Reading the Gospels Together How do you begin a gospel? – Part 5 Having listened now to Matthew and Luke, a dilemma faces readers who read these two gospels together. They cannot be easily fit into one. It is difficult to think of the Jesus Matthew invites his readers to ponder – a Jesus whose life is threatened from the beginning and must flee to save his life – with the Jesus who Luke invites his readers to think about – a Jesus who is brought faithfully right into the Temple of Jerusalem for display before the deadly Herod who resided there. So, how might we deal with the reality that these two writers think of the birth of Jesus in radically different ways? It will be helpful to begin with some things they hold in common. Both Matthew and Luke believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. Both place that birth in Bethlehem. Both know that his parents were Mary and Joseph. And both conclude their stories with Jesus leaving Bethlehem and settling in Nazareth as the place where Jesus grew up. That’s a lot to have in common! Likely, the actual birth story of Jesus was only vaguely known. Likely, both Matthew and Luke knew only these basic and rudimentary things about the birth that are listed above. Likely each of them has overlaid that story with their own material to suit their needs in the telling of the story. We will have difficulty in meshing them together. But, we can learn something important from each. And that is their main concern – to proclaim the gospel to their readers. If we can get past attempting to make everything fit neatly together which is really our need and not theirs, we will be able to hear both writers speak.