The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Birth by Marcus J. Borg

Author:Marcus J. Borg [Borg, Marcus J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780061743641
Google: uj8WWftikrEC
Amazon: B000WPXTJ2
Barnesnoble: B000WPXTJ2
Goodreads: 1500833
Publisher: HarperOne
Published: 2007-10-08T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

IN DAVID’S CITY OF BETHLEHEM

We saw in a preceding chapter that the Christmas stories of Matthew and Luke disagree on the location of Jesus’s conception by the Holy Spirit. It was Bethlehem for Matthew, but Nazareth for Luke. They both agree, however, on the location of his birth in Bethlehem and, furthermore, they both agree that Joseph was a descendant of David.

Matthew says that, “Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea” (2:1) and that Joseph is the “son of David” (1:20), and so, therefore, “Jesus the Messiah [is] the son of David” (1:1). Luke brings those two elements together: “Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child” (2:4–6).

Matthew and Luke agree, therefore, that Jesus was the new David. But, recall that, as we already saw in Chapter 5 and will see again in this chapter, Jesus is for Matthew the new Moses. Matthew’s Christmas story combines, in other words, Jesus as new Moses and as new David, so that Jesus will “save his people from their sins” (1:21) nonviolently rather than from their enemies violently.

Since Matthew and Luke agree independently on those two points about Jesus—that he was descended from David’s lineage and born in David’s city—those must come from an earlier tradition than either of their Christmas stories. And, in fact, we find both of those points elsewhere in the New Testament.

First, Paul, in opening his letter to the Romans, speaks of “the gospel concerning his [God’s] Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh” (1:3). Second, John records the crowd’s discussion of Jesus’s messianic status with this interchange: “Others said, ‘This is the Messiah.’ But some asked, ‘Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?’” (7:41–42). This is a typical instance of Johannine irony. He presumes that Jesus was born at Bethlehem and, therefore, the crowd’s ignorance confirms what they deny. Jesus is the Messiah, and he was born in Bethlehem. Paul and John indicate that common Christian tradition that Jesus was the Davidic Messiah and was—whether literally or metaphorically—born in Bethlehem.

While we are on this subject of agreements between Matthew and Luke in their overtures, here is a fuller list of their Christmas story agreements:

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