Nativity of Jesus

The Nativity of Jesus, or simply the Nativity, is the account of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.

Authoritative Christian accounts are given in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke that form part of the New Testament of the Bible. More elaborate accounts of the events relating to the birth of Jesus have also been preserved, but they have not been included in the Christian canon of the Bible. The Gospel of Mark, arguably the earliest of the canonical gospels, is silent on the nativity.^[1] Some non-Christians question that various miraculous signs listed in the Bible actually accompanied the birth of Jesus, and whether it was a virgin birth.

The birth narratives of Matthew and Luke relate that the mother of Jesus of Nazareth was Mary, at the time of his conception the betrothed wife of Joseph of the House of David, and that she conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit rather than by Joseph.^[2]

The remembrance, representation and re-enactment of the Nativity scene are at the heart of the Christian celebration of Christmas, the name "Christmas" for the festival signifying the Christian belief that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ promised in the Old Testament of the Bible. In the Roman Catholic Church, and among other Christian groups, the main religious celebration of Christmas is the Church service at midnight ("Heilige Nacht", "Midnight Mass") or in the morning of "Christmas Day", which is always kept on the 25 December. During the forty days leading up to Christmas, the Eastern Orthodox Church practices the Nativity Fast, while four Sundays before Christmas, the Roman Catholic Church begins observing the liturgical season of Advent – both are times of spiritual cleansing, recollection and renewal, in order to prepare for the celebration of the birth of Jesus at Christmas.

Biblical narratives

Gospel of Luke

The Gospel of Luke states that Mary learned from the angel Gabriel that the Holy Spirit would cause her to be with child.^[3] Mary pointed out that she was a virgin and the angel responded that "nothing will be impossible with God".^[4] "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word," Mary responded.^[5]

When Mary was heavily pregnant, she and her husband Joseph traveled from their home in Nazareth about 150 kilometres (90 miles) south to Joseph's ancestral home, Bethlehem, in order to register in a census ordered by Emperor Augustus,^[6] also known as the Census of Quirinius . Having found no place for themselves in the inn, they lodged in a stable or cave where animals used to be kept.^[7] There Mary gave birth to Jesus.^[7]

An angel of the Lord visited the shepherds that were guarding their flocks in fields nearby and brought them the "good news of great joy"^[8] that "to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord".^[9] The angel told them they would find, "a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger."^[10] A "heavenly host" joined the angel and said, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!"^[11] The shepherds hurried to the manger in Bethlehem where they found Mary, Joseph and Jesus. They repeated what they were told by the angel, and then returned to their flocks.^[12]

Gospel of Matthew

In the Gospel of Matthew, the impending birth is announced to Joseph in a dream. A star reveals the birth of Jesus to a group of "wise men" (Koine Greek magi) who travel to Jerusalem from an unspecified country "in the east":

Matthew's use of the word "magi" connects the visiters to the magi of Babylon who selected Daniel their chief, according to the Book of Daniel.^[15] The magi in Daniel interpreted dreams and other portents. The book was well-known in ancient times for a prophecy concerning the Messiah,^[16] an "anointed one" sent by God to lead the Jewish people. Messiah is a Hebrew word equivalent to "Christ", which is derived from Greek.

Neither the names of the magi nor their number are specified in the Bible, but – owing to the fact that three gifts are mentioned – tradition tells us there were three: Balthasar, Melchior, and Caspar. Balthasar is a Greek version of the Babylonian name Belshazzar, meaning "May Bel protect his life". This was the name given to Daniel by the chief eunuch of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,^[17] as well as to a king of Babylon.^[18] Melchior means "The king is my light" in Aramaic. Caspar is a Latinized version of Gondophares, a Parthian (i.e. Persian) name. In free retellings of the Nativity events, the magi are sometimes called "kings" because of prophecies that kings will pay homage to the Messiah.^[19]

The statement that Herod was "frightened"^[20] by the magi's words is sometimes taken to mean that he did not know of the magi's star, often referred to as the Star of Bethlehem, before they arrived. The text suggests that it was the birth of the Messiah that frightened Herod, not the star, which he may or may not have known about earlier. Herod must have understood the phrase "king of the Jews" as a reference to the Messiah, since he asked his advisors where the Messiah could be born.^[21] They answered Bethlehem, the birthplace of King David, and quoted the prophet Micah.^[22] "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage," a deceitful Herod told the magi.^[23]

