For most Christians, the Christmas story without a virgin birth is like the Harry Potter series without magic, or Star Wars without the father-son reveal.
But for me it’s not really a big deal, because the magic isn’t the point of the story. The magic is all backstory, setting the scene for the first century readers. It’s parable, as biblical scholars would say.
Matthew and Luke weave two different Christmas stories, each a prologue to the bigger picture. A story of political subterfuge, progressive ideologies and a story that we still need to hear today. It says: ‘we can do better‘.
A Virgin Birth in a World of Turmoil
As we open gifts, indulge in feasts and celebrate with families, there are refugees in Libya being sold into slavery at this very moment. There are homeless families living on the street or out of a car. There are people struggling to mend broken relationships.
And it was the same for the first century writers of Matthew and Luke’s Christmas stories. Between 67 and 68 CE, Roman Emperor Vespasian led legions into Jerash (or Gerasa, Jordan) to quash a Jewish revolt. Thousands were slaughtered, women and children were imprisoned and property was destroyed (Borg and Crossan, p77). Then around 70 CE, the future emperor Titus led the siege of Jerusalem.
It was a brutal time for Jews under the Roman rule.
So when Matthew’s author was writing for a Jewish audience in approximately 80 to 90 CE for (Parkinson, p122), he knew these experiences had torn apart their homes and lives. Luke’s gospel (written around the same time), had a similar backdrop, but for a different audience. He wrote for the gentiles and the marginalised – the broken and forgotten members of society.
Matthew and Luke each tailor made their Christmas stories of a virgin birth to bring their audiences a story they could relate to. The story of Jesus would provide an alternative narrative to the brutality of the world they knew.
And it’s an alternative we need just as much today as those first century readers.
The Son of God: Caesar or Jesus?
Julius Caesar’s adopted son Octavian (later known as Emperor Augustus), defeated Marc Antony and Cleopatra around 43 BCE. After which he became known as ‘divi filius‘ or ‘son of the divine‘. To the non-latin speaking common folk, he simply became known as the ‘son of god’.