SAUCIER — Fully present

Only the gospels of Matthew and Luke have stories of the birth of the Messiah. 

Read the two and you find that the scenes and casts of supporting characters might suggest that the authors were recording different births.

In Matthew, the angel comes to Joseph, not to Mary. The couple has a house in Bethlehem. The Magi are the visitors. It is Herod, not Caesar Augustus, who plays the pivotal royal role.

Luke gives us Gabriel surprising Mary and a census taking the couple to Bethlehem. He features the lowly shepherds, heavenly choirs, and a stable for a maternity ward, none of which are found in Matthew.

The genius of tradition has taken the weft of Matthew and the warp of Luke and woven a whole cloth narrative retold in every generation in song, poetry and bedtime story.

There’s nothing wrong with that. But let’s not forget that Matthew and Luke wrote for different audiences.

With a generational litany going back to Abraham, and Magi following a new star as the sign of a royal birth, Matthew’s story told the Jewish world that this was the long-awaited Messiah, the Promised of Ages.

Luke has a universal focus. This stable-born Savior with poor and wretched visitors knows the sufferings of the world from birth and embraces them until death.

There is a social and economic chasm between the respective callers on the Child.

The Magi were well-educated men, perhaps advisors in some court, with the means to finance a journey and purchase expensive gifts.

The shepherds were the forgotten ones — unskilled and unwashed, living with their sheep in the hills, out of sight and out of mind.

One group led by a star, the other beckoned by an angelic chorus, both make their way to the newborn Babe.

They kneel before him, not sure why they are there, but strangely comfortable in the silent wonder of this moment.

This is different. From Mary’s request at Cana to the thief’s confession on the cross, everyone will want something from this Jesus. 

“Heal me!” “Teach me!” “Save me!” “Reward me!”

This is the chorus he will hear in his public life.

But there is none of this with Matthew’s Magi or Luke’s shepherds.

They simply rest in the radiant awe, asking nothing but to be in the presence of their God, their source and sustenance, the very power of life.

Both Matthew and Luke thought it important to include this experience.

Maybe we should try it ourselves.

Merry Christmas!