Journey to the Manger

Exploring the Birth of Jesus

Paula Gooder

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781506418872
• eBook ISBN:
  9781506418889
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Journey to the Manger explores the New Testament's various accounts of the birth of Jesus: their origins in Old Testament prophecies, the genealogies, the angelic announcements, the journeys and arrivals, and the aftermath of Jesus' birth for the powerful and the poor alike. Engaging seriously with biblical and historical criticism, Paula Gooder uncovers key similarities running through the Gospel writers' accounts and focuses on their shared understanding of the significant events they describe. Her detailed exploration of the texts is a gold mine for preaching and teaching, and will breathe new life into the familiar Christmas stories heard year after year in churches, hymn sings, and nativity plays. Devotional reflections and discussion questions also make this ideal for personal and group study. Rooted in the conviction that greater understanding of the Bible leads to deeper discipleship, this is an essential resource for preachers, teachers, and study group leaders, as well as those who simply wish to get to know the Bible better.

II

Part 2

Announcements

It is fairly safe to say that, in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus’ forthcoming birth does not go underannounced. In terms of preparation, Luke goes out of his way to get us well and truly ready for the birth of Jesus. He begins with the announcement of the birth of Jesus’ forerunner, John the Baptist, then the announcement to Mary of Jesus’ birth, the visit of Mary to Elizabeth where Mary sings the great Magnificat, the birth of John the Baptist and finally Zechariah’s song of praise. By the time we reach the actual birth narratives in Luke 2 we, the readers of Luke’s Gospel, have been introduced to many of the key themes that will help us understand who this baby was and what he had come to do.

Matthew, in contrast, is much more restrained in his preparation narratives: they contain the simple account of an angel who appeared to Joseph to tell him not to put Mary aside and to reveal Jesus’ name and calling.

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The Prophecy of John’s Birth

The first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel, containing the annunciation as well as the accounts of John’s and Jesus’ births, are markedly different in style from the rest of the Gospel. The Greek changes noticeably in verse 5. The preface, verses 1–4, has a carefully polished, beautiful Hellenistic style – so beautiful, indeed, that they are sometimes said to be four of the most elegant verses in the whole of the New Testament. In verse 5 this style changes suddenly. It moves away from elegant Greek prose to something much more reminiscent of a Hebrew style of writing (though still written in Greek). This style continues for much of chapters 1—2 and only reverts to a more Greek style again in chapter 3, even though it never recaptures the elegance of the first four verses.

This change in style has led people to wonder where Luke got these stories from. Some argue that he had no documentary source at all but wrote the narratives from oral tradition gathered from various people he spoke to. Given the strongly Semitic style of writing, though, both in the narratives and the ‘canticles’ (the songs of Zechariah, Mary and Simeon), which swiftly disappears in the rest of the Gospel, one can’t help wondering whether he had a particularly Semitic source at hand while writing this part of the Gospel.

Unsurprisingly, scholars cannot agree on where this Semitic source might have come from, nor whether it might originally have been written in Aramaic or in Hebrew. This does suggest, however, that this part of Luke might originate from Palestinian Jewish Christian sources, which are different from the sources Luke used for the rest of his Gospel.

The Prophecy of John’s Birth

Luke 1.5–25 In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ^6Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. ^7But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years. ^8Once when he was serving as priest before God and his section was on duty, ^9he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer incense. ^10Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. ^11Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. ^12When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him. ^13But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. ^14You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, ^15for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. ^16He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. ^17With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’ ^18Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.’ ^19The angel replied, ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. ^20But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.’ ^21Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah, and wondered at his delay in the sanctuary. ^22When he did come out, he could not speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept motioning to them and remained unable to speak. 23When his time of service was ended, he went to his home. ^24After those days hiswife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she remained in seclusion. She said, ^25 ‘This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favourably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.’

Fulfilment

Luke 1 can feel somewhat repetitive: the announcement to Zechariah followed by the announcement to Mary has a certain déjà vu feel to it. This is deliberate – the accounts carefully parallel each other. In each one God instigates the action (1.25; 1.30), the Holy Spirit plays a major part (1.15; 1.35) and God sends news of the action by Gabriel (1.19; 1.26). In some ways chapter 1 is a complete unit in itself. The theme of fulfilment runs all the way through it. It begins even in the prologue where Luke promised that Theophilus would see what has been fulfilled in our midst (1.1). It continues when Zechariah was told he would be unable to speak until Gabriel’s words were fulfilled (1.20) and when Elizabeth blessed Mary for believing that what had been promised would be fulfilled (1.45).

Throughout chapter 1 fulfilment is both promised and attained. It is in itself a mini fulfilment narrative: God sent Gabriel to promise the birth of John (1.5–25), John was subsequently born (1.57–66) and Zechariah was able to speak again (1.67–80). In the middle of this narrative of fulfilment, Jesus’ birth and his future reign in God’s kingdom is announced. There can be little doubt that in this context we are expected to read this as a sign that the promises made to Mary will similarly be fulfilled.

Luke and Deuteronomy One of the intriguing features of Luke’s Gospel is that in certain ways it bears a remarkable similarity to Deuteronomy and the historical books, such as Joshua, 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings – often called, as a collection, the Deuteronomistic Histories. This similarity can be observed in the grand way Luke tells his story, in the way the structure of Luke–Acts overlaps with the structure of the Elijah–Elisha story in 1 Kings 17.1—2 Kings 8.15, but possibly most clearly in Luke’s interest in fulfilment in this chapter. One of the strands that runs all the way through Deuteronomy and the historical books that follow is prophecy and fulfilment. Should you ever find yourself in need of a quiet afternoon’s entertainment you could make a list of the promises God gives in these books and then tick them off when they are fulfilled. In case you do not have the time to do this, what you would discover is that every single promise made is fulfilled. My favourite obscure example of this is the prophecy given in Joshua 6.26 about the fate that awaited the person who attempted to rebuild Jericho: Cursed before the Lord be anyone who tries to build this city – this Jericho! At the cost of his firstborn he shall lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest he shall set up its gates! Buried away in 1 Kings 16.34 is this: In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho; he laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Joshua son of Nun. Luke seems to be signalling a similar theme of fulfilment of promise throughout this chapter. If promises are always fulfilled we pay more attention to the nature of the promise that is given.

