronomers who observed astronomical events), ), Jesus is found in a house after he is born (no mention of a manger anywhere), and the wise men probably found him up to 2 years after his birth after they lost the star and had to find it again (they ended up in Jerusalem first and asked King Herod who consulted scribes and found the prophecy to say Bethlehem!) The wise men are also warned in a dream not to return to Herod, so they do not go on to proclaim and celebrate Jesus' birth, besides the gifts he gets, unlike the shepherds in Luke who go on to proclaim the good news. Also, Mary and Joseph never travel to Bethlehem for a census, because they were supposedly living there, but left only to flee to Egypt when King Herod set a decree to murder all of the boys under age 2 (is this ringing a bell anyone? Remember your Hebrew Bible and the Passover story!). Then after their flight to Egypt, they relocated to Nazareth (not Bethlehem because they were not out of the woods yet!) and stayed there. Not a very warm and fuzzy tale, is it?

Luke: The birth announcement to Mary, her trip to see Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph travel to Nazareth for a census (and where did our donkey come from? There's no mention of that!), Jesus is laid in a manger (feeding trough) maybe in a cave, maybe a barn, but also possibly a house, (no mention of animals anywhere) but Mary would have been ritually unclean, and therefore, could not stay in the "inn" we see portrayed in the story, the shepherds get an announcement and visit Jesus (no mention of wise men or stars, etc) The shepherds then go off to announce and celebrate Jesus' birth to all who would listen (unlike Matthew's gospel where danger was ahead if it was celebrated)

So where do we get these ideas of the Christmas story today? Why have we made it into something it's not? Have we forgotten to truly read the scriptures in order to get 2 very different sides to a story that everyone pretends to know? Fascinating, isn't it?

Listen to the song, "Do You Hear What I Hear?" Really listen. It's one of my favorite Christmas songs, but it's also a classic example of what we have done to the story- made it into something almost unrecognizable!

So...this Christmas, take time to read the two stories we have about the birth of Jesus, and ask yourself, what does this all mean to me? Taking the time to re-read a story that we think we know has really opened my eyes again to the mystery and challenge of studying scripture and how it really applies to our faith and a sense of the holy, especially during this time of year. Enjoy!