Infancy Narratives

The Gospel’s portrait of Jesus Christ can be characterized by the features that stand out in each Gospel. The prologues to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, the infancy narratives, make clear that Jesus was of God and from God, from the moment of his conception. The genealogies of Jesus were included to provide their audience with a way to understand who Jesus is, and why he was important to them personally.

Although we refer to these prologues as infancy narratives, they do not actually give us information about Jesus' infancy and childhood. Rather, they answer the question, "Who is Jesus", which leads us to the question, “Who is Jesus Christ”. As Joseph Fitzmyer writes of the Lucan infancy narrative, "Its obvious purpose is to introduce and identify these two children [John and Jesus], especially Jesus, as agents of God's salvation-history: both come from God."

The Gospel of Mark does not contain a narrative of Jesus' birth, although it does make a few brief references to his family heritage. It does not directly tell us where Jesus was born and it never mentions the town of Bethlehem, although several times it calls him "Jesus of Nazareth"; implying that he grew up in the town of Nazareth in Galilee. Neither does it say anything about who Jesus' earthly father was, and it doesn’t mention Joseph by name. Only once does Mark's Gospel mention the name of Jesus' mother, calling him "the son of Mary".

The Gospel of Matthew’s focus on the announcement to Joseph of the birth of Jesus is His identity as the Son of David. The use of fulfillment citations attempts to show that Jesus was the one the prophecies of Israel were pointing to. The story of the travel into Egypt, to escape King Herod’s plans, and the eventual return was to fulfill the words of the prophet Hosea, “Out of Egypt I called my Son” (Matthew 2:15). The story of Herod and the Magi foreshadows Jesus’ rejection by the Jews and acceptance by the Gentiles. Even the sufferings and trials within the infancy narrative anticipate those of Jesus’ passion, and the words of the angel “… he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21), is fulfilled on the cross.

The Gospel of Luke’s focus on the announcement to Mary of the birth of Jesus is His identity as the Son of God, and even before his birth He is identified as Lord. Although the Roman census may be unrelated to the birth of Jesus, it suggests that through the birth of this child in Bethlehem peace and salvation came to the Roman Empire and thus to the world. The story of the announcement to the shepherds signifies that the lowly will be singled out as the recipients of God’s favors and blessings. The angelic announcement that, “For today … a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord” (Luke 2:11), anticipates the love and saving work of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel of John does not include an infancy narrative either, however, his brief mention of Jesus’ birth sums up the earlier narratives, “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). There are also several debates about his heritage; Judean vs Galilean and human vs divine.

My faith has always accepted the birth narratives as Truth, even though there is a combination of similarities and differences, because I don’t feel that the two accounts necessarily contradict each other. The similarities between the Gospel infancy narratives indicate that each writer used earlier traditions in his own way, and the differences indicate that they are independent of each other. For me, it isn’t that the infancy narratives don't stand together; it's that each is directed to a specific audience, and therefore tells the story in a particular way. I don’t believe that the infancy narratives were intended to be scientifically accurate in the historical sense of the word, and they were not motivated to provide us with factual data concerning a sequence of events.

This does not mean that they do not contain some history in this sense, nor does it mean that something which cannot be asserted as historical (did happen) is then necessarily unhistorical (did not happen). If I were talking to a west coast friend about the Steelers, I'd highlight games against the San Diego Chargers. If I were talking to an east coast friend, I’d highlight games against the Baltimore Ravens. This difference in accounts implies neither that the stories cannot nor should not be reconciled; in 2000 years however, it might seem difficult to assert that they either might be or should be reconcilable!

One theological aspect of the infancy narratives is its perception of "the Christological moment." At what point in time did Jesus become the Christ, the Messiah? The understanding and response of the early church to this question was the moment of the resurrection. Later reflection maintained that it was at the time of the baptism, as we see in Mark who begins his Gospel with Jesus’ baptism. Further reflection understood the moment to be Jesus' conception, as we see in the infancy narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.  Finally, in the Gospel of John we see the realization that Jesus was God and that He was with God from the beginning.

What we perceive here is the growth in understanding of the early church about the identity of Jesus. Though at first such titles as Son of God became attached to him primarily as a result of the resurrection, the time came when early Christians began to realize that he had to have been the Messiah even earlier, even though it had not been recognized. This progression of understanding in the Gospels mirrors our own understanding of who Jesus is.

The Jesus introduced to us in the infancy narratives is indeed a very important person; He is the Messiah, the royal anointed one. I would stand with others to proclaim Him to be the most important person in all of history; a human being in whom God became man and was named Emmanuel, for in him God is with us. There was no time in his life when Jesus was not already our redeemer and savior, the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

* * * * *
Instructor's Evaluation Follows:

This paper was submitted on time, but not returned with comments and suggestions for improvement. Unfortunately the instructor did not return any of the papers submitted electronically, as requested by ILM, and the single page evaluation was delayed until (almost) the very last day of classes. His comment was not very helpful, although I’ve included it here as promised:

1) He demonstrates a basic grip of key ideas.