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Thoughts about The Nativity story.

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There are a few issues with the story of the Nativity that happens in Matthew and then follows in Luke. Let us look at the original to start off with. This is the Holman Christian Standard Bible translation.

Matthew 1:18-25
18 The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After His mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 19 So her husband Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly.
20 But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is by the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”
22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
23 See, the virgin will become pregnant
and give birth to a son,
and they will name Him Immanuel,
which is translated “God is with us.”
24 When Joseph got up from sleeping, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her 25 but did not know her intimately until she gave birth to a son. And he named Him Jesus.

Notice anything that didn’t synch up? The name isn’t the same.

Here’s the footnote to Matthew 1:21 from HCSB – “Jesus is the Gk form of the Hebrew name “Joshua,” which equals “The LORD saves” or “Yahweh saves.””

This makes the angel’s comment in line 21 “…because He will save His people from their sins” make sense. His name is his job description.

But then the prophecy by Isaiah says that they will name him Immanuel, which is translated as “God is with us.”

Which one is it? Jesus (Joshua, Yeshua), meaning “the Lord saves” (The Lord being Yahweh), or is it Immanuel, meaning “God is with us”?

Maybe it is a little of both. God saves us by being with us. God lets us know that we aren’t alone. God isn’t “up there”. God cares so much about us that God came down here to be among us and save us from our fear and loneliness. Our God is a hands-on kind of God. Our God isn’t like a CEO or upper management. Our God knows what we are being asked to do, because our God has done it with us. Our God knows how hard life is here in these bodies with their faults and limitations. Our God knows because our God has lived it with us.

Now, this is a poetic interpretation. It sounds good, but it doesn’t solve the problem.

Is the prophecy fulfilled or not? He wasn’t named Immanuel, and he wasn’t named with the same meaning.

Then there is another problem. Are they married or not? The story continues in Luke 2:1-7. This too is from the HCSB translation.

“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered. 2 This first registration took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So everyone went to be registered, each to his own town.
4 And Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David, 5 to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 Then she gave birth to her firstborn Son, and she wrapped Him snugly in cloth and laid Him in a feeding trough—because there was no room for them at the lodging place.”

Note line 5. She was engaged to him. Not his wife. In Matthew 1:24, he married her after the angel talked to him. She hadn’t given birth yet. The story of the birth happens only in Luke, and there she is listed as being engaged, not married.

It is important to read carefully and question everything. If things don’t match up, ask why.

The birth

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At that time Caesar Augustus sent out a decree that a census should be taken of the whole empire. This was at the time when Quirinius was the governor of Syria. Everyone was required to go to his family’s ancestral hometown for the census.

Because Joseph was descended from King David, he had to travel from his home in Nazareth in Galilee, to Bethlehem, the city of David in Judea. He took his fiancée Mary with him.

It came time for her to give birth while they were there. She gave birth to her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and placed him in a manger, because there was no place for them to stay at the inn.

LK 2:1-7

The Nativity

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Here is the story concerning the birth of Jesus. His mother Mary was engaged to be married to Joseph, but while she was still a virgin it became known that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Because her fiancé Joseph was an honorable and righteous man, he decided to break their engagement off privately rather than publicly disgracing her.

But after he had decided what he was going to do, an angel appeared to him in a dream saying “Joseph, son of David, don’t be concerned about taking Mary as your wife, because the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you shall name him Jesus (meaning “Yahweh saves”) because he will free people from their sins.”

All of this fulfilled the prophecy spoken by God through the prophet Isaiah:

“Behold the virgin will become pregnant and gave birth to a son, and he shall be called Emmanuel.” (Which means “God is with us.”)

After Joseph woke up, he did as the angel had told him. He took Mary as his wife, but did not know her intimately until she gave birth. And Joseph named him Jesus.

MT 1:18-25

The Lord’s prayer

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Jesus was praying, and when he was through, one of his disciples said to him “Lord, teach us how to pray, just like John taught his disciples.”

