His last play was focussed around a debate between Matthew and Luke about who wrote the best version of the nativity. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”. Like my page on Facebook. If the genealogy instructs us as to who Jesus is, the next section informs us how he came to be born. This is surely a God of mystery. Well you’ve told us loads about why Bethlehem was chosen to be the place of Jesus’ birth, Matty, but I guess I concentrate more on what actually happened there. Herod: (scared) I don’t like this. ( Log Out /  All Rights Reserved, Joy to the World: The Christmas story from Matthew 1, Luke 2, Activist Collin Kartchner, who spoke out on the dangers of social media on kids, has died. The evangelist, after introducing John the Baptist and reporting his preaching activity, then brings the adult Jesus onto his stage, as a man who comes from Nazareth to be baptised by John. How dare you! Luke: Sure thing. Matthew: Well as we finish let’s sing two more Carols now with all of those in costume coming up to the platform as we do so…, Carols: Away in a Manger and See him lying on a bed of straw. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. Christian apologists do incredible mental gymnastics when trying to explain who the “prophets” were that Jesus would come from Nazareth. Loads! Ezekiel, for example, looks forward to the time when God would put a new Spirit within his people as an agent of renewal (Ezekiel 36:26). I think you’d better take over for this bit. Fun! Gift from Magi - smells good. 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. The fourth account tells the terrible story of the slaughter of the innocent children. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. It reflected the needs and interests of a persecuted community and was less obviously relevant to those for whom Matthew is reckoned to be writing, who may well have been a group of former members of a synagogue in the cosmopolitan city of Antioch, a group struggling to establish its identity as God’s special people after expulsion from their community. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. But I do include five women, including Mary in Jesus’ family tree but are you saying there is more to be said? What are people ‘really’ doing when celebrating Christmas? She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. Nor was it a protected one like Judaism. All this is in contrast to the lack of interest of the ‘chief priests and the scribes’ who, despite their learning and knowledge of the scriptures, took no action. The hopes soared once more. Matthew: Well Luke this is all fascinating and it’s really filling out my knowledge of the Christmas story and what happened in that little town of Bethlehem. Biographies usually filled out a story between facts with accounts based on truths about the person and not always facts about the person. But soon the Maccabean rulers were more evil than the gentile occupation forces had been, and the dream shattered again. No other gospel makes this claim. 25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. The many, many, many letters of Mister Rogers. I can feel my power slipping. Hold on a minute. If so, it is the first in this genre. Poll: How voters feel about Amy Coney Barrett and the Supreme Court. Meaning that both Jesus and those who belong to his people are ‘Emmanuel’ – ‘God with Us’. To reinforce that Jesus came to be the perfect Shepherd-King? Luke: Well possibly Joseph… but definitely not Mary. And it’stime to tell you about the visitors that I speak of coming to see baby Jesus – or he may even have been a bit older by then – the wise men. We learn about Jesus’s ancestry (1:1-17). Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Despite what a lot of people think, the Christmas story never mentions a stable … or an innkeeper … or his wife. Mac user; chocoholic. What did the angel say? We can easily read this paragraph as an anticipation of the Passion story. Matthew the writer of this Gospel looks on with concern at what is becoming an epidemic of defections, and taking his pen in hand, he tells them a story to let them know that they are spoiled for the old life. There are hundreds of additional examples. (laughs wickedly). 21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived. But now the pressure was on. Luke has no Trip to Egypt, Matthew has no trip to Jerusalem. There were fourteen generations between Abraham and David, fourteen between David and the exile into Babylon, And fourteen from the exile to the coming of Jesus. Once upon a time there was girl called Mary who was pledged to be married to a man called Joseph. Jesus is Lord and King! who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old’ (Matthew 13:52). The first section is a genealogical table. This family of heroes began a new age, and hope arose once more. Matthew: But you know what Luke, there might be another significance as well? (Mary and Joseph’s walk around church and come back around the manger). 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. But then along comes Solomon. "The Christmas Story" King James Version "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and The Government shall be upon His Shoulder: and His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty GOD, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. His name is Jesus! This child would be ‘God with us’, which prepares us for the promise of the Risen Christ at the end of the gospel that he would be with his disciples, ‘always, to the end of the age’ (28:20). This is one whom the wise came seeking. The greatest commandment and David’s lord in Matthew 22, The place of healing in the biblical story. The year was about 80 A.D. You’re right that he came to save people from their sins and another way of putting that is that he came to receive the throne of his father King David and reign over this world forever and ever. If you enjoyed this, do share it on social media (Facebook or Twitter) using the buttons on the left. Is the Christmas Story True: Contradictions in Matthew, Luke, and History. So Matthew crafts his story to tell them the good news of the Gospel. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. In the familiar version of the Christmas story, Mary and Joseph travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Matthew: Yes something for the grown-ups to ponder as well! Matthew: What??!!! To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 1 A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. A bit wordy, from what I’ve heard, but we’ll leave that for another year! They do not know where he is to be born and so they ask for directions. Where to Find the Christmas Story in Your Bible . Matthew's account of the birth of Jesus focuses – as Luke's does not – on the shame felt by the unmarried girl and her future husband: 'Because Joseph was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly' (verse 19). Matthew: Well we’ll see about that.The Christmas story begins with a man called Joseph engaged to be married to a woman called Mary and of course we all know that their baby was born in Bethlehem. 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. All the essential bits about Joseph and Jesus are there, aren’t they? 1 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? This beginning suggests that the community of Matthew was a mixed one of Jew and Gentile – Jesus belonged to both. Do you know what, at the start I’ve was a trifle miffed to hear that another biblical writer had written a Christmas story that was different to mine. 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. 13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. His readers are now ready to listen to his account of the mission of Jesus. Luke: Yes together. [e] She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. And so the two of them were married. Luke: Well do you know, I’ve neverthought about it that way but perhaps you’re right. “And he went and dwelt in a city called Nazareth,   that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”, (It must be said that no one knows what text Matthew has in mind as he quotes these words.). The lists from David to Joseph are completely different. In fact, Matthew has painted the picture very clearly. They’ve rumbled that we’re the very false kings that Jesus came to replace. If a person called himself a Jew, he was safe from Roman prosecution. Luke: What is there to say about Mary!! Like my page on Facebook. Again, this is a mysterious birth, because Jesus did not have a human father; as the angel informed Joseph when Mary was found to be with child, ‘the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit’. Matthew: Yes! The longing that was present in Abraham, and David, and Zerubbabel has come to a conclusion in Christ. Herod called for a secret meeting with the wise men (2:7); the chief priests ‘conspired’ to arrest Jesus (26:4). I didn’t know any of that? He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph,24 the son of Heli, the son of Matthat. Among the royal ancestors of Jesus are bad kings as well as good kings. But longing was deeply rooted and it kept resurging again. 2:17. Matthew: Well it’s sort of my equivalent of your shepherds, Luke. Matthew:  Well I may not be used to telling all that stuff about the census or Mary and Joseph’s journey. It is introduced by an announcement that Jesus is Son of David and Son of Abraham. And once again it’s the prophet Isaiah.

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