Where’s the manger?
Ever wonder where the Christmas story manger scene is in the Bible? You know, the story with the shepherds and the angels. I heard it read so many times as a child, but when I started reading out of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, I couldn’t always find it.
When I read through the Bible with some friends and we
reached the Gospels, those first four books of the New Testament, I made some
observations that have helped me remember how they each start and where to find
the nativity story with Jesus in the manger.
The Gospel of Matthew
Genealogy
Matthew’s gospel starts with a list of names that many
people skip. Just FYI, that’s the genealogy of Jesus. Those names may mean
nothing to you now, but if you stick with it, you might just be surprised at
how many names you do recognize. That’s what happened for us.
Joseph
Just after the list, Joseph arrives on the scene. We hear about the coming Messiah, but we don’t find the Christmas story here. We’ll move on for now, after all, we’re in search of the nativity story. Don’t worry, we’ll come back to Matthew’s gospel in more detail in another post. Although we don’t find the manger here, we do find some treasure besides the gifts that were brought for the Christ Child.
Wise men
Speaking of searching, did you notice the wise men searching for the Christ Child? Some translations refer to them as Magi. Many of us grew up hearing about the three kings mentioned in the hymn, present in the Christmas pageant, and gathered around the nativity set. Although they show up in many places around Christmas time, they are only found in one gospel, the Gospel of Matthew.
My method to memorize utilizes Magi. Matthew’s gospel mentions the Magi.
The Gospel of Mark
Messenger
Moving on to Mark, we first hear about a messenger, John the
Baptist.
Good information, but where’s
the manger?
The first real mention of Jesus is of him in the middle of
ministry.
Where are the wise
men? Where are the shepherds? What about the angels?
Ministry
Mark’s gospel, full of many stories of Jesus, begins with a
messenger, then moves quickly to Jesus in ministry. This is a wonderful gospel
to learn about what Jesus did, but with no manger here, we’ll keep moving.
What to memorize? Mark’s gospel moves from messenger to ministry.
Two more Gospels to go. We’ll take a look at Luke and John
in the next post.