As they traveled to Bethlehem, the star "went before" the magi and led them to a house where they found Jesus.^[24] Thus Jesus was no longer in the manger described by Luke. He was a child (paidion), not an infant (brephos).^[25] The magi presented Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.^[26] In a dream, the magi received a divine warning of Herod's intent to kill the child, whom he saw as a rival.^[27] Consequently, they returned to their own country without telling Herod the result of their mission.^[27] An angel told Joseph to flee with his family to Egypt.^[28] Meanwhile, Herod ordered that all male children of Bethlehem under the age of 2 be killed,^[29] the so-called "Massacre of the Innocents". After Herod's death, the holy family settled in Nazareth, fulfilling the prophecy, "He will be called a Nazorean."^[30] Here "Nazorean" means both a resident of Nazareth and a "branch," or descendant (of David).^[31]

Relationship among the Gospels

The task of defining the relationship between Matthew, Luke, and the Gospel of Mark, called the Synoptic problem, has attracted a great deal of scholarship over the centuries. In the traditional view, expressed by Augustine and other church fathers, Matthew was written first and Mark was redacted from Matthew (see Augustinian hypothesis). A group of modern scholars, employing textual criticism, emphasize the divergences among these gospels. In Matthew, for example, the Holy Family intended to return to Bethlehem after the flight to Egypt, i.e. they are residents of Bethlehem.^[32] But since the nativity narrative in Luke does not mention the flight to Egypt or Joseph's deliberations over their safety on their return, some scholars deduced that the family resided in Nazareth and went to Bethlehem purely because of the census.^[33] Such alleged inconsistencies have led textual critics to talk in terms of an "M source" for the material in Matthew which diverges from Luke and Mark, and an "L source" for divergent material in Luke. Under the theory of Markan Priority, the material that Matthew and Luke have in common is derived from the Gospel of Mark or from the hypothetical Q document.^[34] As the nativity narratives are not part of this common gospel material, they are thought to represent later elaborations; moreover, neither Mark nor the Gospel of John includes a nativity narrative.

Date of Birth

See also: Census of Quirinius and Chronology of Jesus

In Western Christianity, the Feast of the Nativity has been traditionally celebrated in the liturgical season of Christmastide as Christmas on 25 December. Few scholars believe this was the date of his birth. Scholars speculate that the date of the celebration was moved by the Roman Catholic Church from January 6, when it was previously celebrated as part of the feast of Theophany, in an attempt to replace the Roman festival of Saturnalia.^[35] When the Julian Calendar was first put into use (45 BC), December 25 was approximately the date of the solstice. Due to calendar slippage, the solstice now falls on December 21 or 22. The theory that December 25 was the birthdate of Jesus was popularized by Sextus Julius Africanus in Chronographiai (AD 221). That the birth was not in winter can be concluded from the information about the shepherds being out with the sheep. It was unlikely that the shepherds slept on the ground outside during the winter season. However it was common that shepherds slept outside, watching their sheep, during the spring.

Both Luke and Matthew wrote that Jesus was born when Herod was king. According to Josephus, Herod died shortly after a lunar eclipse. This is usually identified as the eclipse of March 13, 4 BC. Jesus was born sometime between the first appearance of the Star of Bethlehem and the time the magi arrived in Herod's court. As Herod ordered the execution of boys age 2 and under, the star must have made its first appearance within the previous two years. This line of reasoning yields a date of 6-4 BC for the nativity. (Note that there is no suggestion in the Gospels that Jesus was born on the day the star first appeared.)

