{"id":3208,"date":"2015-10-12T11:31:56","date_gmt":"2015-10-12T15:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/?p=3208"},"modified":"2015-10-12T11:31:56","modified_gmt":"2015-10-12T15:31:56","slug":"gaining-a-deeper-understanding-of-the-new-testament-20151011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/?p=3208","title":{"rendered":"Gaining a Deeper Understanding of the New Testament — 20151011"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"saintluke\"<\/a>Luke\u2019s birth story of Jesus is an overture to his gospel, but it is very different from Matthew\u2019s. There is no mention of Herod\u2019s plot, no star of Bethlehem, no wise men, and no flight into Egypt. They almost seem like very different stories. In Luke, Mary is the main character not Joseph, as in Matthew. There are more significant differences. It is almost as if they are telling the story of the birth of two very\u00a0\u00a0 different people. One might ask how the stories could be so different.<\/p>\n

In Matthew, the holy family lives in Bethlehem, and Jesus is born at home. In Luke, they live in Nazareth and Jesus is born in a stable in Bethlehem, because they had to travel there for a Roman census. Matthew\u2019s story is dark and full of foreboding, dominated by Herod\u2019s attempt to kill Jesus. Luke\u2019s ios full of joy. Three \u201chymns,\u201d known by Christians ever since as the Benedictus, or the Magnificat, and the Nunc Dimittis, herald the coming of Jesus. This is a hymn that captures Mary\u2019s response to the revelation of the Angel Gabriel that she would birth a son, even though she did not know man. Angels sing in the night sky to shepherd, \u201cGlory to God in the highest.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Church has, for centuries, presented an account of the birth of Jesus which combines the texts of both Matthew and Luke. As we know the story, it is not a story that has been presented as a result of combining the texts of both evangelists.<\/p>\n

Like Luke-Acts as a whole, Luke\u2019s first two chapters really emphasize the \u201cSpirit.\u201d They do so five times (1:15, 35,41, 67; 2:25-27). Luke also emphasizes marginalized people more than any other gospel. Jesus is born among them in a stable, and angels appear to shepherds, who were among the outcast. Women – Elizabeth and Mary and Anna – are prominent in his story of Jesus\u2019 birth.<\/p>\n

As Luke and Matthew present the story of Jesus\u2019 birth, we see that they highlighted why He championed the cause of the poor. Just as Francis, the present Bishop of Rome, highlights God\u2019s concern for the poor and the\u00a0\u00a0 marginalized, does Luke\u2019s Gospel. When we think about Jesus and His\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ministry, we know that He was truly concerned for the poor and marginalized! We treat God in the same manner as we do the least of our brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n

Although it is often hard for us to hear these words, we must admit that God, through Jesus, has revealed to us that how we treat the poor is important.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luke\u2019s birth story of Jesus is an overture to his gospel, but it is very different from Matthew\u2019s. There is no mention of Herod\u2019s plot, no star of Bethlehem, no wise men, and no flight into Egypt. They almost seem … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-look-at-the-new-testament","category-gosple-of-luke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3208"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3209,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3208\/revisions\/3209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}