Matthew vs Luke: Who got the birth narrative right?`

It’s already the hour of Christmas. The stories of three wise men leaving their country to worship the king of Jews and the shepherd leaving their sheep to meet their Shepherd are normally preached as our Christmas special sermons. It’s the time for echoing the gospel message that the legion of angels first preached to the shepherds.

Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 

Luke 2:10,11(ESV)

Let’s ask a genuine question first. How did the writer of Matthew and Luke get the birth narrative of Jesus? (Christian cliche answer, it’s the Holy Spirit who revealed). Well, I’m not denying that. I ain’t agreeing to it fully either. Jesus himself mightn’t have told them. That would be weird and impossible to even imagine and very different from his character(His focus was the kingdom of heaven not his birth narration). Mark, the first gospel that we have doesn’t even care to touch on the birth narrative. (neither does John, so why didn’t Holy Spirit reveal to them?). Luke who excludes himself from the eyewitness of the life of Christ claimed to have used both oral and written sources(probably Mark and others) for his narration(Luke 1:1-4) includes the events of the infancy narratives. ( I wonder why Luke didn’t say Holy Spirit revealed it to me). Matthew may have used his own sources including the gospel of Mark. And there are many materials unique and different from Matthew and Luke(for example birth narratives). There are three possibilities here: Mary the blessed. those shepherds or wise men. My bet is on Mary. Just speculation.

But If it’s the birth history of a single person, shouldn’t the details be similar? If that’s true why are Luke and Matthew providing two “different” narratives? Why is it that Luke (having used various sources) didn’t mention the slaying of the babies by Herod? Did Matthew make up this story because the sources of Luke haven’t any such information? Why are no wise men in Luke and no shepherd in Matthew? Why was Jesus found in the house and manger at the time of birth? Are they really contradictory? Which gospel reflects the acts surrounding the birth of Jesus accurately? Are the stories carefully constructed myths? Did the author make up their own version of the story surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ? Is this the only possible conclusion? The most important thing we have to remember while reading the Gospel account besides the inspiration by the Holy Spirit(this is the only thing we’re taught) is that these aren’t just pure historical documents but a narrative history of Jesus mixed with the theological agenda of the authors. A simple example is that Matthew introduces Jesus with the title king of the Jews as the gospel is purely Jewish in nature. The five mentions of prophecy from the Old Testament in just the two earliest chapters of Matthews clearly suggest that he is trying to convince (or strengthen) the Jewish audience that Jesus is the promised Messiah while Luke doesn’t really care about the issue of prophecy fulfillment(as careful as Matthew). John, another unique gospel too describes the life story of Jesus and yet is so different than the Jesus of other Gospel. The reason is simple. The audiences are different. All the New Testament documents are situational documents each written for specific purposes. Luke promised to provide an orderly account while John stresses the fact that his gospel would supplement our faith in knowing the Son of God. Matthew seems to defend the Jewish Messiah who would die for the whole world. There needn’t be for ancient authors to mention every detail of the life of Jesus by every author (Hint John 21:25). If the ancient authors wanted, wouldn’t they just have written the entire childhood biography of Jesus by consulting his mother and his brother? They wrote what they were inspired by and what the Early church demanded theologically.

Having established this context, let’s see the apparent differences in the birth narrative. On a plain reading, one can observe apparent contradiction in the narratives. On a serious note, one can proudly affirm there is no such contradiction. But skeptics and atheist loves to point out the difference without even reading them properly. I’m going to point out a minute detail in the story which we all might miss.

Luke’s NarrativeMatthew’s Narrative
And while they were there(Bethelem), the time came for her to give birth.  And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn. (Luke 2:6,7)
And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. (Luke 2:8)
The angel said to them…For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:11)
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem…For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. (Matthew 2:2)
Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. (Matthew 2:7)
[Herod]…killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. (Matthew 2:16)

So, the answer to the problem is simple. Luke describes the event that surrounded the exact night Jesus was born while Matthew took a time jump and narrated the account of three wise men. Wouldn’t it take at least months for the wise men to travel from East to Jerusalem while the shepherds who were already in that region would be able to meet Christ the same night he was born? Why are skeptics still observing the contradiction here when the solution is already in the text? Herod wanted to kill the children below 2 years might suggest Jesus was already that age. The text is clear. There is no contradiction.


Merry Christmas.

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