What are the differences between Matthew's account of Jesus' Birth and Mark's account?

Answer 1

Compared to Mark's Gospel, Chapter 3 contains a more elaborate account of John the Baptist and the baptism of Jesus, linked to Luke's genealogy of Jesus. Some scholars believe that Luke's Gospel was originally intended to begin with John the Baptist, as does Mark, and that chapters 1 and 2 were later additions. Luke liked to place his drama in a historical context and was at pains to identify the year of Jesus' baptism, which he did by specifying the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, as well as mentioning Pontius Pilate, Herod Antipas and Philip.

In Mark's Gospel, only Jesus saw the dove and heard the voice from heaven. In Luke's Gospel, it seems that everyone present saw the dove and heard the voice from heaven.

Both Matthew and Luke are reliant on the Gospel of Mark but, in the story of Jesus' baptism, Luke is closer to the original than is Matthew. For example, Mark 1:4 and Luke 3:3 have John the Baptist preaching baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Matthew at 3:1 was unwilling to have Jesus involving himself in a baptism of "repentance for the remission of sins" and so omits that line.

Answer 2

Although Matthew's Gospel has a story of the birth of Jesus, Mark's Gospel does not. So it is not possible to compare Matthew and Mark on this. The real issue is that, since we now know that the author of Matthew relied on Mark for everything he knew about the mission of Jesus, how could he have known such intimate details about the conception and birth of Jesus, and why is his account so totally different from that of Luke.

Answer 3

A:The earliest gospel, the Gospel of Mark, never mentions the birth of Jesus. We can assume that the author knew nothing of the birth.

The Gospels of Matthew and Luke contain detailed, but different stories of the nativity.

• In Matthew, the home town of Mary and Joseph is Bethlehem, while in Luke it is Nazareth. Although Nazareth is now almost universally accepted as their home town, Matthew is clear especially when the young family began to return from Egypt to Bethlehem but, being warned in a dream, turned aside and travelled to the city of Nazareth instead.
• In Matthew, the angel told Joseph that Jesus would be the Messiah, while in Luke, the angel told Mary. It is possible for an angel to tell both parents, at different times and in different contexts, but this would not make sense.
• In Matthew, Jesus was born during the reign of King Herod (died April 4 BCE). In Luke, Jesus was born during the reign of King Herod but also during the census of Quirinius (6 CE). On this, Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) says the best explanation is that, although Luke likes to set his Christian drama in the context of well-known events from antiquity, sometimes he does so inaccurately.
• After the birth of Jesus, Matthew's Gospel says the family fled from Bethlehem to Egypt. Luke's Gospel says that a few days after his birth they went from Bethlehem to Jerusalem to present Jesus at the Temple, then travelled peacefully to their home in Nazareth. Some try to harmonise these two accounts by saying that Luke's occurred first and Matthew's occurred up to two years later. While it is true that Matthew allows up to two years before the family fled to Egypt, it also makes it clear that they were still in Bethlehem. Compare this to Luke's Gospel, where they were only in Bethlehem out of sufferance, at the command of the Syrian governor, and where they left Bethlehem 40 days after the birth of Jesus.
• After the death of Herod, Matthew's Gospel says the young family began to return from Egypt to their home in Bethlehem, but being warned in a dream, turned aside and travelled to Galilee instead - Judea was still too dangerous for the young family. Luke's Gospel says Mary and Joseph travelled with Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee to Jerusalem, the capital of Judea, each year for the Passover - Judea was quite safe for the young family.
• The two genealogies also differ. In Matthew, the father of Joseph was called Jacob (Matthew 1:23), just as the father of Joseph was called Jacob in the Old Testament. In Luke, the father of Joseph was called Heli (Luke 3:23).

John's Gospel does not contain an actual account of the birth of Jesus, but the author implies that he does not believe that Jesus was born in Bethlehem or was descended from King David.