Tweets - December 24th - Christmas

Gospel of John 7:40-43 ~ "Some of the people therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, 'This certainly is the Prophet.' Others were saying, 'This is the Christ.' Still others were saying, 'Surely the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is He? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?' So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him. Some of them wanted to seize Him, but no one laid hands on Him."

There appear to have been first century debates over whether or not Jesus was the Christ.

According to the tradition of the priests at that time, the Christ would be born in Bethlehem (this appears to have been based on a specific interpretation of Micah chapter 5). So if Jesus is indeed the Christ, he would have be born in Bethlehem.

But Jesus was not born in Bethlehem, and this complaint is made known to us in the story of John 7:40-43 (which is only a story to illustrate the realities of the contentions and debates that occurred at the time).

According to the understanding of the authors of John, the first century Jews, and the very early Church, Jesus was born and raised in Galilee (Nazareth of Galilee, Jesus of Nazareth).

This issue of the Christ being born in Bethlehem was a controversial issue among first century Jews, and there were some who refused to believe that Jesus was the Christ because he was not born in Bethlehem.

If Jesus had been born in Bethlehem, there would never have been any divisions among them (for this reason) and John 7:40-43 would not exist.

Well the scriptures do not lie, do they? Jesus must have been born in Bethlehem; and all it takes is for one person to spark this idea and for a lot of careless hearers to not seek out what is true (not that there was any way to disprove the idea after enough time had passed).

So stories add on to stories, from desire to mouth to ear to mouth.

Though it does not appear the intention of the birth narratives found in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew were written to convince Jews of the birth location of Jesus, the author of Luke and the editor of Matthew did end all disputes for all time for Jews and Christians alike.

By the time their narratives were written, hearsay regarding "Jesus of Bethlehem" had already become Christian faith and understanding. There would be no more challenges and no more debates about the birthplace of Jesus or the fulfillment of prophecy.

A Jew: According to the scriptures, the Christ will be born in Bethlehem.

A Christian: Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

A Jew: How do you know?

A Christian: Matthew 2 and Luke 2.

 - Christian drops mic