Most Christians are confident they know the story of Jesus’s birth. It is a scene immortalized in crèches across America — despite the conservative propaganda slamming the non-existent, liberal ‘War on Christmas’. The facts seem straightforward. Jesus is the headliner, with Mary and Joseph in the main supporting roles. The Three Wise Men (aka Magi), with their gifts of frankincense, myrrh, and gold — along with traveling shepherds — are visitors to the newborn Son of God.
An Angel is instrumental in moving the action along and getting the parties together in a stable — where a swaddled Jesus lies in a manger. And illuminating everything is a bright, guiding star.
But is that how it happened? I do not mean “happened” in some philosophical or historiographical sense. I mean, is that how the Bible reported it? The answer is “no”. The Good Book tells two different stories. The version accepted today — and displayed in churches, front yards, and the public square — is a mash-up of the two.
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John offer four varying versions of the life of Jesus. Complicating the issue is that almost every English-speaking Christian knows the Bible from an English translation of the oldest known, original Koine Greek texts — none of which are contemporaneous with the events they describe. These texts themselves are to some degree based on oral histories passed down in Aramaic. Names have been changed and the meaning of some words guessed at. (Virgin or young woman?)
Two of these Gospels, Mark and John, tell no nativity story. In Mark, Jesus first appears as a young man in Chapter 1:9 when John the Baptist baptizes him.
“At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.”
After that, according to Mark, Jesus goes into the wilderness. There he is tempted by Satan for 40 days.
In John, we again first meet Jesus as an adult when he appears to John the Baptist who recognizes his divine nature in Chapter 1:29
“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
This time, however, instead of going into the wilderness, Jesus starts collecting disciples, the first two of whom are Andrew and Simon. Although Jesus decides that Simon’s name should be Peter.
It is in Matthew that we get one nativity story. Chapter 1:18-19, tells the story of Mary’s asexually and divinely conceived pregnancy.
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
You have to wonder if it is Mary’s reputation that Joseph is concerned about. However, it all worked out. As Matthew goes on to report in Chapter 1:20-21
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Note: Christians should not confuse Jesus´s virgin birth with Mary´s immaculate conception. To pass muster as Jesus's mother, Mary had to be free of all sin, including original sin. To achieve this, God gave her His grace which expunged her record all the way back to her conception. At least this is the Catholic version. Protestants are dubious as there is no mention of the immaculate conception in the Bible.
Moving on, Chapter 2:1-3 Introduces us to the Magi and Herod,
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? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
Why was Herod disturbed? Because prophecy had said the true leader of the Jews was going to be born in Bethlehem. And thus he saw the Baby Jesus as a threat to his authority. He decided to use the Wise Men as scouts to discover the location of his rival. Chapter 2:7-8
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.
8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
The Magi followed the star, found Jesus, and gave him their gifts. Chapter 2:9-11
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Note: The Magi found Jesus in a house, not a stable. Also, the number of the Magi is never given. There could have been two — or twenty. However, Matthew enumerates three different gifts. And that has morphed into there being three wise men.
Having been warned in a dream, the Magi did not report back to Herod. Instead, they just disappear.
Joseph is also told of Herod’s intention in a dream (dreams being the preferred form of Divine communication). Thus warned, he decamps, with his wife and child, to Egypt. As described in Chapter 2:13-15
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and left for Egypt,
15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Herod doesn’t take the Magi’s lack of follow-through sitting down. He orders the slaughter of all male children under the age of two in Bethlehem and its surroundings. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph remain in Egypt until the death of Herod. Then they re-settle in Nazareth.
Luke tells a different version of the Christmas story which introduces the other elements found in today´s rendering of Jesus’s birth. It starts in Chapter 2:1-5 with Joseph and Mary’s return to Bethlehem to take part in the Roman imperial census.
1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.
2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)
3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.
5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
We are soon introduced to perhaps the most iconic symbol of the nativity, the manger — necessitated by a lack of room at the inn Chapter 2:6-7,
6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,
7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
Next up are the shepherds, the angel of the Lord, and the heavenly host. Chapter 2:8-14
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.
11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Based on this exuberant marketing, the shepherds decide to go have a look for themselves. And having seen it was all as advertised, they started spreading the word of Jesus‘s birth. Chapter 2:15-20
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,
18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
As Jesus was born a male Jewish child, there was some medical housekeeping to be taken care of. The baby gets his name. And the family goes to, not Egypt, but Jerusalem. They didn’t have to worry about Herod, because he does not appear in this version of the story.
21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.
22 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord
And there we have it. Bible literalists excuse discrepancies and inconsistencies in the Bible by claiming that while everything that happened is true, it is being recorded by fallible human beings. They say it is as if a bunch of journalists reported on the same event — no two versions of the story would be the same.
On the other hand, Christians who believe in the Bible, but see much of it as allegory, do not have to resort to specious explanations. The story of Jesus’s birth is merely symbolic. Not every detail has to be a fact.
And atheists don’t have to worry about the story at all. They can use the event as an excuse to break bread with family and friends and share a convivial good time.
But no matter how you celebrate, if you do choose to celebrate, I wish you a Merry Christmas.