He said “You should pray like this:

Heavenly Father, we give honor to your holy name.

May your kingdom come soon.

May your will be done here on earth just like it is done in heaven.

Give us our bread for tomorrow,
and forgive our faults in the same way that we forgive the faults of others.

Do not cause us to be tempted, but instead rescue us from evil.

The kingdom and power and glory are all yours eternally. Amen.”

MT 6:9-13, LK 11:1-4

“Your heavenly Father will forgive you if you forgive everyone who has harmed you or done wrong to you, but if you don’t forgive them, your Father will not forgive you for everything that you’ve done wrong.

MT 6:14-15

How to fast

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“When you fast, don’t act like the hypocrites do. They make their faces look ugly and disfigured so that everybody notices that they are fasting. Mark my words, that is the only reward they will get!

When you fast, wash your face and make yourself look good so that no one will know that you are fasting except God, who knows everything. And God who knows your heart and everything that you do, will reward you.”

MT 6:16-18

Miraculous healings

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They reached the other side and landed the boat at Gennesaret. People immediately recognized Jesus when he got out of the boat. They brought everyone who was sick to him, even carrying some on stretchers.

Whether he went into towns, villages, or the countryside, people brought the sick to him. They begged just to be able to touch the fringe of his robe. Everyone who touched it was healed.

MT 14:34-36, MK 6:53-56

Walking on water.

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Jesus immediately made his disciples get into the boat and travel ahead of him across the Sea of Galilee, while he sent away the crowd. Jesus went by himself to a mountain to pray. He was there alone when evening came.

From up on the mountain, he was able to see that the boat was in the middle of the sea, far from land. A very windy storm came up and the sea began to get choppy. The boat was being battered by the waves and the disciples were struggling because they were rowing against the wind.

Jesus came walking on the water towards them around three in the morning, and he meant to walk by them. When they saw him they cried out in terror because they thought he was a ghost.

Immediately Jesus spoke to them saying “Have courage! It’s me! Don’t be afraid.”

MT 14:22-27, MK 6:45-50, JN 6:16-20

Peter called out to him, “Lord if it’s really you, command me to come to you.”

“Come!” Jesus said.

Peter climbed out of the boat and started walking on the water towards Jesus. But he became afraid when he saw the size of the waves and the strength of the wind. He began to sink, and he cried out “Lord save me!”
Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught Peter. He was surprised at how little faith Peter had and said “Why did you doubt?”

MT 14:28-31

When they were together on the boat, the wind ceased.

MT 14:32, MK 6:51a

Then everyone there said “You are truly the Son of God!”

MT 14:33

(Yet another Gospel says that)
They were confused and amazed because they had not yet come to understand even the miracle of the loaves. Instead their hearts were hard and they had a hard time believing.

MK 6:51b-52

Feeding the 5000

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The apostles came to Jesus and told him about all the teaching that they had done. He had them come away in a boat with him to a remote place to rest for a little bit. They needed to do this because so many people were coming to them that they didn’t even have time to eat. However, many people recognized them as they were leaving and they followed them on foot across the land from all the towns, and got there ahead of them.

Jesus saw a huge crowd as he stepped ashore and he felt compassion for them because they were lost, like sheep without a shepherd. He greeted them, talked to them about the kingdom of God, and healed anyone who was sick.

Late in the day, his disciples came up to him and said “This place is a wilderness and it is already long past suppertime. Make them leave, so they can go find food and a place to stay in the nearby villages, because there’s nothing here.”

“They don’t need to leave” Jesus said. “You give them their supper.” (For he knew what he was going to do.)

Philip answered “Should we go into town and buy 200 denarii worth of bread? It wouldn’t be enough for a crowd this large.”

Then, his disciple Andrew reported that there was a boy in the crowd who had five barley loaves and two fish, but even that wasn’t enough for so many people. About 5000 men, in addition to women and children, were there.

