The Biblical Nativity Narratives

Even though Christmas is the most popular and most celebrated of the Christian Holy Days, it is
interesting that it does not play such a central role in the biblical traditions or the Gospel accounts.
Nativity narratives are conspicuously absent in both Mark and John who begin their Gospels with the
ministry of John the Baptist, some 30 years after Jesus birth. This helps explain why John the Baptist
and his ministry is usually the focus of one Sunday during Advent (usually the second Sunday).
Nativity narratives are only present in Matthew and Luke. But even there, the story is not told as a
single narrative in either Gospel, but rather each emphasizes different aspects of what we have come
to celebrate as the Christmas story.
Matthew tells the story from the perspective of Joseph, and his deliberations about what he should do
with his pregnant wife-to-be. The story unfolds with reassurance from Gods messenger that God is at
work in this extraordinary circumstance. It is Matthew who introduces the Isaiah quotation from which
we get the title Emmanuel for Jesus (see Immanuel in Isaiah and Matthew). However, Matthew
gives us no details about the actual birth of Jesus, only a few events leading up to the birth, and than
an account of what happened "after Jesus was born" (Matt 2:1).
It is only in Matthew that we learn of the visit of the Magi ("wise men") and the miraculous star in the
East that led them to Jesus. It is popular imagination, and perhaps the need to construct a concise
story that can fit into a crche (the traditional manger scene), that places the Magi at the Bethlehem
stable. It was probably much later, perhaps as much as two years, when they actually visited the
Christ child. And it is likewise legend or tradition that assumes three Magi, probably from the fact of
three gifts. However, the biblical narrative never says how many Magi came.
Only Matthew recounts Gods warning to Joseph, telling him to flee to Egypt with Mary and the child to
escape the wrath of Herod. He also tells of the slaughter of the Holy Innocents in Bethlehem as the
deranged Herod sought to eliminate any competition for his throne. Matthew also again tells of
messenger from God that directs the Holy Family to settle in Nazareth
Most of the nativity narrative with which we are most familiar from Christmas plays and public
Scripture readings comes from Lukes Gospel. Lukes account is much different than Matthews. It is
told from the perspective of Mary, and her struggle to come to terms with this astonishing event. Luke
actually begins his narrative with the miraculous birth of John the Baptist and the disbelief of his
father Zechariah. The entire narrative places two women, Elizabeth and Mary, at the center of the

story. A messenger of God, in Lukes account named Gabriel, also plays an important role announcing
the births of both John and Jesus.