By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Since this is Christmas Eve day, I thought I should write something serious about Christmas, and it occurred to me to ask what the Christmas story would like if the religiosity were left out, and what the material residue, as it were, would look like. (Disclosure: I was a vaguely theistic Episcopalian until the early 2000s, when it became evident that if there were a God — at least an “Old Testament” one — He would have struck down the entire Bush administration for the use they made of His name.) The literature on this topic is vast, and I don’t intend to pretend to have mastered any part of it, and won’t even refer to it. Rather, I will take my typical approach of breaking out my Magic Markers, and doing a close reading of the text.
The story of how Mary — with, apparently, no assistance from Joseph — gave birth to Jesus of Nazareth is told in Matthew and Luke, two of the three synoptic gospels (so called because they offer parallel accounts of the same events from a similar point of view). The accounts differ in detail, which is not a problem if you read them as historical records, but may be (or, depending, cannot possibly be) if you regard the Gospels as being divinely inspired. Be that as it may, Luke, said to be a physician, even begins with his methodology:
1 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled[a] among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3 With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
(Nobody knows who “Theophilus,’ θεόφιλος, friend of God is.) My methodology will be to put the texts of Matthew and Luke side-by-side (my source) and eliminate the religiosity. I’ll delete portions of the narrative inspired by communications from angels or the “Holy Spirit”, justified by or justifying prophecy, inspired by dreams, or based on astrology. (The single exception will be Mary’s views, since the incarnation is, after all, the point of the narrative.) In each block of deleted text, I’ll bold the text that triggered the deletion. Then I’ll look at what’s left. Here is the revised synoptic text, marked up according to this scheme, with each episode of the Christmas story (“The Promise of the Birth of John the Baptist”) given a heading.
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The Promise of the Birth of John the Baptist |
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Matthew |
Luke 1 |
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5 There was in the days of Herod, king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abijah: and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. 7 And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. 8 Now it came to pass, while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course, 9 according to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to enter into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the hour of incense. 1 |
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The Annunciation |
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Matthew |
Luke 1 |
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Mary’s Visit to Elizabeth |
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Matthew |
Luke 1 |
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39 And Mary arose in these days and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah; 40 and entered into the house of Zacharias and saluted Elisabeth. 41 And it came to pass, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; |
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The Birth of John the Baptist |
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Matthew |
Luke 1 |
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57 Now Elisabeth’s time was fulfilled that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son. 58 And her neighbors and her kinsfolk heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy towards her; and they rejoiced with her. 59 And it came to pass on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. 60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John. 61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. 62 And they made signs to his father, what he would have him called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all. 64 And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, blessing God. 65 And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea. 66 And all that heard them laid them up in their heart, saying, What then shall this child be? For the hand of the Lord was with him. |
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The Genealogy of Jesus |
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Matthew 1 |
Luke 3 |
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The Birth of Jesus |
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Matthew 1 |
Luke 2 |
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18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. 19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. 20 |
1 Now it came to pass in those days, there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be enrolled. 2 This was the first enrolment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to enrol themselves, every one to his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David; 5 to enrol himself with Mary, who was betrothed to him, being great with child. 6 And it came to pass, while they were there, the days were fulfilled that she should be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn son; and she wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. |
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The Adoration of the Infant Jesus |
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Matthew 2 |
Luke 2 |
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1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, Wise-men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, 2 Where is he that is born King of the Jews? |
8 And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock. |
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The Circumcision and Presentation in the Temple |
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Matthew |
Luke 2 |
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21 And when eight days were fulfilled for circumcising him, his name was called JESUS, |
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The Flight into Egypt and Return |
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13 |
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The Childhood of Jesus at Nazareth |
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Matthew 2 |
Luke 2 |
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22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither; |
39 And when they had accomplished all things that were according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth. 40 And the child grew, and waxed strong, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. |
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The Boy Jesus in the Temple</font> |
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Matthew |
Luke 2 |
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41 And his parents went every year to Jerusalem at the feast of the passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up after the custom of the feast; 43and when they had fulfilled the days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem: and his parents knew it not; 44 but supposing him to be in the company, they went a day’s journey; and they sought for him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance: 45and when they found him not, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking for him. 46 And it came to pass, after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both hearing them, and asking them questions: 47 and all that heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48And when they saw him, they were astonished; and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. 49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house? 50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. 51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth; and he was subject unto them: and his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. 52 And Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. |
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Well! As I was deleting the religiosity, it struck me that the lived religious experience of Roman Israel might have been much more syncretic than we generally think it to be: Jewish observance, dreams, astrology, the Holy Spirit, and visitations from angels all seem to co-exist. Maybe all these supernatural beings are sourced to the same Being; but did they believe that then? Really?
Second, it struck me was that Mary is pretty feisty! “[She] cast in her mind what manner of salutation this might be”; “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” That shows a lot of gumption, telling an angel flat out that what they’re saying makes no sense. If I were Joseph, I would have stuck with her, angel or no.
Third, the family — Jesus, Mary, and Joseph — were buffeted about by social forces outside their control, either (as in Matthew) by Herod’s lethal delusions (?), or (in Luke) by decrees from Caesar Augustus. Not so different from what happens to families today when the mill closes or the stock market crashes. They can’t find a place to stay, not unlike a family today that can’t find a motel and has to live out of their car. And Mary gives birth without assistance of any kind, not even a midwife, not unlike a woman who’s fallen out of the health care system and can’t get to an ER.
Fourth, the family was itself in no way remarkable. Of the founders of other great religions, Buddha is said to be the son of a chief and a princess. Mohammed belonged to a prominent famliy. But Joseph was a carpenter (Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3), and given Jesus’s later strictures on debt and money-changers, one might wonder how successful his carpentry business was. Whatever Mary might have been, she wasn’t a career woman. And though Jesus was clearly very bright (see “The Boy Jesus in the Temple”) he is not said to have any education at all.[1] No equivalent of the Sidwell Friends or the Dalton School. This last point, to me, is the single most remarkable thing about the Christmas story as it has come down to us: Its prosaic, quotidian character. I don’t think you need angels, and “wise men” — not so wise, since they gave Herod critical information and got nothing in return — or dreams, to make the survival of this story over two thousand years any more remarkable. All the religiosity makes story’s survival less remarkable. Removing it throws the mystery of its survival into sharp relief.
All of which brings me to my real excuse for writing this post. Here is the piece of Christmas music that I really love:
From the lyrics:
Once in royal David’s city
Stood a lowly cattle shed
Where a mother laid her baby
In a manger for His bed:
Mary was that mother mild
Jesus Christ her little child
(Some later versions of the lyrics seem crufted with religiosity like “wondrous childhood”; I didn’t link to them. Personally, I think “mother mild” is Victorian cruft; I don’t think Mary was that mild.) These lyrics too emphasize the prosaic, “the lowly,” which is why I like the song (besides the radiant beauty of the music). That said, I’m not sure that heaven, if there is one, is like a household, especially when there’s a Father, a Son, but no Mother! But such speculations can be safely left for another day, many days from now.
NOTES
[1] Rather like Lincoln, whose family was similarly lowly, although I wouldn’t want to push the comparison too far. Jesus, after all, never became whatever the Roman equivalent of a railroad lawyer might have been.
