The Apostles Go to the Movies

Before starting a discussion on the infancy narratives, how about some “gospel truths” for background?

1. Mark is the oldest gospel (written around 66-70 CE). Mark begins his gospel with the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. Mark never mentions the name of Jesus’ legal father, Joseph.
2. Matthew and Luke used Mark as a basis for their own gospels (80-90 CE), but added additional material not found in Mark. Some of the supplementary material in Matthew has parallels with additions in Luke, but some non-Marcan material is only found in Matthew or only found in Luke.
3. Because so much of the material in Matthew, Mark and Luke are similar, they are called the synoptic gospels.
4. John’s gospel (90-100 CE) is very different and not based on Mark. Outside of the passion narrative, there are very few points of contact with the synoptic gospels. After a brief prologue on how the divine Word existed before creation and became flesh, John’s gospel opens with Jesus’ baptism. 
5. The infancy narrative in Matthew appears in the first two chapters and contains material that is exclusive to Matthew.
6. The infancy narrative in Luke appears in the first two chapters and contains material that is exclusive to Luke.

This brief survey highlights the peculiar nature of the infancy narratives. They seem to be prefixed to the gospels of Matthew and Luke like the prologue of a novel. The prologue sets the stage for what is to come, but you could skip it and not have missed anything crucial to the plot. There are no references in the rest of Matthew and Luke to anything that occurs in the infancy narratives.

Unlike the narratives and sayings from the public ministry which have the authority of the disciples standing behind it, there were few witnesses to the events being described in the infancy narratives. Theoretically, Matthew or Luke could have spoken to people who were alive during the time of Jesus’ ministry, but it is highly unlikely that any family members privy to the events of Jesus’ birth would have still been alive when Matthew and Luke wrote their gospels. And, if so, why are the stories so different?

While the two infancy narratives are completely distinct, there are a few points of agreement between them that may indicate a core of common tradition:

• Mary conceives after she has been betrothed to Joseph but before they live together.
• The conception of the child is through the Holy Spirit.
• Joseph is of Davidic descent.
• An angel announces the birth of the child, that he is to be named Jesus, and that he is to be Savior.
• The birth takes place after the parents have come to live together.
• The birth takes place in Bethlehem but the child is reared in Nazareth.
• The birth occurs during the reign of Herod the Great.

There are other infancy narratives in works that never became accepted as part of the NT (that is, non-canonical gospels), but these date from a later period (2nd century CE) than the four canonical gospels and seem to have been influenced by them, so they do not provide us with any independent information. Our only source of knowledge of the infancy of Jesus (such as it is) are in the first two chapters of Matthew and Luke.

So why do Matthew and Luke each provide an infancy narrative while Mark and John are unconcerned about the early life of Jesus? Let’s look back at the “gospel truths” above. The one main point of contact among all four canonical gospels is the passion narrative (#4). This suggests that the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection was the most primitive core of early Christian preaching. 

Stories and sayings from Jesus’ public ministry became attached to the passion narratives. Mark was the first to do this (#1 above) and there may have been a collection of sayings from which Matthew and Luke both drew (#2). For Mark, the baptism of Jesus is when God reveals who Jesus is and marks the start of his ministry. This is a critical moment in all four canonical gospels. 

But for Matthew and Luke it wasn’t enough. Jesus couldn’t have become God’s son only at his baptism. By prefixing the infancy narratives to their gospels, Matthew and Luke showed that Jesus was the Son of God from his conception and birth. The evangelists are not merely relating biographical information; they are making a proclamation of the good news of salvation.

In Talladega Nights, Ricky Bobby (played by Will Ferrell) liked the Christmas Jesus best: “When you say grace, you can say it to grown-up Jesus, or teenage Jesus, or bearded Jesus, or whatever you want.”

It’s like one of those movies with a big twist (for example, The Sixth Sense, Fight Club, The Usual Suspects) that cause you to re-evaluate everything you thought was going on in the movie. The director provides you with a series of brief flashbacks so you can see how previous scenes now need to be understood.

For the early disciples of Jesus, the resurrection event was that twist. They thought Jesus was going to bring about his new kingdom, only to have their hopes dashed to pieces by his crucifixion. But the resurrection appearances caused them to re-evaluate the events around Jesus’ death. That, in turn, caused them to interpret the sayings and works of his ministry in a new light. Eventually, this train of thought led to the angel’s proclamation of Jesus as savior in the infancy narratives. 

The understanding of who Jesus was worked its way backwards from his resurrection to his baptism by John to his conception and birth. The adult Christ is very much a part of the infancy narrative.

Or, as Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights would say, “Dear eight-pound, six-ounce newborn infant Jesus, don’t even know a word yet, just a little infant and so cuddly, but still omnipotent.”