One problem with the 6-4 BC date is that there are difficulties with locating a census of Quirinius at that time, a key element in Luke's nativity narrative. There was a census of Roman citizens in 8 BC, but Joseph, Jesus' earthly father, was not a Roman citizen. Quirinius, governor of Iudaea Province, conducted a census in AD 6 or AD 7. But an ordinary census would count people where they lived and would not require anyone to return to his ancestral home. Some modern authors identify Luke's worldwide census with a mass oath taking that occurred in 3-2 BC when Augustus was given the title "father of the nation."^[36] As a descendant of David, Joseph might have been selected to take the oath.^[37] Tertullian, Origen, Africanus and other early Christian writers date the birth of Jesus as 3-2 BC.^[38] Jesus is said to have been "about thirty" when he began his ministry in AD 29,^[39] which yields a birth year of 3-2 BC.^[40]

Location

The location of the birth is traditionally attributed to Joseph and Mary having to leave their home in Nazareth and go to the home of Joseph's ancestors, the town of David, for a census that was ordered by the Emperor Augustus. With the whole town full of people who had made the journey, there was no room for the expecting couple at the town's inn. This tradition derives from the account in the Gospel of Luke, which states that the couple headed to Bethlehem for a census that was decreed by the Roman Emperor Augustus, and the Gospel of Matthew, which states that the birth occurred during the reign of Herod the Great.

Matthew and Luke give complementary explanations of how Jesus came to grow up in Galilee but be born in Bethlehem. Matthew relates Jesus's birth in Bethlehem, and the little family's subsequent escape to Egypt, from where, after Herod's death, they moved to Galilee to continue living in safety. Luke does not mention the flight to Egypt, but simply concludes the infancy narrative with the summary statement: "When they had finished all things according to the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth".^[41]

Although the event is usually depicted as taking place in a man-made free standing structure, many biblical scholars conjecture that the "manger" was probably positioned in a cave carved in the side of a hill - as this was the typical location of stables in Classical Palestine. Others suggest that the manger was not in a stable at all but in a lower floor room of a building or house where agricultural tools and grain stores were normally kept, but where animals were brought into on cold nights or to protect them from thieves. The Bible does not specifically mention an inn keeper or a stable or even animals (except the flocks of the shepherds) relating to Jesus' birth, and these extra traditions derive from works in the New Testament apocrypha; the Arabic Infancy Gospel mentions the donkey and the ox, while the Protevangelium of James introduces the inn keeper, as well as the midwife that is no longer part of the tradition. Technically, the tradition of the birth location derives from the translation of a Greek term which ambiguously means either gathering room (an upper room in a home) or cave.^[specify]

Paternity

In first century Judea, betrothal the period of betrothal occurred after the main marriage ceremony had taken place and the marriage contracts had been signed, and was very much a till death do we part affair, at least until a formal divorce was granted. In general the betrothal ceremony took place when the woman was still very young, generally around age twelve or thirteen, and after the ceremony she would remain in their father's house for around a year. After this point the husband would take the bride into his own home - which most scholars think is the meaning of Mary being pregnant before they came together; Mary being pregnant before the two shared a home, rather than stating that she became pregnant before the two had had sex, although it could be interpreted this way.

Matthew is, however, quite explicit that Mary and Joseph had not had sex before Jesus was born.^[42] This is frequently extrapolated by supporters of the concept of a Virgin Birth to imply that not only had Mary not had sex with Joseph before Jesus was born, but that she had also had sex with no-one else, i.e. was a virgin. Older and more puritanical translations often bowdlerized this passage using more euphemistic wording, though modern versions are much more explicit about the lack of sex. Many Protestants take the verse to imply that Mary and Joseph had sex after Jesus was born, but other groups, particularly the Roman Catholics, argue that the passage is far vaguer in the original Greek than it is in English, and support the idea that Mary permanently remained a virgin. David Hill, a Presbyterian, acknowledges that the wording does not absolutely deny perpetual virginity, but argues that if the idea had been current at the time, then Matthew would have been more explicit about it. Sadly, the Genealogy of Jesus in the oldest surviving copy of the Gospel of Matthew - the Codex Sinaiticus - is often misinterpreted, implying that Joseph was the father of Jesus.

Joseph's attitude

The exact meaning of why Matthew describes Joseph as a "just man" is much discussed; the Greek term is dikaios, and it has variously been translated as just, righteous, upright, and of good character. Most of the ancient commentators of the Bible interpreted it as meaning that Joseph was law abiding, and as such decided to divorce Mary in keeping with Mosaic Law when he found her pregnant by another, but, tempering righteousness by mercy, he kept the affair private. A second view, first put forward by Clement of Alexandria, and held by most modern Christians is that Joseph's righteousness is his mercy itself, with the decision to ensure Mary was not shamed being proof of his righteousness rather than an exception to it. A third view is based on the idea that Joseph already knew the origin of Mary's pregnancy, which is more in keeping with the Gospel of Luke, leading to the view that Joseph's righteousness is pious acceptance of Mary's story.