An old, old story

The story of a barren couple who could not have children but were then given one by God occurs three times in the Old Testament. The announcement of John’s birth is reminiscent of each of them in a different way. The three couples unable to conceive in the Old Testament were Abraham and Sarah (parents of Isaac); Manoah and his unnamed wife (parents of Samson) and Elkanah and Hannah (parents of Samuel).

In terms of style, the announcement of the birth of John feels closest to Judges 13.1–21. There an angel of the Lord appeared (Judges 13.3); the recipient of the vision was terrified (verse 6) and the angel announced the birth of the child and declared what characteristics he would have (verses 2–5). Mixed into that main narrative are additional details from the other two stories: a lack of belief that the prophecy would come true, which occurs when God announces the birth of Isaac to Sarah (Genesis 18.12), and the fact that the promise of the birth was made in the temple, as it was to Hannah (1 Samuel 1.17).

The main and somewhat intriguing difference between the announcement of John’s birth and the announcement of the other three births – of Isaac, Samson and Samuel – is that in the Old Testament the primary recipient of the announcement was the mother, not as here the father. Having said that though, both Abraham and Manoah played a significant role in the story of the announcements of their sons’ births.

These connections suggest that Luke intends us to draw to mind Abraham and Sarah, Manoah and his unnamed wife and Elkanah and Hannah in this passage. If this is the case then Luke may well be pointing us to the beginning of a new era. As with the birth of each of these characters, the fate of Israel was about to change and God’s promises were about to come true. In each of these cases the giving of a child to a barren couple was about far more than that couple and that child. In each instance, the giving of the child symbolized God’s intended intervention in the life of his people: in the case of Isaac to fulfil his promise to Abraham; in the case of Samson to save them from the Philistines; in the case of Samuel to save them from corruption and turning away from God. The prophecy of the birth of John, then, similarly prepares us not just for his birth but for God’s intervention to save his people.

To complete the Old Testament underpinnings of this story, Luke also points us to Elijah. John was to be a new Elijah since he would the lead the people ‘with the spirit and power of Elijah’ (1.17). Just as Elijah fearlessly and uncompromisingly spoke power to power, regularly coming into conflict with Ahab and Jezebel, so John the Baptist would do the same, clashing with Herod Antipas and his wife Herodias. Just as Elijah time and time again called people back to God, so John the Baptist called people to repentance. This story is laced with clues from the Old Testament so that we understand more clearly how to view John the Baptist. As with so many stories in these opening chapters of Luke, what Luke tells us in this one resonates so powerfully with Old Testament narratives that we see the story with greater colour and depth.

And . . . We noted above, when reflecting on Luke’s sources, that the first two chapters of Luke are Semitic in style. One of the key features of Hebrew narrative is that, unlike Greek, it does not use many subordinate clauses but instead prefers to string together short sentences, often beginning with ‘And . . .’ or ‘And it was . . .’. Even in English it is easy to see that they were used regularly in this narrative, which serves as an illustration of the contrast in style. In Luke 1.1–4, the elegant prologue, there is only one ‘and’. In verses 5–25 (the passage we are looking at here) there are 18 ‘ands’ – from verse 10 onwards they come at the start of almost every sentence, as they would in Hebrew.

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Reflection

The effect of Luke’s storytelling is to evoke a sense of a fracture in time. On one level it feels as though we have been here before many times. We are in the temple, there is a couple who cannot conceive, an angel appears and a child is foretold. This is a familiar story and it would not be out of place in certain parts of the Old Testament.

As the story unfolds, however, it becomes clear that in fact we have never been here before. Though there are familiar motifs and actions, the action of God that is about to break forth is like nothing we have ever seen before this point. Allowing the story to evoke an Old Testament context only reaffirms this point. This is an old, old story but also a brand new one. God is acting as he has on many occasions in the past and in new and entirely unexpected ways. As Luke’s story unfolds, we observe this fracture in time ever widening until we recognize that this old, old story has changed the world for ever.

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A priest named Zechariah

Luke opens his narrative of the announcement of John’s birth by establishing the priestly credentials of John’s parents. The Jewish priesthood was divided into 24 divisions (these divisions are outlined in 1 Chronicles 24.1–19). Apart from the three great festivals – Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles – when all the priests were on duty, each division of priests served in the temple for two separate weeks each year. When they were not serving in the temple they lived in their home towns and villages. Due to their literacy, which was needed for the correct fulfilment of legal requirements, they were often leaders of their local communities and may even have been the ‘scribes’ mentioned so often in the Gospel accounts.

Priests did not have to marry daughters of priests – it would have been sufficient to marry someone of impeccable lineage – but priestly families were so revered and honoured that marriage between priestly families was not unusual. Luke begins his narrative, therefore, by establishing the purity of John’s lineage – a priestly family on both sides.

Not only were Zechariah and Elizabeth genetically priests, they were also devout. This was clearly worth stressing. During the first century the priesthood came under att...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table Of Contents
• Introduction
• Origins
• Announcements
• Arrivals
• Aftermaths
• Questions for Bible Study/Advent Groups
• For Further Reading