We reject both the first option and the third option. We do not imagine that God will bring about a perfect world through divine intervention someday. We do not imagine a supernatural rescue of the earth. And we find the third option to be a betrayal of much of the Bible, both Old Testament and New Testament. The Christmas stories are not about a spectacular series of miraculous events that happened in the past that we are to believe in for the sake of going to heaven. Rather, they are about God’s passion, God’s dream, for a transformed earth.
We affirm the second option, participatory eschatology. Participatory eschatology involves a twofold affirmation: we are to do it with God, and we cannot do it without God. In St. Augustine’s brilliant aphorism, God without us will not; we without God cannot. We who have seen the star and heard the angels sing are called to participate in the new birth and new world proclaimed by these stories.
The struggle between two visions of life continues. The birth stories are not a pipe dream, but a proclamation that what we see revealed in Jesus is the way—the way to a different kind of life and a different future. Both personal and political transformation, both the eschatology of rebirth and the eschatology of a new world, require our participation. God will not change us as individuals without our participation, and God will not change the world without our participation.
CONCLUSION: THE GOSPEL IN MINIATURE
As we have already suggested, the stories of the first Christmas contain the gospel in miniature. They do so as parabolic overtures to the two gospels in which they are found. In yet another sense, they are the gospel in miniature, for the stories of the beginning of Jesus’s life are remarkably parallel to the stories of his last week—Holy Week, Good Friday, and Easter.
Just as the powers of darkness sought to quench the light in Herod’s plot to kill Jesus, so they do at the end of his life. The powers that ruled his world executed him. But their success was only apparent, for his crucifixion was followed by Easter glory, radiance, and luminosity.
In the first Easter story in the gospels (Mark 16:1–8), an angel—a being of light—appears at daybreak on Easter morning and announces to the women at Jesus’s tomb that they would not find Jesus among the dead, but among the living. To Paul, the risen Christ appears as a brilliant light (Acts 9, 22, 26). Paul himself speaks of the risen Christ as “the glory of the Lord” who has “shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 3:18; 4:6). Just as Jesus is the light of the world in the stories of his birth, so at Easter he is the radiant glory of God.
Archbishop Oscar Romero, a twentieth-century Christian martyr killed by the powers that ruled El Salvador, once said that we are called to be Easter Christians in a Good Friday world, in a world still ruled by Herod and Caesar. So also we are called to be Christmas Christians in a world that still descends into darkness. But Good Friday and the descent of darkness do not have the final word—unless we let them.
Jesus is already the light in the darkness for those who follow him. Conceived by the Spirit and christened as Son of God by the community that grew up around him, he is, for Christians, Emmanuel: “God with us.”
We give the last word to one of the carols of Christmas we mentioned earlier, one of the songs we sing in the midst of winter darkness. It combines the themes of Advent and Christmas in a remarkable way: joy to the world, the political images of Jesus as Lord and king, the personal image of every heart preparing room for him, and the rejoicing of heaven and nature, the whole of creation:
Joy to the world, the Lord is come.
Let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.
Joy to the world—for God so loves the world.
APPENDIX ONE
THE GENEALOGIES OF JESUS IN MATTHEW AND LUKE
STRUCTURE OF MATTHEW 1:1–17
(Names common to Matthew and Luke are italicized)
TEXT OF MATTHEW 1:1–17
An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.
So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.
