FAMILY TREE

 THE TRIAL OF JESUS WHICH LED FINALLY TO HIS CRUCIFIXION BEGAN WHEN JESUS WAS BEING LED FROM CAIAPHAS UNTO THE JUDGMENT HALL AND IT WAS EARLY; AND THEY THEMSELVES WENT NOT INTO THE JUDGMENT HALL LEST THEY SHOULD BE DEFILED; BUT THAT THEY MIGHT EAT THE PASSOVER. PILATE THEN WENT OUT UNTO THEM, AND SAID, " WHAT ACCUSATION BRING YOU AGAINST THIS MAN?" THEY ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM "IF HE WAS NOT A MALEFACTOR, (TROUBLE-MAKER) WE WOULD NOT HAVE DELIVERED HIM UP UNTO THEE.  THEN SAIS PILATE UNTO THEM. HE PILATE SAID UNTO THEM, " TAKE YE HIM, AND JUDGE HIM ACCORDING TO YOUR LAW." THE JEWS THEREFORE UNTO HIM, IT IS NOT LAWFUL TO PUT ANY MAN TO DEATH' (THAT THE  SAYING OF JESUS. MIGHT BE FULFILLED, WHICH HE SPOKE,SIGNIFYING WHAT DEATH HE SHOULD HE SHOULD DIE). THEN PILATE ENTERED INTO THE JUDGMENT HALL AGAIN AND CALLED JESUS AND SAID UNTO HIM, "ART THOU THE KING OF THE JEWS?" DO YOU SAYEST THIS THING OF THYSELF, OR DID OTHERS TELL IT THEE OF ME?" PILATE ANSWERED, "AM I A JEW? YOUR OWN NATION AND CHIEF PRIESTS HAVE DELIVERED YOU UNTO ME: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" JESUS ANSWERED, " MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD, IF MY KINGDOM WERE OF THIS WORLD, THEN WOULD MY SERVANTS FIGHT,  THAT I SHOULD NOT BE DELIVERED TO THE JEWS: BUT MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD." PILATE  "ARE THOU A KING THEN?" JESUS ANSWERED, THOU.SAYEST SO.
" FOR THIS REASON I WAS BORN," THAT I SHOULD BEAR WITNESS UNTO THE TRUTH. EVERYONE THAT IS OF TRUTH HEARS MY VOICE. PILATE SAYS UNTO HIM, " WHAT IS TRUTH?" WHEN HE HAD SAID THIS, HE WENT OUT AGAIN UNTO THE JEWS, AND SAID UNTO THEM, "I FIND NO FAULT AT ALL. BUT YOU HAVE CUSTOM, THAT I SHOULD RELEASE ONE UNTO YOU?" AT THE PASSOVER:  SHOULD I RELEASE UNTO YOU THE
KING OF THE JEWS?" THEN CRIED THEY ALL AGAIN, SAYING, "NOT THIS MAN, BUT BARABBAS." NOW BARABBAS WAS A ROBBER. THEIR IS AN0THER STORY HERE, WHICH IS CALLED THE CHRISTMAS STORY WHICH IS FAMILIAR TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE THIS SEASON IS ACTUALLY A BLENDING OF TWO STORIES, ONE ATTRIBUTED TO MATTHEW AND THE OTHER TO LUKE. THESE ARE THE ONLY TWO GOSPELS THAT GIVE AN ACCOUNT OF JESUS BIRTH. MARK THE EARLIEST GOSPEL, BEGINS WITH JESUS' BAPTISM. JOHN BEGINS WITH A HIGHLY STYLIZED ACCOUNT OF CHRIST'S EXISTENCE BEFORE CREATION. BOTH MATTHEW AND LUKE WERE WRITTEN EIGHTY-FIVE YEARS AFTER JESUS BIRTH SEEM TO BE MUCH MORE CONCERNED WITH THE THEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE THEN WITH THE HISTORICAL DETAILS. BOTH GOSPEL ACCOUNTS OF THE BIRTH OF JESUS INSIST THAT HE WAS BORN A JEW, AND THEREFORE, HAD GENUINE ETHNIC AS WELL AS AUTHENTICALLY
HUMAN ROOTS. MATTHEW'S ACCOUNT TELLS OF JESUS GOOD "GENES" IN THE BIBLE
GOING THROUGH JOSEPH AND SOME OTHER "BIG NAMES" IN THE BIBLE, INCLUDING JOSIAH, AMOS, SOLOMON, BATHSHEBA, DAVID, JESSE, RUTH, TAMAR, JACOB, ISAAC, AND ABRAHAM. THE FAMILY TREE, AS IN MOST FAMILIES, INCLUDES OUTSTANDING EXAMPLES OF CHARACTER AND FIDELITY, AS WELL AS SOME ROGUE "SKELETON'S" IN THE FAMILY CLOSET. THE FAMILY HERITAGE INCLUDES THE ADULTERY, OF DAVID AND BATHSHEBA, THE DECEPTION OF JACOB, THE SEDUCTIVENESS OF TAMAR, THE COWARDICE OF ABRAHAM, AND THE DISOBEDIENCE OF ADAM. JESUS IS DESCENDING FROM A LONG LINE OF PEOPLE WHO HAD THEIR WEAKNESSES, BUT WHO WERE STILL ABLE SOMEHOW TO CONTRIBUTE TO GOD'S PLAN IN CONTRAST TO ALL OF