In Luke’s account it is Mary who shines, portrayed as the one who hears and keeps God’s word. It is he who receives divine guidance in a series of dreams. In Matthew’s narrative the spotlight shines on Joseph. Luke portrays Jesus’ family observantly going to Jerusalem, but in Matthew they avoid the city. In Luke’s narrative, the child is publicly proclaimed in the very heart of Jerusalem by Simeon and Anna. In Matthew’s narrative, King Herod in Jerusalem hunts throughout the region for the infant Jesus to kill him. In Matthew’s narrative, Jesus’ birth is detected by foreign priests, the magi in Luke it is lowly Jewish shepherds who first learn the news. The Evangelist Luke repeatedly compares Jesus with John the Baptizer, who is not mentioned at all in Matthew’s infancy account. After fleeing to Egypt to escape the murderous designs of Herod the Great, they relocate to Galilee. In Matthew, Joseph and Mary are introduced as natives of Bethlehem, where they reside in a house. They return home to Nazareth afterwards, seemingly stopping at the Temple in Jerusalem on their way. In Luke’s narrative, Mary and Joseph are Galileans who travel to Bethlehem of Judah because of a Roman census. Here are some major differences in the two narratives’ storylines their theological commonalities will be discussed later: Their unique insights can easily be obscured in a combined story – often seen in Christmas crèches – in which, for example, Matthean magi find Jesus in the Lucan manger. Hearing the distinctive voices of Matthew and Luke is made more difficult by the blending of their two accounts in our Christmas observances. “Stage 3” perspectives – the writers’ concerns, insights, and issues – predominate in their infancy stories and both narratives summarize and introduce the distinctive theological themes of each Evangelist. ![]() Though they do contain some historical data, these chapters are especially driven by theological interests. This principle is perhaps most important in regard to the infancy narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. ![]() We can forget to look for the religious meaning of what we read. Today’s cultural preference for historically verifiable information can sometimes lead Christians to forget that when we read the Gospels we are not reading “history” – in the modern sense. This is because it is there that the Evangelists’ inspired insights into the meaning of Jesus Christ can be discerned. The tutorial segment on “The Three Stages of Gospel Development” noted that the most important “stage” for Christian faith is the time of the Gospel writers.
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