Compare And Contrast The Infancy Narrative Of Matthew And Luke

Matthew and Luke were both evangelists. They both helped to spread the Gospel, the good news of Jesus. Their telling of the Gospel is very similar, yet very different at the same time. They are similar because they both tell the same story. Meanwhile they are different because the events aside from the fact that Jesus was born are all very different. Specifically the infancy narratives differ in particular ways that may cause the audience to question which infancy narrative is more correct. This essay will compare the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke and will show how the infancy narrative of Luke previews the themes of Luke’s Gospel. The infancy narrative of Matthew occurs in the first two chapters of Matthew’s Gospel. Matthew begins with “The Genealogy of Jesus”. Similarly Luke’s Gospel contains Jesus’ Genealogy as well. But, unlike Matthew, Luke includes the genealogy in the third chapter of Luke’s Gospel. The Genealogy is perhaps more important to Matthew because it serves as evidence of who Jesus is and why he would be significant. The genealogy is specifically placed before any of the miracle events. Luke put Jesus’ Genealogy in the third chapter after the infancy narrative. Also,
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Luke begins with the infancy of John the Baptist in contrast Matthew doesn’t include John the Baptist’s infancy narrative at all. John the Baptist’s birth was a miracle as well as Jesus’ birth. According to Ian Peter Pells, the structure in Luke’s Gospel starts “chapters one and two with parallel description of the births of John the Baptist and Jesus” (Pells, 66). This could be a preview to Jesus’s birth, which would explain why Luke would want to include John the Baptist’s birth. Luke is emphasizing that Jesus’s birth was foreseen. John the Baptist is also the one to baptize Jesus later in the Gospel. And this event of Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist is told in both