Guest Author - LeeAnn Bonds
The Christmas story is pretty straightforward, right? Just open up the New Testament and read all about it. Sigh. It's not quite that simple.
How many years can I continue reading and studying Scripture and still feel like I’m just beginning to scratch the surface? I’ve felt pretty smug in the past about knowing that the wise men didn’t visit on the night of Jesus’ birth, but found the young family living in a house. In fact, our children always put the magi and their camels clear across the room from the rest of the nativity set, because they knew the entourage wouldn’t be arriving while Jesus was still in the manger. Still, yesterday I could not have told you which gospel included the story of the wise men and their sojourn to Israel. While I could reconstruct the story of Jesus’ birth without checking, I wouldn’t have been sure about references, or the exact order of events.
Well, I decided to make a Harmony, like the Harmony of the Gospels found in the back of many Bibles. I made a chart in Word, and listed the events in the story, as recorded in Matthew and in Luke. I didn’t include Mark because Mark starts when Jesus is an adult. I didn’t include John because although he starts with “In the beginning was the Word,” way back before the world was created, the references to Jesus’ birth are oblique and mystical. The earthiest verse is John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” then he’s on to John the Baptist as an adult.
Okay, so Matthew and Luke have, between them, the whole account. What I hadn’t realized was that almost no details of the story are found in both gospels. Luke starts the story with an angel telling Zacharias about John (the Baptist’s) birth. He includes Gabriel visiting Mary to tell her of the birth, then Mary’s visit to Elizabeth’s house for three months. To read of Joseph’s angelic encounter, you have to go to Matthew. Then back to Luke chapter two for Caesar Augustus’ decree, the journey to Bethlehem, and Jesus’ birth in a manger, because there was no room in the inn. Matthew only mentions Jesus’ birth kind of between verses. Read Matthew 1:25 through 2:1 and you’ll see what I mean. Luke continues with angels appearing to the shepherds and the shepherds spreading the news. Continue in Luke through 2:38, which takes you through Jesus’ presentation at the Temple when he was eight days old. Simeon and Anna prophesy about him there.
The wise men are next, but only in Matthew 2. Their story includes the family’s flight to Egypt, and Herod’s massacre of the innocents in and around Bethlehem. At the end of chapter two, the family returns to Israel and settles in Nazareth. Luke 2:39 tells of their return to Nazareth also, and then records the sole story of Jesus’ boyhood. Chapter three of both Luke and Matthew start with John the Baptist and the beginning of Jesus’ ministry years.
It’s worth studying this out some, because you need to know that the whole flight to Egypt happens between Luke 2:38 and Luke 2:39. You need to know that if you only read Matthew and not Luke, you might think that Joseph and Mary lived in Bethlehem before Jesus’ birth, because Matthew doesn’t mention Nazareth until after their return from Egypt. It’s good to know how it all fits together and have it firmly in your head. The accounts do mesh, but if you don’t know how they mesh, you might be unsettled if someone questions you on the details. Even though it’s always better to say you don’t know than to get defensive, it’s even better to have done your homework. Even if you’ve been a Christian for decades, like me, and are just now getting around to this particular assignment. Sigh.
You can look at and download a copy of the Harmony I made at Harmony Chart.
