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This links with the CGE (Catholic Graduate Expectation) #3 -
A Reflective and Creative Thinker Who: (c) thinks reflectively and creatively to evaluate situations and solve problems.
On this page, I am comparing, in detail, the Christmas story between Matthew and Luke. I believe it belongs on this page because it shows my ability to reflect upon what we read in the Gospels.
I've also included a brief lesson plan, which is intended for Grade 5/6 children, to look at these differences.
Reflection #1 - Christmas – 5 Significant Differences between the Gospel according to Matthew and the Gospel according to Luke
| Difference | Matthew | Luke |
1
|
How the birth was announced - Talks about how Joseph was just about to leave Mary after finding out that she was pregnant but then an angel appeared to him in a dream explaining it was the son of God. | How the birth was announced - Angel Gabriel appears to Mary to tell her she is pregnant. There is no mention of Joseph or his reaction at this point in the story. |
2
|
Elizabeth - There is no mention of the relative Elizabeth or comparisons made by the Holy Spirit to her. | Elizabeth - The Holy Spirit also tells Mary about how relative Elizabeth has also conceived in her old age (who was considered barren) |
3
|
Events listed in story - Story goes directly from an angel talking to Joseph to baby being born and named Jesus. | Events listed in story - The story of Jesus detours slightly with the story of Elizabeth’s conception and birth of her son, John the Baptist. Talks about Mary staying with Elizabeth for 3 months. |
4
|
Where Jesus was born - Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea. There is no mention of a manger. | Where Jesus was born - Jesus was born in the city of Bethlehem in a manger. |
5
|
Visitors after Jesus is born - Talks about the Wise Men from the East (although they are portrayed as astrologers and there is no evidence that they were even men (Cooper, p. 318). visiting Jesus after he was born. They knew Jesus had been born by a star and found out where Jesus was after stopping in Jerusalem. King Herod found out about Jesus’ birth at this point. | Visitors after Jesus is born - Talks about the shepherds finding out about Jesus’ birth by an angel visiting after Jesus was born. |
After reading the two versions of the Christmas story from both Matthew and Luke, it is clear that they are very different and were thus written for different audiences.
Matthew was a Jewish Christian writing his account primary for other Jewish Christians (Harrington, The Bible and the Believer). Because Matthew starts with a genealogy, he wants the readers to know who Jesus is and where he came from. In addition, the first people to hear of the news of Jesus birth, in Matthew’s version, are the sages (hence the name Wise Men) from far away. These people are likely to have been believers from a pagan religious traditions (Cooper, p.320). This shows that Matthew’s audience could also be for those who do not necessarily already believe and thus is free for anyone. In addition, Cooper helps us to understand that Matthew wrote his version so that the Jewish people understand that just because of their heritage, this is no longer enough for salvation; anyone can be accepted so long as their hearts are open to God.
Luke’s gospel appears to be intending his gospel for the Gentile audience. The first people to hear of Jesus’ birth were the shepherds, who are considered one of the lowest social classes (Cooper, p. 320). Shepherds were ordinary people, in contrast the privileged and powerful Wise Men. In his view, Jesus was there for the poor. He continues to emphasize how much Jesus cared for the poor and the outcasts of society. Luke also focuses on the fact that the Holy Spirit appeared to Mary. Luke spends time outlining Mary’s journey from when the Holy Spirt first appeared to her and continuing with Mary’s interactions with Elizabeth. This focus on women (along with other marginalized or neglected groups of society such as children, the sick and the poor) is a theme in his gospel. Luke’s account of Mary and Joseph being essentially homeless and then Jesus being born in a lowly stable shows his human focus and intended audience.
How does my new understanding reveal elements in my personal fifth gospel?
There is no other way to articulate my new understandings apart from the fact that I feel admittedly ignorant after closely reading the two versions of the Christmas story along with the documents to help analyze them. I feel like I have grown up with a surface knowledge of the Christmas story up until this point. Year, upon year, we reflect on the Christmas story in both my home and church. Completing this assignment has revealed many interesting revelations - I had sincerely believed that the Christmas story was an amalgamation of both Luke and Matthew’s gospels. I believed that there were Kings, there were shepherds, there was a stable and so on. My internal story ‘had it all’. One of the biggest revelations was my misunderstanding of the term ‘Immaculate Conception’. I was one of the many people that Cooper referred to as mistakenly understanding the term. I now correctly understand ‘Immaculate Conception’ refers to Mary’s life beginning free of original sin and not the beginning of Jesus’ life without sexual intercourse (Cooper, p.320). One more point that I found particularly interesting and will now include in my personal fifth gospel is the revelation that we don’t know much about Jesus’ first 30 years of life because Jesus lived them as a simple village craftsman. This is just something that I never thought about before but that fact that we don’t know much indicates that Jesus lived an ordinary life. Cooper (p. 321) talks about Jesus not having ‘super-human knowledge’ and this fact has only been ‘romanticized in popular imagination’ because if it were true, we might think that he was only pretending to be human, rather than fully sharing our experience as a human.
It is clear my personal fifth gospel has an incredible amount to learn!
Grade 5/6 – The Christmas Story - Looking at the differences between the two versions of the Christmas story
Starter
- I would first ask the students to share their version of the
Christmas Story in small groups of 3-4 (mixed ability). I would ask
that they write this down on construction paper with either
words/pictures or a combination (pupil choice). Because they are in
groups, I wouldn’t guide them in any way. If disagreements about events
arose, I would watch carefully how they solve these disagreements.
This would be an interesting point to leave for the time being but
instead bring up in the plenary once the children realize there are
differences in the story.
 |
| Photo credit: www.celebratingholidays.com |
Lesson
– I would give each group a task of presenting the Christmas story.
Each group would be given 1 of 3 versions – Matthew’s, Luke’s or a
version from a storybook. I wouldn’t tell the class that each group has a
different version. I would simply say, “I am handing out the Christmas
story and I would like your group to present it to the class with a
small presentation.” At the top of each groups’ story, it would clearly
say the version. Before they presented, I would ask the group to make
sure they introduce it with the title given at the top. Eg. The
Christmas Story according to the gospel of Matthew.
After
all the groups have presented. I would give a large sigh with a very
puzzled look, “Hmmmmm” and just wait. Then I would ask why the children
think I’m looking so puzzled. Hopefully, they would come to the
realization that all of the versions differed. If not, I would lead them
with my questioning.
We
would then read together (from the Interactive Whiteboard or on paper)
the 3 different versions of the story, discussing in more detail the
differences between them. Either together as a class or in their
original groups ask children to write a list of differences.
Plenary –
I would come back to the starter whereby I’m predicting most people’s
versions would be a combination and discuss. I would now introduce the
idea of a ‘fifth gospel’ that we carry in our head and stress the
importance of continuing to read the Bible throughout our lives. If
appropriate, I would tell my personal story of not knowing the
differences until taking this course – to model how we should be
life-long learners.