STRUCTURE OF LUKE 3:23–38
(Names common to Matthew and Luke are italicized)
(1) GOD Adam
(8) Enoch Methuselah
(2) Adam Seth
(9) Methuselah Lamech
(3) Seth Enos
(10) Lamech Noah
(4) Enos Cainan
(11) Noah Shem
(5) Cainan Mahalaleel
(12) Shem Arphaxad
(6) Mahalaleel Jared
(13) Arphaxad Cainan
(7) Jared Enoch
(14) Cainan Shelah
(15) Shelah Eber
(47) Matthat Jorim
(16) Eber Pelag
(48) Jorim Eliezer
(17) Pelag Reu
(49) Eliezer Joshua
(18) Reu Serug
(19) Serug Nahor
(50) Joshua Er
(20) Nahor Terah
(51) Er Elmadam
(21) Terah Abraham
(52) Elmadam Cosam
(53) Cosam Addi
(22) Abraham Isaac
(54) Addi Melchi
(23) Isaac Jacob
(55) Melchi Neri
(24) Jacob Judah
(56) Neri Shealtiel
(25) Judah Perez
(26) Perez Hezron
(57) Shealtiel Zerubbabel
(27) Hezron Arni
(58) Zerubbabel Rhesa
(28) Arni Admin
(59) Rhesa Joanan
(60) Joanan Joda
(29) Admin Amminadab
(61) Joda Josech
(30) Amminadab Nahshon
(62) Josech Semein
(31) Nahshon Sala
(63) Semein Mattathias
(32) Sala Boaz
(33) Boaz Obed
(64) Mattathias Maath
(34) Obed Jesse
(65) Maath Naggai
(35) Jesse David
(66) Naggai Esli
(67) Esli Nahum
(36) David Nathan
(68) Nahum Amos]
(37) Nathan Mattatha
(69) Amos Mattathias
(38) Mattatha Menna
(70) Mattathias Joseph
(39) M
enna Melea
(40) Melea Eliakim
(71) Joseph Jannai
(41) Eliakim Jonam
(72) Jannai Melchi
(42) Jonam Joseph
(73) Melchi Levi
(74) Levi Matthat
(43) Joseph Judah
(75) Matthat Heli
(44) Judah Simeon
(76) Heli Joseph
(45) Simeon Levi
(77) Joseph [ ] Jesus
(46) Levi Matthat
TEXT OF LUKE 3:23–38
Jesus was…the son (as was thought) of Joseph son of Heli, son of Matthat, son of Levi, son of Melchi, son of Jannai, son of Joseph, son of Mattathias, son of Amos, son of Nahum, son of Esli, son of Naggai, son of Maath, son of Mattathias, son of Semein, son of Josech, son of Joda, son of Joanan, son of Rhesa, son of Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, son of Neri, son of Melchi, son of Addi, son of Cosam, son of Elmadam, son of Er, son of Joshua, son of Eliezer, son of Jorim, son of Matthat, son of Levi, son of Simeon, son of Judah, son of Joseph, son of Jonam, son of Eliakim, son of Melea, son of Menna, son of Mattatha, son of Nathan, son of David, son of Jesse, son of Obed, son of Boaz, son of Sala, son of Nahshon, son of Amminadab, son of Admin, son of Arni, son of Hezron, son of Perez, son of Judah, son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, son of Terah, son of Nahor, son of Serug, son of Reu, son of Peleg, son of Eber, son of Shelah, son of Cainan, son of Arphaxad, son of Shem, son of Noah, son of Lamech, son of Methuselah, son of Enoch, son of Jared, son of Mahalaleel, son of Cainan, son of Enos, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God.
COMMENTS
It is not clear how far to push the parabolic mathematics used certainly by Matthew and possibly by Luke.
Matthew certainly emphasizes 3 × 14 generations. But it is not clear that we should extend that to 6 × 7 generations, so that he intends to think of Jesus’s community or the kingdom of God as the seventh generation.
Luke may have structured his genealogy in 11 × 7 generations but, since he never mentions that number or speaks of “generations,” it is not certain. Furthermore, even if it were, what would that 11 indicate?
In the structure of the two genealogies of Matthew and Luke, we have italicized the names they have exactly in common. Also, to facilitate that comparison, we give both genealogies in the same father-to-son sequence by reversing the son-to-father order in Luke.
APPENDIX TWO
LUKE’S PARALLELISM BETWEEN JESUS AND JOHN THE BAPTIZER
The following details are based, with appreciation and gratitude, on Joseph Fitzmyer’s magisterial two-volume commentary The Gospel According to Luke (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981–85, pp. 314–15).