Joseph's original intent, though, was to divorce Mary, once he had discovered her pregnancy, though some scholars, and most older translations, have expressed this more euphemistically, since Joseph, a man having just been described as righteous, undergoing divorce, would imply that divorce was righteous. Especially in the nineteenth century a number of scholars tried to read alternate meanings into the term, with one proposal being that it merely meant that the couple would split while legally remaining married. However recent discoveries have found that legal avenues for divorce certainly existed at the time in question. One of the clearest pieces of evidence is a divorce record from 111, entirely coincidentally between a couple named Mary and Joseph, which was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Greek word here translated as divorce is aphiemi, and the only other time it appears is in 1 Corinthians^[43] where Paul uses it to describe the legal separation of a man and wife, and thus almost all modern translators today feel that divorce is what is being described, although doctrinal reasons cause some to use other wording.

Rabbinic law from the period allows two different options for divorce that is due to adultery:

• Bring the matter to the village council, which would hold a hearing and, if the allegations were proved, grant a divorce.
• Have the evidence presented and approved by two witnesses who would then certify the divorce (Gundry argues that the witnesses were necessary mainly to prevent a woman denying that the divorce had actually taken place.).

Joseph is explained as choosing to put Mary away privately rather than publicly divorce her, which most scholars believe means that Joseph had taken the second of the two divorce options.

In the first of several dream sequences in Matthew, an angel visits Joseph to dissuade him, and explain what has happened. The angel is described in a manner much more like early Jewish descriptions, as in the pentateuch, merely as a pure functionary with no individuality, unlike the more esoteric descriptions that arose nearer Matthew's own time, under Hellenic influence, such as described in the Book of Enoch. Joseph carries out the angel's instructions exactly, rather than arguing with them, which appears to be a common theme in the Gospel - rapid and unquestioning obedience is treated by Matthew as an important virtue.

Matthew merely glosses over how Mary came to be pregnant, which Schweizer thinks implies that Matthew's audience were already well aware of the story of the Virgin Birth - there were several virgin birth stories in the Jewish tradition and so the idea of virgin births was generally accepted by the population. Matthew mentions the paternity of the Holy Ghost very quickly, even before any of the characters in his narrative are aware of this fact, which Brown argues is because Matthew does not want the reader to ever consider alternate scenarios as to how Mary could have become pregnant.

Visitors

The Magi bear gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Though wise men or kings is the traditional understanding, the Bible actually refers to magoi. Three is a traditional number, derived from the three gifts. Furthermore, the Bible describes the men as having arrived about two years after the birth of Jesus to inquire of Herod.

The men were said to be following a mysterious star, commonly known as the Star of Bethlehem, that had suddenly appeared in the sky, believing it to be the fulfilment of an ancient prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, or king of the Jews.

On the other hand, Luke's account does not mention the Magi, instead having Jesus being visited by local shepherds, who had been informed in the night by an angel (herald) who said "Don't be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people, for there is born to you, this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This is the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes (strips of cloth), lying in a manger (feeding trough)." After this an innumerable company of angels appeared with the herald saying "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men." (see The First Noël). The shepherds went quickly to Bethlehem, finding the sign to be as the angel foretold, and subsequently publicised what they had witnessed throughout the area.

