Gail Strathearn - Follow Him Podcast - 2023 Week 1
Scholars are going to argue that the story of Jesus' birth in Matthew and in Luke are not historical, but they're just kind of mythological To set up a story and they say there's no historical value in them because if you were reading these stories for the first time, would you think that they were telling the same story? They're very, very different. We didn't get into chapters two of Matthew or Luke, but there's shepherds and tomb in Luke, there's wise men here. The emphasis is on Joseph here. It's on Mary in there, is this really talking about the historical birth narrative? I've been interested in something that I learned from a very fine Catholic scholar, Joseph Fitzmyer, who soon passed away and he was very aware of this discussion in scholarship about the stories and the not historical nature of them. He went through and he said, "Sometimes in effect, you can be looking at the minutia that you can miss the panorama before you." He went through the stories and he said, "Well, they're very, very different stories, but what do they have in common?" And he made a list, if I can share that list with you, I think it's important.
He's going to argue that in both Matthew and Luke both of them agree that Jesus' birth is related to the reign of Herod the Great, so that puts it in a historical context.
They both agree that Mary, his mother to be, is a virgin, engaged to Joseph but they have not yet come to live together.
They both agree that Joseph is the house of David.
They both agree that an angel from heaven came announcing the birth of Jesus.
They agree that Jesus is recognized himself to be a son of David.
They both agree that his conception is to take place through the Holy Spirit.
They both agree that Joseph is not the father, I want to come back to that one.
They both agree that Jesus is ... the name Jesus is imposed by heaven prior to his birth.
They both agree that the angel identifies Jesus as Savior.
They both agree that Jesus is born after Mary and Joseph come to live together.
They both agree that he's born in Bethlehem and they both agree that Jesus settles with Mary and Joseph in Nazareth and
Galilee later on.
So as I kind of sift through this list, which I really appreciate, the one thing that comes to my mind is, is there anything that is fundamentally important to the story of Jesus as the son of God, that they don't agree on? The answer to me is no. They agree it's a virgin birth. They agree that he's the son of God. They agree that he's here of salvation. They agree that he's the Savior. All of those really, really important things, they're on the same page with. And whether there's wise men or shepherds is not nearly as important, is that Jesus is the son of David. He's the son of God and that he's come to be a Savior and bring salvation to his people. I think that that's really important to think through.
The Importance of Jesus being both Divine and Mortal
I was watching a program on TV about Christmas and as part of that program they were interviewing a leader from another Christian tradition and he said something that has just stuck with me ever since, right? He said, as best as I can recall, "Why don't we just stop kidding ourselves and admit that Joseph was Jesus' father?" Now, when I heard that, I almost fell off the couch. I'm going, "What?" This is a religious leader. I mean, I knew that scholars would say things like that, but this was a religious leader and I don't want to criticize him, but I guess I have done that and I apologize for that.
Why is it important that Jesus had Mary as a mother, a mortal and God as a father? If we were to take out the fact that God was Jesus' father and just admit that Joseph was it, then my first thought, well, what would that mean to Christ’s atoning sacrifice? If God isn't his father, the atonement doesn't work. Then, I went next step further and then thought, well, what happens if we took Mary out of the equation? The atonement of Jesus Christ also wouldn't work. I don't think we often think about it that way, but there's part of Jesus being
mortal. A part of him having the experiences of a mortal experience, suffering, pain, death, hungry, sleep, tired, all of those kinds of
things is also part of that atoning sacrifice. If we are thinking about Christ's atonement, the author of Hebrews in chapter four, we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, even though he was without sin, but then verse 16 is what jumps out for me. "Let us therefore, having a high priest or a Messiah who has Mary as a mother. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of his grace." The Greek word here for boldly means, let us come with confidence to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
I love that imagery. It is because Jesus' mother is Mary, that in a very real way, we have a connection with him, that he knows us. He doesn't just know us intellectually, but he knows our experiences because he has experienced us, all of the trials and the difficulties of what a mortal life is all about. Sometimes in Christian dialogue, we have this tension and this struggle. Where do we put our emphasis? Is Jesus God or is he human? We want him to be God because all of the things that he can do as a God to enable the atonement to work, but we also want him to be human because it's his humanness that allows us to connect with him in a powerful and important way.
Gail challenged us, as we study the New Testament this year to look for evidence of both his divinity and his mortality. A couple of verses she uses to show his mortality:
Matthew 8:19
John 1?:66
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