Annunciations of the Two Births
Zechariah and Elizabeth (1:5–7)
Mary and Joseph (1:27)
Location in temple (1:8–10)
Location in Nazareth (1:26)
Angel Gabriel appears to Zechariah (1:11, 19)
Angel Gabriel appears to Mary (1:26, 28)
Zechariah is “terrified” (1:12)
Mary is “perplexed” (1:29)
“Do not be afraid, Zechariah” (1:13a)
"Do not be afraid, Mary” (1:30a)
“Elizabeth will bear you a son” (1:13b)
“You will…bear a son” (1:31b)
“You will name him John” (1:13c)
“You will name him Jesus” (1:31c)
“He will be great” (1:15a)
“He will be great” (1:32a)
Child’s destiny described (1:15b–17)
Child’s destiny described (1:32b–33)
“How will I know that this is so?” (1:18a)
“How can this be?” (1:34a)
Problem: because of sterility (1:18b)
Problem: because of virginity (1:34b)
Sign: “You will become mute” (1:20)
Sign: Aged, barren Elizabeth pregnant (1:36)
Zechariah departs (1:23)
Gabriel departs (1:38)
Presentations of the Two Infants
“The time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son”(1:57)
Mary “gave birth to her firstborn son” (2:7)
“On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child” (1:59)
“After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child” (2:21a)
“He is to be called John” (1:60)
“He was called Jesus” (2:21b)
Zechariah’s prophecy by “Holy Spirit” (1:67)
Simeon’s prophecy by “Holy Spirit” (2:25, 27)
Zechariah’s Benedictus hymn (1:68–79)
Simeon’s Nunc Dimittis hymn (2:29–32)
Reaction of hearers (1:65–66)
Reaction of hearers (2:33)
“The child grew and became strong” (1:80)
“The child grew and became strong” (2:40)
APPENDIX THREE
JESUS’S COMING-OF-AGE IN LUKE
When Augustus was assuming the gown of manhood, his senatorial tunic was ripped apart on both sides and fell at his feet, which some interpreted as a sure sign that the [senatorial] order of which the tunic was the badge, would one day be brought to his feet.
—SUETONIUS, Lives of the Caesars: The Deified Augustus (94.10)
Ancient texts often recorded a genealogy, a conception, a birth, or a coming-of-age story as a parabolic overture to the later lives of extraordinary, transcendent, or divine human beings. The Christmas stories of both Matthew and Luke use those first three events in that way, but only Luke adds the fourth, a coming-of-age story about Jesus, in 2:41–52:
Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.
That story emphasizes two aspects of Jesus as he makes the transition from late childhood to young adulthood. The first, and minor one, is his extraordinary wisdom. That is displayed in a duel of questions and answers, with each side taking the measure of the other’s knowledge. That is why the key comment is: “All who heard him were amazed at his understanding (synesis) and his answers” (2:47). So far, however, that fits in its Jewish context.
You will recall Josephus’s autobiographical Life in Chapter 4. Here is how he described his own coming-of-age story:
I made great progress in my education, gaining a reputation for an excellent memory and understanding (synesis). While still a mere boy, about fourteen years of age, I won universal applause for my love of letters; inasmuch that the chief priests and the leading men of the city used constantly to come to me for precise information on some particular in our ordinances. (8–9)
But an emphasis on Jesus’s wisdom is not the main point of Luke’s story. He could have done that by having the family take Jesus into the temple and the interchange with the teachers take place in their presence.
The second and major point needed that conversation between Jesus and his parents. The story of their search for him allowed Jesus to say: “Why were you searc
hing for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (2:49). Why is that so important?
At the annunciation, Gabriel told Mary that her child would be called “the Son of the Most High” and “the Son of God” (1:32, 35). At Jesus’s baptism, God announced from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (3:22). In the temple, in between those two heavenly proclamations of Jesus’s sonship, Luke places this statement by Jesus himself. Luke’s Jesus is fully conscious of his divine status and asserts to his parents—but publicly—that he is the Son of God and this is his Father’s house.
Luke had concluded the presentation of Jesus in the temple with this: “The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him” (2:40). And he now concludes the finding of Jesus in the temple with this: “Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor” (2:52).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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