Did you ever notice that our Christmas Eve service uses passages from the Gospel of Luke while the service devoted to Epiphany quotes from the Gospel of Mark?
Did you ever notice that Luke brings Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem where there is no room in the inn with accommodations for labor and birth, so the couple is directed to a stable where there are animals, but no people, and angels deliver the good news (gospel or evangellion) to lowly shepherds? (No wise men, Kings, or magi., only poor and marginalized herders who wanted to know what the fuss was about.)
Did you ever notice that Mark places Joseph and Mary in their own house in Bethlehem where, some days after their baby is born, star-gazers are drawn from the east by astrological signs of an impending birth? (Israel is on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, so exotic magi could not come from the west.) A single angel warns Joseph to take his family to Egypt to escape the wrath of King Herod who wants to eliminate a rival king. (There are no shepherds here and no camels in either story.)
If you read these two stories of Jesus’ birth side-by-side, you will notice that the only things they have in common are a mother, Mary, a father, Joseph, and a baby, Jesus. Even the genealogies are different. And if you read these two stories with the Hebrew Bible open, you will note that Luke’s story is about a shepherd king who cares for the poor and lowly in accordance with God’s instructions to his chosen people. Matthew, on the other hand, presents Jesus as the new and greater Moses who will lead his oppressed people to the safety of a new promised land.
I love Christmas as we know it, with shepherds, animals, kings – and a camel – worshiping the baby while the star shines and angels sing. However. I am always left with a sense that combining the two stories deprives us of important references that Jews of the first century would have seen in the separate versions. Both stories are important, and it does not matter that they disagree.
My New Years’ resolution is to try to understand stories in the Bible as Jews in Israel/Palestina and scattered across the known world would have received them in the 1st century C.E. and then apply the lessons to our 21st century world.
The winter-spring Bible Study will mine Jesus’ parables for meanings we don’t see but would
have been apparent to Jesus’ audience. If you would like to join us via Zoom on Saturday mornings at 9:00 AM, please contact me at lyn@pickhover.net. No homework assignments and no prior Bible knowledge necessary, but I will send out material to help with our explorations.
Happy New Year!
Lyn Pickhover, Still Looking