Jesus had his disciples get the people to sit down on the grass in groups of about 50. He took the five loaves and two fish, looked up into heaven, and then he gave thanks. He broke the loaves and fish into pieces and gave them to his disciples to give to the crowd. He kept giving food to the disciples for them to distribute. Everyone ate to their heart’s content.

At the end of the meal he told his disciples “Gather up the leftovers so that nothing is wasted.” They were able to fill 12 baskets full of leftovers!

When the people realized the miracle that Jesus had done, they said to themselves “This really is the Messiah who we have been waiting for!”

When Jesus realized that they were about to forcefully take him away to make him king he withdrew by himself to a mountain.

MT 14:13-21, MK 6:30-44, LK 9:10-17, JN 6:1-15

The beheading of John the Baptist.

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King Herod heard about everything that Jesus was doing. His name had become well known because of all the miracles and healings that he performed. He was perplexed and thought that Jesus must be John the Baptist raised from the dead, because he was able to do supernatural things. Others thought that he was Elijah, and others thought that he was one of the ancient prophets come back from the dead. Herod said “I beheaded John, so who is this I’m hearing stories about?” He wanted to see Jesus for himself.

MT 14:1-2, MK 6:14-16, LK 9:7-9

Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested and put in chains in prison, on account of the fact that he had married Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. John had told him that it was not lawful for him to be married to his brother’s wife.

Herodias had a grudge against John because of this and wanted to kill him, but she couldn’t because Herod was afraid of the crowd. They thought that John was an upright and godly man, and a prophet. Herod was disturbed every time he heard what John had to say, yet he still liked to listen to him.

Herodias found an opportunity to get what she wanted at Herod’s birthday party, when he gave a large banquet for all the important people in Galilee. Her daughter pleased everyone at the party with her dancing. Herod made an oath in front of everyone that he would give her anything she asked for, even up to half his kingdom.

She asked her mother what she should request and her mother said “John the Baptist’s head!” Herodias’ daughter asked to be given John the Baptist’s head on a platter right away.

Herod was full of regret, but because of the oath he made in front of important guests he sent orders for John to be beheaded. His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, who then carried it to her mother.

When John’s disciples received the news, they removed the body, placed it in a tomb, and then went to tell Jesus what had happened.

MT 14:3-12, MK 6:17-29

Rejected in his hometown.

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Jesus then went to his hometown of Nazareth, taking his disciples with him. He stood up to teach and to read in the synagogue on the Sabbath as he usually did.

MT 13:54a, MK 6:1-2a, LK 4:16

He was given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll to the place where it was written: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted and to proclaim freedom to those in captivity, and healing to those who are blind, to set free those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Rolling up the scroll, he gave it back and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue was looking intently at him. He then said “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”

LK 4:17-21

They were amazed and said “How did he get to be so wise, and how is he able to perform miracles? Isn’t this Joseph the carpenters son? Isn’t his mother Mary, and isn’t he the brother of James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters sitting here with us? Where does he get these ideas?” They were offended by what he said.

MT 13:54b-57a, MK 6:2b-3, LK 4:22

Then he said “No doubt you will quote the proverb ‘Doctor, heal yourself.’ And you will say ‘Do everything here that you did in Capernaum.’”

LK 4:23

“Mark my words, a prophet is accepted and given honor everywhere except his hometown, in his family, and in his home.”

MT 13:57b, MK 6:4, LK 4:24

“But I tell you there were certainly many other widows in Israel in Elijah’s days when there was a drought for three and a half years, and a great famine because of it. Yet Elijah was sent to only one of them, a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. And later in Elisha’s time there were many who had leprosy, but he healed only one of them, Naaman from Syria.”

Everyone in the synagogue became very angry when they heard this. They drove him out of town to the edge of a hill, meaning to throw him over the cliff, but he walked through the crowd and left instead.

LK 4:25-30

He was only able to heal a few sick people there, not many miracles at all. He was amazed at their unbelief.

MT 13:58, MK 6:5-6