The Nativity part 5- summary of Luke's story with comments.

Luke:

First we have two very similar stories. The angel Gabriel visits Zachariah; says,"do not be afraid;" tells him he will have a son; tells him what to name his son; tells him his son will be great; Zachariah questions this on physical grounds, the angel gives him a sign- muteness,  no one else saw the angel, his wife says Yahewh has done this for her. (Technically, it was her husband.)

Then, the angel Gabriel visits Mary; he says," do not be afraid;" tells her she will have a son, tells her what to name her son, tells her that her son will be great, Mary questions this on physical grounds, the angel gives her a sign- Elizabeth's miraculous pregnancy, no one else saw the angel, Mary declares herself to be the lord's servant. Mary saying she was a servant may have been deliberate. A woman could have both a master and a husband, if she was a slave. The child would belong to the master, no matter who had fathered it. So, we have one very old barren woman, and one very young unwed woman, both pregnant. It must be a miracle, right? Unless someone lied, stretched the truth, or made up the stories.

Next, Mary goes to the hill country of Judea all the way from Nazareth, to visit Elizabeth,  at least a several days journey on foot. Alone? Not likely. To put it bluntly, she might not have remained a virgin if she travelled alone. When she gets to Elizabeth's house, Elizabeth's baby leapt in her womb when Mary greeted her. Is it unusual for a six month old fetus to be very active inside his mother? No. Nevertheless, this was seen as a sign that what was predicted was true. Then Mary breaks out in song/poetry, praising God. Mary stays for three months, presumably till the birth of John.  Baby John is born and circumcised on the eighth day. Then Zachariah beaks out in song/poetry praising God.

Now, supposedly Mary had returned home to Nazareth and we have what feels like another story, starting in chapter two. It takes place during the census of Quirinius, which was 6 C.E. Joseph had to go to Bethlehem to register for the census because he belonged to the line of David, which the Romans would not have cared about. Plus, the Census takers travelled to where the people were, not the other way around. The story does not say at what point in Mary's pregnancy they were supposed to have  travelled, but it would be incredible to think of a woman making an eighty mile trip on foot or the back of a donkey, at nine months pregnant. Only a man would think such a thing was reasonable. Anyway, the baby was born, and placed in a manger,because there was no room in the inn. Some christian scholars think "inn" should say " upper room." I think it doesn't really matter, if the likelihood that it actually happened is slim.

Then we have shepherds in the fields at night which tells us it probably wasn't winter. They saw angels who told them about Jesus and praised God. The shepherds left the sheep that were in their care to go find Jesus who they were told was the christ. After they found the baby, they went back to their sheep. On the eighth day Jesus was circumcised, after the fortieth day he was taken to the temple to be presented as a first born son. Then his parents had encounters with Simeon and Anna, who seemed to have expected him.


In this story we have no Magi, no star, no Massacre of the innocents, and no trip to Egypt.

Edited.

The Nativity part 3- the main characters

In order of appearance:

Matthew-

*Joseph- son of Jacob, the 39th generation descendant of Abraham through David, a righteous man, saw an angel in his dreams.
*Mary- virgin, pledged to marry Joseph, found to be with child through the Holy Spirit, gave birth to Jesus in Bethlehem.
*Jesus-Son of Mary and the Holy Spirit, 40th generation from Abraham though not related,  born in Bethlehem, prophesy said he was to be called Immanuel but he was named Jesus.
*An angel of the lord-unknown name, appears to Joseph in dreams, does not appear to anyone else.
*King Herod-worried about his position as King of the Jews, murdered children.
*Magi- from the east, possibly Zoroastrian astrologers, found Jesus in a house and gave him presents,  outsmarted Herod.
*The chief priests and teachers of the law-Jews that Herod consulted about the Christ.

Luke-

*King Herod- King of Judea, no other info.
*Zachariah- a priest of the division of Abijah, upright, blameless, father of John, prophesied his son would be a prophet.
*Elizabeth- older cousin of Mary, mother of John, lives in a Judean hill country town, possibly Bethlehem, upright, blameless.
*An angel of the lord (Gabriel)-appears in person to Zachariah in the temple and to Mary in Nazareth, to announce that each of them would have a son and foretold the greatness of John and Jesus,told Mary to name her child Jesus, brought news of Jesus's birth to shepherds.
*Joseph-from Nazareth, a descendant of David, son of Heli (3:23),  55 generations from Abraham, 85 generations from Adam.
*Mary-lives in Nazareth, a virgin, pledged to marry Joseph, "overshadowed" by the Holy Spirit which caused her to be pregnant, sang a poetic/ prophetic song.
*John (the baptist)- son of Zachariah and Elizabeth, circumcised on the eighth day, his father's prophesy said he would become a prophet.
*Caesar Augustus- emperor of Rome, issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire roman world.
*Quirinius- governor of Syria during the census.
*Jesus- conceived by the Holy Spirit, born in Bethlehem, slept in a manger, circumcised on the eighth day, Gabriel prophesied he would be called the son of the most high and would reign on the throne of David, his kingdom would never end, 56 generations from Abraham, 86 generations from Adam.
*Shepherds-living in the fields watching their flocks, given a message by an angel, saw more Angels praising God, saw Jesus in the manger.
*More Angels- praised God.
*Simeon-righteous, devout, told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he saw the christ, saw Jesus and prophesied about Him.
*Anna- prophetess, daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher, eighty for year old widow, lived in the temple fasting and praying, saw Jesus and prophesied about him.

We can see that beside Joseph, Mary, Jesus, and an angel, Matthew and Luke have a completely different cast of characters. Plus, some details about the core characters differ.