Emmanuel

In Matthew "an angel of the Lord" appears to Mary's betrothed husband Joseph in a dream and tells him: "she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins". The text continues with the comment: "All this happened to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 'Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us'".^[44]. Some 5-6th century manuscripts of the Gospel according to Matthew read "Isaiah the prophet" instead of merely "the prophet" (e.g. D, but as it does not have the support of other important witnesses (see Nestle²⁶), its motives require very careful consideration outside the competence of non-text critics). Rather than using the Masoretic text which forms the basis of most modern Christian Old Testament translations, Matthew's quotation is taken from the Septuagint. The verb кαλεω kaleō (to call) is used by both Isaiah and Gabriel; but whilst the former employs the third person plural (they shall call), the latter has the second person singular you shall call. Gabriel himself therefore is not applying Isaiah's prophecy to Joseph, but his purpose is to invite him to assume legal paternity of the son to be born of Mary by naming him. It is the following comment that explains Mary's conception by the Holy Spirit, Joseph's vocation as the child's legal father, and the child's own vocation as the Saviour of his people as indicated by the name Jesus, in the light of Isaiah's prophecy that henceforth "God is with us". Howewer, this understanding of this passage tends to be regarded as Christian apologetics, because almost all Jewish sources are certain that "Immanuel" was intended as a name, not a mere title.

Scholars have other concerns with Matthew's reference to Isaiah. France, for instance, believes that it is far more likely that Isaiah is referring to the far more immediate future, particularly as the text can be considered to be past tense - implying that the saviour in question was already conceived when Isaiah was writing. Matthew also appears to have adjusted the meaning slightly, but in a significant way -although Matthew uses the Greek term parthenos, usually translated virgin, Isaiah uses the Hebrew word almah, which more accurately translates as young woman.

The purpose of the quote is better understood by looking at the context in which it is used in Isaiah. Isaiah is in the process of promising that God can save Israel from the immediate threat of the Assyrians, but that if the Jews continue to sin, the Assyrian empire will be the instrument of God's vengeance. Hence, in the eyes of scholars such as Carter, Matthew is using the situation as an allegory for the time in which he was writing; if followed, Immanuel would lead to salvation from the Roman empire, but if rebuffed, Rome will be the instrument of punishment against the Jewish people.

Art

In Insular art Gospel Books (i.e. copies of the Gospels produced in Britain under Celtic Christianity), the first verse of Matthew's nativity narrative^[45] was treated as if it began a whole new book of the Bible. In mediaeval typography, the Greek word Christ was sometimes abbreviated as Χρι (the Greek letters Chi-Rho-Iota); the first three letters of the word Christ in the Greek alphabet), and so the Χρι which begin this verse was given an elaborate decorative treatment by such scribes, who had a similar tradition for the opening few words of each of the Gospels. This trend culminated in the Book of Kells, where the monogram has taken over the entire page. Although later scribes (such as those of the Carolingian Renaissance) followed the Insular tradition of giving elaborate decorative treatments to the opening words of texts, including the Gospels, they did not follow the tradition of decoration this verse.

Alternative interpretations

According to Frank R. Zindler, the nativity story is regarded by atheists as a legend without any historical basis.^[46] Most non-Christian scholars do not dispute the historical existence of a person called Jesus but question whether various miraculous signs listed in the Bible actually accompanied his birth, and whether it was a virgin birth. The Qur'an says that Jesus was the result of a virgin birth; however.

See also

Template:Commonscat

• Adoration of the Shepherds
• Biblical Magi
• Nativity scene
• The Miller's Tale

References

Further reading

• Albright, W.F. and C.S. Mann. "Matthew." The Anchor Bible Series. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1971.
• Brown, Raymond E. The Birth of the Messiah: A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives in Matthew and Luke. London: G. Chapman, 1977.
• Calkins, Robert G. Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1983.
• Carter, Warren. Matthew and Empire. Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 2001.
• France, R.T. The Gospel According to Matthew: an Introduction and Commentary. Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1985.
• Gundry, Robert H. Matthew a Commentary on his Literary and Theological Art. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982.
• Gundry, Robert H. "Salvation in Matthew." Society of Biblical Literature - 2000 Seminar Papers. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2000.
• Hill, David. The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981
• Jones, Alexander. The Gospel According to St. Matthew. London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1965.
• Levine, Amy-Jill. "Matthew." Women's Bible Commentary. Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe, eds. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998.
• Schaberg, Jane. Illegitimacy of Jesus: A Feminist Theological Interpretation of the Infancy Narratives (Biblical Seminar Series, No 28) Sheffield Academic Press (March 1995) ISBN 1-85075-533-7
• Schweizer, Eduard. The Good News According to Matthew. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1975
• Vermes, Geza "The Nativity: History and Legend". Penguin (2006) ISBN 0-14-102446-1

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