THEM, HOWEVER, JOSEPH, MARY, AND OTHERS ARE PORTRAYED AS INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE UTTERLY FAITHFUL TO GOD'S WILL. MATTHEW PUTS JESUS' FATHER AT THE CENTER OF HIS NARRATIVE. APPARENTLY KNOWING LITTLE ABOUT JOSEPH, MATTHEW SEEMS TO RELY ON THE HEBREW SCRIPTURE ACCOUNT OF THE PATRIARCH JOSEPH FOR HIS MATERIAL. LIKE THE JOSEPH OF OLD, JESUS FATHER IS A DREAMER AND INTERPRETER OF DREAMS. IN THE STORY HE HE LEARNS THE DIVINE ORIGIN OF HIS BETROTHED'S PREGNANCY FROM A DREAM. LIKE HIS NAMESAKE, JOSEPH IS ALSO A MAN OF COMPASSION AND FORGIVENESS, AND THUS IS WILLING
 TO QUIETLY DIVORCE HIS BETROTHED, WHO SEEMS TO BE CARRYING SOMEONE ELSE'S BABY, RATHER THAN DENOUNCE HER PUBLICLY. JOSEPH, LIKE THE PATRIARCH OF OLD, IS ALSO FORCED INTO EXILE INTO EGYPT AND IS FAITHFUL TO GOD'S WORD AND DEDICATED TO HIS FAMILY. THE EGYPT OF THE ANCIENT JOSEPH STORY ALSO OFFERS MATTHEW THE BACK GROUND HE NEEDS FOR A MINI-EXILE- EXODUS THEME. THE STORY OF THE FLIGHT TO SAVE JESUS' LIFE FROM HEROD PROVIDES THE BASIS FOR PROCLAIMING THAT JESUS IS THE MOSES FIGURE WHO WILL LEAD HIS PEOPLE OUT OF EXILE. THERE ARE SOME SIMILARITIES IN THE TWO ACCOUNTS: THE NAMES OF THE PARENTS, MARY AND JOSEPH, THE ACCOUNT OF THE VIRGINAL CONCEPTION (ALTHOUGH NOT AS EXPLICIT IN LUKE AS IN MATTHEW),  THE DESIGNATION OF THE PLACE AND TIME AS BETHLEHEM DURING THE REIGN OF HEROD, THE NAME DESIGNATION BY AN ANGEL, THE DAVIDIC LINE AND THE EVENTUAL SETTLING IN NAZARETH. MANY NOTABLE DIFFERENCES EXIST IN THE STORIES, HOWEVER, DIFFERENCES THAT ARE OFTEN OVERLOOKED IN OUR TRADITIONAL BLENDING OF THE TWO STORIES INTO ONE. FOR EXAMPLE THE TWO GENEALOGIES ARE DIFFERENT (MATTHEW STARTS WITH ABRAHAM AND TRACES JESUS FOREBEARS THROUGH THE RULING DAVIDIC LINE. LUKE WHO DELAYS HIS GENEALOGY UNTIL AFTER JESUS BAPTISM, GOES MATTHEW ONE BETTER AND TRACES JESUS ALL THE WAY BACK TO ADAM. MATTHEWS GOSPEL, WHICH SEEMS TO COME OUT OF A SYRIAN COMMUNITY OF BOTH JEWS AND GENTILES, FOCUSES ON JOSEPH, THE PLOT OF HEROD TO KILL THE CHILD, THE VISIT OF THE MAGI AND ON HOW JESUS IS THE FULFILLMENT OF MANY HEBREW PROPHECIES .LUKE'S GOSPEL, WHICH SEEMS TO COME OUT OF THE SYRIAN ANTIOCH, CENTERS INSTEAD ON THE STORY OF MARY, THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST TO ELIZABETH AND ZECHARIAH, AND THE VISIT OF THE SHEPHERDS. EVEN MORE NOTICEABLE
 ARE THE ACCOUNTS OF THE "HOMETOWN" OF THE PARENTS., THEIR MARITAL STATUS WHEN THE BABY IS BORN. WHEN JOSEPH DISCOVERS HEROD'S PLOT HIS FAMILY MOVES TO EGYPT. AND THEN GOES TO SETTLE IN NAZARETH WHEN HEROD DIES AND THE DANGER IS OVER. IN LUKE'S ACCOUNT, THE PARENTS SEEM TO LIVE IN NAZARETH, GO TO BETHLEHEM FOR THE ROMAN CENSUS, HAVE THE BABY IN A MANGER WHILE APPARENTLY STILL ENGAGED, AND THEN RETURNED TO TO NAZARETH AFTER THEY PRESENT THEIR INFANT IN THE TEMPLE FOR CIRCUMCISION. OBVIOUSLY, THE CHRISTIAN STORY FAMILIAR TO MOST OF US IS REALLY AN AMALGAM OF BOTH STORIES. WHEN WE SET UP OUR CRIB SCENES, WE USUALLY INCLUDE THE MANGER, STAR, MAGI, THE SHEPHERDS,  AND ANGELS AS THOUGH THEY ARE PART OF ONE STORY. THE SCRIPTURES, HOWEVER ,OFFERS TWO DIVERSE ACCOUNTS OF THE THEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST. WE MIGHT LOOK AT THESE NARRATIVES AS TWO PLAYS, THE INGREDIENTS OF WHICH SOME BASIC HISTORICAL  FACTS, A LARGE AMOUNT OF MATERIAL FROM HEBREW SCRIPTURES, AND THE BELIEF OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES OF NAZARETH "IS THE CHRIST.