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Matthew and Luke both begin their
account of the good news of Jesus Christ with two quite different stories
of Jesus' conception and birth. These nativity stories draw deeply on
imagery found in the Old Testament to proclaim that Jesus, Lord and
Messiah, was not simply adopted as God's Son at his resurrection, or
revealed as God's Son at his baptism in the River Jordan, but was indeed
the Son of God from his birth.
We studied the infancy
accounts of Jesus in Matthew and Luke in two sessions on Dec. 21, 2003 and
Jan 4, 2004, using as our
primary reference Father Raymond E. Brown's booklet
An Adult Christ at
Christmas. Essays on the Biblical Christmas Stories. Matthew 2 and Luke 2,
derived from his
magisterial commentary,
The Birth of the Messiah.
A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
Also see
our series on the gospel narratives preparing for
the birth of Jesus in Matthew 1 and Luke 1, based on Father
Brown's booklet
A Coming Christ in Advent.
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