The main sources of information concerning Jesus’ life are the gospels- A gospel is a book describing the life and teachings of Jesus. The gospels were written by people who knew Jesus and as more of his close disciples and friends died, it was important to write things down- hence the gospels came about.
The word gospel means ‘good news’, or ‘god news’, and the gospels tell Christians the news about Jesus, both ‘good’ and ‘god’.
The four gospels were Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and they are found in the New Testament of the Bible. The gospels, which tell the story of the birth of Jesus, are Matthew and Luke. There are differences in the accounts, these reflect the different purpose of the writers.
Matthew throughout his account refers to Jewish prophecy and the way in which the story of Jesus fulfils the prophecy about the Messiah. For example he mentions that they traced Jesus’ ancestors back to Abraham- founder of Judaism; that he was born in the city of the old Jewish hero- King David; that the prophecy refers to Bethlehem; that the name given by the angel was the name of Messiah and that they went to Egypt to escape Herod. Matthew tells the story from Joseph’s point of view and tries to portray the birth of Jesus as a special and significant event for Judaism.
Luke on the other hand tells the story from Mary’s point of view, he was a gentile (not jewish) and is not trying to show in his account how the story fulfils Jewish prophecy. Luke portrays the birth in a far less grand way, no stars or travellers from the East, instead we have simple shepherds and the birth in a stable. The supernatural or the divine parts include the virgin birth and the visit of angels to Mary, and later, to the shepherds. In Luke’s account the shepherds represent Jesus’ humble character- saying he is a saviour for every part of the hierarchy. Also, Luke wrote about how Jesus was the son of man, very special, but not glorified in any way.
The significance of the stories for Christians is that put together they offer a picture of the birth of Jesus, who Christians believe to be the ‘Son of God’. For this reason the stories have become an important part of Christian tradition and practise, as seen in the celebration of Christmas. Where they are told to read in churches over the Christmas period. Although, according to the account of Luke, December the 25th could not be the actual birthday of Jesus.
It was said that the shepherds left their flocks of sheep out at night- at December it would be far too cold. So it is believed that Jesus was really born somewhere between March, April and May.